sussing help

[sparky23]

ok so we were to install a new light fixture in a kitchen today -nothing but take down and install new...
flip switch off... check clg can lines in the ceiling was no back box only one wire - 12/2 - I check the lines for VOltage - find 65 on line leg - black i think - don't recall
then i go to switch to make sure the power is there and find nothing.... on either screw - single pole 15A type... and only one wire in box - so I think - power through light fixture..
light working for decades so I go trip breaker to install light - no issues and leave as is... but the one leg 65V - screams another box somewhere between feeding and sharing hot legs - but no time to sus - have ya seen this before...

recap
between light and switch only one 12/2 cable - power appears to be sourced from light fixture.....

 

[readydave8]

1. junction box, possibly buried

2. the voltage reading makes me think neutral may be switched rather that hot

 

[LarryFine]

What were you measuring the voltage against? If you used the EGC in the 12-2, I bet it's floating.

Try comparing voltages against an extension cord plugged into a known-properly-wired receptacle.

I prefer a solenoid tester to a voltmeter for troubleshooting; eliminates misleading voltage readings.

 

[RAKocher]

With only one 2wire at the sw and one 2wire in the ceiling and no ceiling box.
if I understood you correctly, sounds like the original kitchen light (decades ago) was somewhere else and that's where the feed and switch leg are at, then someone later ran a 2wire from there to where you just replaced the fixture.
Without knowing from what to what you measured 65 volts I have no idea. I don't think a light would work very well on 65 volts.

 

[kwired]

My bet is on the neutral was switched.

Should still have voltage at switch unless the load were disconnected or have burned out lamp, then you will have nothing at the switch.

 

[LarryFine]

Sounds like a K&T house.

 

[Chamuit]

Something wired in series instead of paralleled?

Had a house flipper call me once because the lights got progressively dimmer in the kitchen they were changing fixtures on. They had hooked the switch-leg up to the black on the first fixture then the white from that fixture to the black of the second fixture four times then the neutral from the last back to the switch-leg neutral. Neutrals were wire-nutted together to the last box.

 

[Corniculate]

I agree with Larryfine, it looks like a K&T house .

 

[kwired]

Something wired in series instead of paralleled?

Had a house flipper call me once because the lights got progressively dimmer in the kitchen they were changing fixtures on. They had hooked the switch-leg up to the black on the first fixture then the white from that fixture to the black of the second fixture four times then the neutral from the last back to the switch-leg neutral. Neutrals were wire-nutted together to the last box.

If they are in series none of them will work when you break the series. You will also have full voltage across the opened part of the circuit, which leaves some questions on OP's situation. Even if neutral is switched in his application he would read full volts to ground on the neutral conductor that is connected to the load and zero to ground on the neutral conductor that goes back to the panel.

 

[ggunn]

If they are in series none of them will work when you break the series. You will also have full voltage across the opened part of the circuit, which leaves some questions on OP's situation. Even if neutral is switched in his application he would read full volts to ground on the neutral conductor that is connected to the load and zero to ground on the neutral conductor that goes back to the panel.

It made no sense to me, either.

 

[readydave8]

Even if neutral is switched in his application he would read full volts to ground on the neutral conductor that is connected to the load and zero to ground on the neutral conductor that goes back to the panel.

if the neutral is switched and the switch is off
I wouldn't be surprised to read 65 volts from black to white at lite with digital meter
but would have trouble explaining why

 

[reast]

Just my 2 cents...
I agree with larryfine (post #3) that if the measurement is between the hot and ground (which seems to be what OP did, although they didn't recall what color the wire they measured was) the ground might be floating. A switched neutral wouldn't explain the lower but still present voltage, but a floating conductor would.
To verify voltage, OP should test with a solenoid meter to make sure the voltage is solid. They should also check continuity between ground and neutral to make sure it is solidly bonded back to the panel.
The fact that OP tripped the breaker and there was still voltage seems to indicate that there may be induced voltage, so testing with a solenoid would eliminate that possibility

 

[kwired]

if the neutral is switched and the switch is off
I wouldn't be surprised to read 65 volts from black to white at lite with digital meter
but would have trouble explaining why

I did say volts to ground, but in your case measuring to the "dead" switched neutral leg it is because of capacitive coupling. A low impedance meter will not read anything.

 

[sparky23]

thanks - - i think they did not mark white hot - we will be back next week but we will also look in panel to see if neutral and ground are landed... - there is no intermediate box immediately evident...but we did find it odd that we had no power at switch...or reading 65 volts...

 

[readydave8]

I still don't think there is really 65 volts