Outlet wiring screwed up?
So your $6 outlet tester displays a combination of lights that doesn’t make sense or one or more lights is dim. For example, all three lights are on but K and X (see below) are dim. The three neon bulbs are just between what should be (The first letter is how the light is marked on mine): K Hot to Ground (GROUND OK). O Hot to Neutral (HOT OK?). X Neutral to Ground (HOT/NEUTRAL REVERSE – should not light). I suspect at the very least that your ground is not connected at the service panel. I may run from some/all the outlets but ends somewhere. You are seeing capacitive/inductive pickup between the floating ground and the other wires in the circuit. Your N and H may be reversed as well but this cannot be determined without checking with a load between H/N and a proper ground. I would recommend: 1. Determining if the ground wire for those 3 prong outlets does indeed go anywhere. 2. Determining if the Hot and Neutral polarity is correct by testing between each of the prongs and a confirmed
So your $6 outlet tester displays a combination of lights that doesn’t make sense or one or more lights is dim. For example, all three lights are on but K and X (see below) are dim. The three neon bulbs are just between what should be (The first letter is how the light is marked on mine): • K Hot to Ground (GROUND OK). • O Hot to Neutral (HOT OK?). • Neutral to Ground (HOT/NEUTRAL REVERSE – should not light). I suspect at the very least that your ground is not connected at the service panel. I may run from some/all the outlets but ends somewhere. You are seeing capacitive/inductive pickup between the floating ground and the other wires in the circuit. Your N and H may be reversed as well but this cannot be determined without checking with a load between H/N and a proper ground. I would recommend: • Determining if the ground wire for those 3 prong outlets does indeed go anywhere. • Determining if the Hot and Neutral polarity is correct by testing between each of the prongs and a confirm
