A meter can show a voltage that comes from coupling rather than from a live source. Knowing that does not give you permission to assume any particular reading is one.
This lesson is dangerous in the opposite direction from the others. An apprentice who has heard the phrase now has a name to dismiss an inconvenient reading with, and dismissing a real one is how somebody gets hurt.
Two conductors running together can couple, and a high-impedance meter can display the result as a voltage. That is a real effect. What it is not is an explanation you get to apply from across the room. Whether a specific reading is coupling or a live source is a diagnosis, and diagnosing it is a qualified person's job using the approved method.
Check yourself: You read a voltage you did not expect. Is it ghost voltage?
Answer: Unknown, and it stays unknown to you. Never dismiss an unexpected reading as ghost voltage without proper verification.
Both a coupled indication and a live source look like a number on a display. Nothing about the reading itself separates them, so the only honest position without the approved diagnostic method is that you do not know.
No card. No account needed to start. Score by topic against the 70% mark.
Written from the owner's poster for this lesson. Nothing added beyond what the poster states.
Written for Texas apprentices as free study material. The Texas apprentice licence is an application, not an exam (Occupations Code 1305.161), and nothing here counts as apprenticeship hours or continuing-education credit. VoltMark is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NFPA, PSI, TDLR, or any state or local licensing authority. Always follow your employer's safety programme and your supervising electrician.
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