three way switch voltage

[ancram1228]

Hi
I installed a three way switch and light fixture. My hot leg (from line white wire coded black)) travels to the three way at the bottom of the stairs on to the common lug, red and black are travelers, common lug top of stairs(Black) goes to light fixture.
When I check voltage with either three way on I have 120 volts at light (light works), when I turn switches off I still get voltage at the light connection (about 20 volts). Is this normal or do I have a bad connection some where?
Thanks

[Unregistered]

ground this cuircut and it will go away

[noel]

sorry for the short answer before. I had the same thing when I did my 3 ways. It is caused by the electric field that surrounds the wire from another wire. Mine read 14 volts with nothing hooked to it at all. The cable ran side by side another cable. Grounding the cables took care of it

[Cozmic Wireman]

This phenomenon is known as "inductive coupling" in 3 wire circuits. While this energy is measureable, when any load at all is applied, it drops to zero volts. In a sense, this measured voltage is not real at all. This is sometimes called phantom voltage.

[ancram1228]

Thanks for the help. I checked prior to grounding the fixture and will check now that it is hooked up.