Don't Pee Here

[Bob Mc]

Don’t pee here!
I was the on shift afternoon troubleshooter when I got a call after 900 pm that a customer’s dog got a shock from peeing on a street light pole. When I got there I found a cement street light pole with a decorative harp fixture. I got out my Fluke tester and I installed a screw driver in the ground and tested between the cement pole and the screw driver. It measured 70 volts. Where was this coming from? The cement pole had a 120 volt outlet on it for holiday decorations. I checked it and found it to be ok. Now what do I do? I disconnected the light from the 120 volt power source, and retested. The voltage was now gone. I wrote up an order for the wiring in the pole to be checked. What we found the next day was that the # 12 copper power source to the light had been crushed when the light fixture was set on the top of the cement pole. This let just a small amount of voltage leak to the cement pole but did not burn the circuit open.
Bob Mc

[Pootnaigle]

Ummmmm bettcha the ballast wuz grounded and the case ground wasnt very good. I've found the ame thang on houses with aluminum siding shocking. when the breaker feeding the light is turned off the voltage goes away