Odd behavior of a switch

Install a smoke detector ?:-)

I'd check the tightness of the connections at all the switches. Don't use the slip-in connectors, use the screw-downs.

Mice seem to like to chew on Romex. We had a fire in my father's hardware store in 1957, caused by rats chewing thru the basement wiring. Set a bunch of cartons of picture tubes afire. Spooked the firemen when they kept blowing ;-) But mostly smoke damage. So we kept the doors closed and had a "fire sale" ;-)

...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.

You may have luck with a "Fox and Hound". Not live ones but a piece of test gear that will send a signal from the main box that can be traced to the destination. You may find a break that way. Good luck.

Tom

I don't know any way to test for damaged wires. But get a cat to keep the mice in check.

I've got this farm truck that sees limited use during some parts of the year. I fired it up one day, and was driving back into the woods, when I noticed smoke coming from under the hood. Stopped truck, lifted hood..... Wooshhhh... Big fire ball as air got to the smoldering nest of dry grass that the mice had built on the exhaust manifold. Now when I leave it parked for a while I put a baggie with moth balls under the hood. A few small holes in the baggie lets enough of the odor out to keep the mice away.

George H.

You can find discontinuities in the wire with Time Domain Reflectometer. I've seen this done by repairmen looking for a break in an underground cable. Here's a link to explain:

Here's a link to a kit for 10 frog pelts: Here's a ink to the circuit explanation: The information provided in the link directly above says that it has about 1 meter resolution. Maybe not close enough for work in the wall. But there are expensive meters available that have much finer resolution and so maybe a professional repair person could be hired to find the fault. I may buy the kit above just to play around with it because it's so cheap. I'm not sure though if the kit is just a circuit board. Still, for ten dollars it's still better than just using perfboard. Oops, I just read a little more and it needs to be used with an oscilloscope. I have a Tek 465B so I can still use the kit but if you don't have a 'scope or can't borrow one then I guess the kit won't be of any use to you. In any case though if I had suspect wiring in my house or shop I'd remove power until I was sure the wiring was faultless. Eric