Bonehead move


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Old 01-20-19, 05:26 AM
R
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Bonehead move

Hello all - I want to share something that happened to my brother and I when installing a 4 way switching circuit. We're not electricians but we've worked with it quite a bit over the years that when it comes to residential wiring we're pretty confident we can do it right. That being said, we installed a 4 way switching circuit in our newly built mud room. We have 3 exit/entrance doors so the need to turn off/on the lights from each door is a must. We installed the wiring and made the connections and we were very confident that it would work. That confidence quickly faded when we had no lights. so, to the panel to turn off the breaker I go. I turned it off and we pulled the switches from their boxes. My brother said he noticed a problem on the 4 way switch so he made the change but he didn't elaborate. Now we know we got it. So, to the breaker panel I go and turn on the breaker to the circuit but the dang lights wouldn't turn on. So, back to the panel, turn off the breaker, pull out the switches to look for the problem. We couldn't find it so we carefully tested everything using a meter once power was turned back on. Everything looked good so after the power was turned off we put the switches back in their boxes, turned on power and again no lights. My brother in disgust was heading back to the panel to turn off the breaker when I noticed him coming back with a stupid grin on his face. He reaches inside the door and flips the light switch up. Walla! We have lights. Neither one of us tried turning on a switch, we just assumed the other did it. After some quick testing we turned off the breaker, pushed the switches back in their boxes and turned the power back on. The moral of the story is look for the simple things first instead of jumping to conclusions that it has to be a problem deep in whatever you're working. Roger
 
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Old 01-20-19, 06:59 AM
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We have all been there unless we never tried. At least you weren't getting paid and had a customer breathing down your neck.
 
 

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