Are two wall switches supposed to work this way?

[Seymore4Head]

I wouldn't think so.

[micky]

Yes, it's hard (or impossible for some things) to hold all this stuff in one's head at one time. Drawings help a lot.

[Ralph Mowery]

The worse thing I can think of is to work on something someone else has started on and given up on. I worked for a large company with about 20 other electricians. There was one that seemed like no mater what equipment he worked on, he would get the wiring all messed up. Then we had to put all the wiring back to where it was suspose to be and then find out the real problem.

Most of the others did have enough sense to know not to change the wiring around if it had been working and just quit.

[Ralph Mowery]

Reminds me of a building project at work. A 3 phase 480 volt heater was installed. Going from the controler to the heater was aboutg 12 or 18 wires. The current draw was not ballanced so they called me to find the problem. After taking an ohmeter reading I decided the wiring was not done correctly. The installer tride 3 times to correct the problem. On 2 of them, when I took an ohm rading, one of the legs was open. I finally went to the heater that was on the 2 nd story of an open I beam framed platform. He had some prints with him. I told him to just wad those things up and toss them off the building as either they were wrong or he could not read them. Looked over the heater and in about 30 minuits I had it wired correctly.

That was the head electrician of that construction company.

[micky]

And the drawing should note which screw on the switch each wire is attached to. The screws might be different colors, blackish vs. brass colored, and if so note that, but they are certainly in different places on the switch so note where each one is. The switches are probably identical, but if they're not, draw the layout for each one.

It's a shame, because people like to rely on it, but being top dog doesn't mean you know what you're doing.

[philo]

I never understood idiots like that.

A company I worked for manufactured electronic retrofit kits for industrial equipment and sold them to distributors around the country.

One day I had to fly out to Ohio on an emergency because there was a lot of non-working equipment at one location.

When the tech unsuccessfully installed the first one he did not stop there and call for help, he just kept going until he had taken ten pieces of equipment out of service.

[Ralph Mowery]

He must have thought that the first 9 units were bad from the factory.

I know an electrician (he has license, but took him 5 tries to get it) that was going to wire up about 10 or 15 flourescense lights in a mans garage. The lights were hung, but needed the electricity hooked up. The electrician hooked them up, but they did not work. He said they were all bad. Man took them down and back to the supply house. Supply man said he could understand one or two being bad, but not all of them. He hooked a dropcord up to each one of them and and were all good. Man took them back and another electrician hooked them up and they all lit fine.

[philo]

All in all however, the idiots always made me feel that I has some kind of job security.

At one of our company's best customers I designed and installed my own control circuits and really locked myself in.

I retrofitted some obsolete equipment and gave the customer another ten year's worth of use...but no one but me could work on it.

When the customer moved to a /huge/ new warehouse they rewarded our company with a million dollar sale. Of course I did not see one penny of it...but I did manage to keep my job during rough economic times.

[trader_4]

My favorite idiot story was from back when I was in college. I needed an integrated circuit for a project. There was a local shop that sold surplus stuff, used stuff, as well as new. They had the chip I needed so I bought a couple. After wasting a lot of time trying to get it to work, I became convinced both chips were bad. So, I take them back, tell the manager I've spent two days screwing around with them, they don't work. The manager was giving me a hard time, saying it's impossible, they are all brand new, 100% tested, quality stuff, etc. Finally, he agreed to give me two more. He took the two I brought back and tossed them into the bin with the other "100% good, tested" ones.

[philo]

Stuff like that is common

My dad had a defective jack that came with his new car. It was the only time in his life he had to call for a truck to come out and change the tire. Even after he was in a wheel chair he still changed his own flats.

The dealer just exchanged it with one in a car on the lot.

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

I have been in a friend's house, which probably had a 3-way switch setup for the living room light. One of the switches had been replaced by a dimmer (not 3-way) so it was in series with the switch on the other side of the room (which had to be on to use the light).

[Tekkie®]

Ralph Mowery posted for all of us...

Another confidence inspiring story. I love love it when the you talk to vendors and get the 1000 yd stare.

[Tekkie®]

philo posted for all of us...

Yes unfortunately. I had a friend tell me the customer is the QC department.

He's a better man than I.

That's okay with me. It's up to the dealer if he gets another one; but why wouldn't he?