Odd Breaker Situation...
Changing out the cheapy light fixtures that came with the house, I turn the switch off, remove the old fixture, accidentally bump common (white) against frame (green) and breaker popped.
Measure white with DMM... AC-level is a few hundred mV (noise?).
Measure black with DMM... AC-level is even smaller.
Likewise black to white.
Touch black to green... nothing.
Touch white to green... pop.
Do these new breakers have the equivalent of GFCI built-in? ...Jim Thompson
Arc-fault breakers? Switch in the wrong side?
Neutral and ground should be bonded at the service panel. Sounds like something is wired wrong.
It is also legal to use a white wire but mark it with black tape to use it as 'LINE' or HOT.
CHeers
Yes, you most likely have GFCI breakers.
joining ground and N at that location should cause a trip, and it seems it's working.. that should work even if the Black wire is dead, due to your light switch being off because the other wires N are still connected to the system. Appliances are suppose to balance the N line or use a transformer, this method will detect a N hitting ground directly when it's not suppose at the user end.
The breaker still has both L1 and L2 alive in it so when N hits ground you have a imbalance. Sounds like it's working fine.
Jamie
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