My home is 20 years old & the hardwired alarm system was installed when the home was built. The outlet the transformer was plugged into has no power. I plugged the tranformer into an extension cord from a nearby outlet and transformer works fine. I replaced the outlet & still no power to the outlet. I checked all the circuit breakers and all worked fine. Before the AC power was lost I had intermitent "AC Lost" messages. The battery was about 5 years old so I replaced it with the same model & the alarm system works fine using battery power only. What could be the outlet wiring problem?

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Originally posted by Anush:
My home is 20 years old & the hardwired alarm system was installed when the home was built. The outlet the transformer was plugged into has no power. I plugged the tranformer into an extension cord from a nearby outlet and transformer works fine. I replaced the outlet & still no power to the outlet. I checked all the circuit breakers and all worked fine. Before the AC power was lost I had intermitent "AC Lost" messages. The battery was about 5 years old so I replaced it with the same model & the alarm system works fine using battery power only. What could be the outlet wiring problem?

Loose ground wire somewhere.

Loose connection up stream. If you have no troubleshooting skills or testers try this.
The easiest way to find it is to plug in a lamp to the non working outlet. Station someone in front of the lamp. Go to nearby outlets starting with ones and check outlets with a 'bug eye' outlet tester. Check for no voltage or lost neutral readings. This is where the second person comes in. Make sure they keep their eye on lamp as you are testing, after testing outlet wiggle and shake the tester in the outlet. The second person will possibly see a flicker either when plugging in tester or while you wiggle it. Also pound on the wall with a flat palm around each outlet. Also it makes most sense to start with outles between the dead outlet and electrical panel. You can also use the palm pounding technique near switches.

If this is located in a kitchen, hopefully you've already checked the GFI, similarly if in a unfinished area, it's likely GFI controlled.

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Originally posted by bcereuss:


Loose ground wire somewhere.

*Neural is most likely, alarm transformers don't use a ground.

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Originally posted by Skins2881:

quote:

Originally posted by bcereuss:


Loose ground wire somewhere.

*Neural is most likely, alarm transformers don't use a ground.

I defer to you...I'm an amateur!

Not sure how a loose ground wire is going to cause the outlet to not have power... I'm wondering if it is on a ground fault circuit breaker in line somewhere....

the wiring to outlets in a house are spliced in line at different boxes and so you can lose a connection at one of these and it is often hard to find.

GFCI Outlet (tripped or faulty) on the same circuit somewhere?

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GFCI Outlet (tripped or faulty) on the same circuit somewhere?

Maybe, I checked all the GFCI Outlets with an outlet testor. I reset all GF panel breakers & outlet breakers & all are OK. I called my goto HVAC client & he is sending an electrician.