My Bosch 800 series Dishwasher will not function. I plan on swapping the control module. In the junction box, at the terminals, I'm reading 120V between Hot and Ground, and between Hot and Neutral. Between Neutral and Ground, I am reading almost zero to 1V. Is this a normal reading between these two terminals, or should I consider swapping the junction box, as well?
Low Voltage between Neutral and Ground wires in Dishwasher Junction Box
dishwasherjunction-box
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Best Answer
Yes, because of voltage drop
If you've ever done a voltage drop calculation, let's say you want to run a 12A well pump load. You do the calculations and it says you'll have 6 volts of voltage drop, so 114V. OK.
Well, how does that happen? There are TWO wires - hot and neutral. Is the voltage drop shared across both? Yes. Each one drops 3 volts.
Well, how does "dropping" voltage on a neutral work? Certainly the hot sags to 117V, no question there. Obviously if the neutral sags to -3 volts, there'd still be 120 across hot and neutral, so that can't be it. Actually, the neutral "drops" the other direction - it rises to +3 volts. So with neutral at 3V, and hot at 117, you have the expected 114V.
Why doesn't ground move also? Voltage drop is proportional to current; that's literally what Ohm's Law is saying.
E=IR
. Since there is no current on ground, it doesn't drop.So you measure 3V between neutral and ground in that case.
It's rather like the small rod on a beam-type torque wrench. Your strength is bending the big rod, but the small rod is unaffected and indicates your torque on the scale.