I have cable with two 1.5mm wires in it. Why does my test light show voltage in both wires even though only one of them is connected to 220V AC grid.
// Also there are old cables with metal jacket with the same problem when testing the jacket.
Electronic – Current “jumps” from one wire to the other
acwirewiring
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Best Answer
In short, capacitance between the two wires is your answer.
Here's an example I faced many years ago. A friend of mine rewired his house but asked to borrow my meter before he connected ground to the pipes coming into the property. He phoned me up and said there was 115VAC measured on the unconnected earth wire and he was frightened of grounding it. (Local AC voltage was 230V and I assured him that "live" was at 230V, neutral at "0V" and the middle unconnected wire would find a voltage that was roughly halfway between the two wires (due to capacitance between conductors). He connected the earth wire and no problems.
What you are seeing is the natural effect of capacitance coupling the voltage on one wire to another in close proximity.