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I have a line into a junction box and 14-3 going out to switch. tester shows 0 volts between ground and neutral on line in, however when I connect hot only at junction box I show 10 volts on all other wires including the ground.

Unsure why this would be, I completed all the connection and put the switches and light on and everything works but I still show 10 volts on the inactive wire at the 3-way switch. As I said it all works but I'm still not comfortable with this and unsure why 10 volts is showing up

ThreePhaseEel
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You can call me Al
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2 Answers2

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Do-de-do-doo....

The spooky 10V you are seeing is a "ghost" or "phantom" voltage, capacitively coupled from the hot wire, that your meter can measure due to the meter's high impedance, but can't do anything as it has no current (energy) behind it. Some modern meters have a "LoZ" function on them that lowers the input impedance to get rid of these phantom voltages.

ThreePhaseEel
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That much voltage can be induced in conductors in the area simply because of their proximity. This happens because of the properties of alternating current . It means little or nothing. This is a universal occurrence and can be discounted without further consideration.

Paul Logan
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