ok, first off, i'm going to put this disclamer in here... I am in no way responcible for any pain, loss, death, discomfort, or anything else, if you choose to follow the procedures outlined below. You do so at your own risk, and by attempting anything involving lethal power, you are acknowledging that you have the proper tools and training to do so.
actually, yes Piggy, if you have one of thoes plug look'n things with the 2 yellow and 1 red lights on it, that will tell you if the outlet is wired correctly. (actually it will tell you if that outlet all the way to the breaker is wired correctly)
You can get them at home depot for like 8-10 bucks i think.... i lost (or it grew legs and walked off) my last one of thoes, so i just use my multimeter now, but thats not something i would suggest unless you understand just what poking things into an outlet can do to you and your house if you goof it up.
the little pluggy thing is the safest.
if the plug checks out ok, then i would get an ohm meter(digital multimeter, diode checker) or what have you, and measure between the wide blade and the ground on each of the cords. see if they are connected to each other on each cord, and then check and see if all the grounds are tied together. then i would check between the ground on each plug, to the wide blade on each cord, and see if you have a connection there.
What you want to find:
all grounds are tied together and are tied to the housing of the unit in question.
no grounds make any connection to any of the neutrals (wide blade)
no neutrals make any connection to any other neutral or ground.
If any of the 3 above are not true, then i would open the light and make it true.
Just remember a couple things, you are dealing with things that can kill, so please, be carefull, think 3 times and act only once, and if in doubt, double check it. and unless you really know whats happening, never work on equipment that is plugged in; and if you must, then wear insulating shoes, and work with one hand in your back belt loop. The theory being that the current has a better chance of not going through your heart if you are shocked.
sorry to be morbid, and self protecting, but i'm not gonna get blamed for something i didnt personally screw up.. know what i mean?
if anyone has electrical or electronics questions, i'll do my best to help.
whats the matter alexander, didnt stay at the holiday in express last night? Just kidding, not attacking, just trying to make a funy.
Biff, nice edit, i got a good laugh outta that one... and theres no reason you cant understand this stuff, or anyone else for that matter, you just have to want to understand, and then be presented with the material in a manner that makes it make sence to you. I regularly teach people about electricity and electronics by using references to water in pipes, bends, valves, kinks in the garden hose, that kinda stuff, and most everyone gets it right away...
Just as an example... your garden hose, if it gets a kink in it, what happens? the flow slows down, so that kink is like a resistor. the pressure from the spiggot is still the same, theres just less flow, the pressure is the voltage, and the gal/hour is the amperage. how much kink there is in the hose, is the value of the resistor. more kink= more resistance, like going from 1k to 10k. the spiggot itself is a pot, potentiometer, or variable resistor, you can vary the amount of flow from one amount to another. a ball valve could be thought of like a switch, on or off(ok dont bust my balz here, yea i know you can meter the flow with a ball valve, but for the example, lets agree that it acts in only 2 positions, on and off)
see, not so complicated.
