Thanks so much! … Without a continuous path back to the panel, and the neutral buss bar, the voltage has no place to go to complete the circuit. Detecting a open ground or open neutral in a branch circuit. The problem plug is the one that is controlled by a switch. If they look good there - you will need to go to the affected outlet. The ground wire is then routed to the grounding bus terminal in the main electrical panel of a home. As with the open hot or neutral, an open ground can be happening at the receptacle itself (or its box) -- "B" of the left-hand scenario above -- or else at an outlet "upstream": "A" of the right-hand one. Here are the details: - Breaker is 20 amp AFCI - The first receptacle on the circuit is a 15 amp GFCI - In one direction from the GFCI, there is a single pole switch that controls a single light fixture. A neutral wire is a type of wire in which carries currents back to the source of power and or regular voltage. I've got a problem with a new circuit that I ran from my panel. First off you will need to identify that you have an open ground. How to find open neutral. The hot (black wires) were still connected and the breaker was back on, but without the neutral path the light won’t work, and the neutral ahead of that open splice will have power on it, the same as the hot wire. The best way to do this is to find the last outlet on the line that still has a good neutral connection. There are 2 ways to discover this problem. To find an open neutral it may be helpful to use my Finding an open. None of the receptacles tested gave me an "open neutral" reading though, which also has me puzzled. The hot and neutral lines should be two distinct colors, but the colors can vary for the different wires. Open Ground. This often happens when "back-stab" connections on receptacles are used, and the receptacles are not installed with a pig-tail, but are daisy-chained together. Identifying electrical wiring properly is an important step when replacing a light fixture, installing an outlet or handling other electrical work. Open neutral [ 2 Answers ] I have just changed my switches and plugs and have found that one plug on an outlet is showing open neutral. Learn how to identify wires for your safety. Like Reply. Scroll to continue with content. Since most Insteon-compatible wall switches and dimmers require a neutral wire connection to operate, you need to know if you have one of these in place. When the switch is off my tester shows "open neutral" but when the switch is on it show "correct". You have to check thru the circuit to find where it opened. The main panel has a ground wire leading directly to a rod placed in the Earth. Find something that will make a ding like a microwave (the microwave was out on the one I was looking for so I was able to hear it when I found the lost neutral) or plug in a radio to the part of the circuit with no neutral (install a plug at switch if needed to plug in audio testing thing).. Light works as expected when breaker is on. other. The first way would be to turn off the power to the circuit and see if there is continuity between the neutral wire and bond wire (ground pin). Typically it's caused by a receptacle using back stabbed (push in) connections. Once you find this, you will need to open up that circuit to look at the connections inside the outlet box. There is no easy way to find an open neutral. Neutral “returns” that current (the other half of the circuit). Modern electric outlets have three wire connections: Hot, Neutral, and Ground. An "open neutral" means that a receptacle is not connected to the grounded conductor of the circuit. Essentially, it allows power to return to its … What Is a Neutral Wire? When an open ground condition exists, safety is compromised. The do-it-yourself homeowner can locate an open ground in a circuit in 10 minutes or less. Hot “provides” current (as one half of a circuit). Based on what I've described here - am I correct in thinking it might be a loose neutral somewhere affecting the entire house and every circuit? Those stabs weaken with age and just open up.