06-30-2020, 02:49 PM
I took vacation this week to do some work on the mancave. I got some pretty cool brick embossed paneling I decided to put on the walls. Which means I had to replace 4 light switches, 4-220v outlets and 10-110v outlets (current outlets were white, wanted to replace with black). Well, on the 4th panel and outlet, I marked the top right and left terminal wires, loosened all the screws and removed the switch. Shoved the wires back in the electrical box so I could mark where to cut the holes for the outlet in the paneling (really cool trick I learned while doing this, if you take a small dab of white caulk and put it in the corners of your existing wall cutout, then press the paneling up against it, it shows you where to cut out so you don't end up oversizing your cut or mis-measure).
So, I take a break while jamming to some AC/DC and have a few more beers, then go back to pull all the wires out of the box. Somehow, what was 4 wires, now is 6? WTF? Did a damn wire fairy suddenly appear and add 2 additional wires? If so, Damn him, or her, or whatever! Anyway, I tried to rewire after the paneling was up and not only did the outlet not work, my hole damn south wall was dead. Again, WTF? I rewired a few different ways and even decided I would try to end the circuit at that outlet to try and get it to work. Wasn't happening, and, I wasn't even tripping a breaker when I tested it. I was baffled. What in the world is going on here?
My wife tells me to move on and continue working until we can figure it out later. Well, here's the problem with that lovely womans suggestion. I mentally can't (one of the many flaws in my brain). I struggle to move on until the current problem is solved. So I dwell on it. I tried to do other stuff, but my mind was on the unsuccessful wiring issue. So I just drank more beer and contacted a few people hoping for the answer, to no avail. So then I got wasted and went to bed.
Half the day yesterday, I wasted not doing shit but tinkering with that damn switch and nothing else. Then, I tried to replace the switch thinking it might have been bad out of the box (it wasn't - 2nd switch didn't work either). So, went to Mexican restaurant, drank some beers and some margarita and came back home to mess with it some more. Made a few more phone calls and tried again, Still nothing and now frustrated as heck. So, I sit at the bar and have another beer and all the sudden I remembered this girl I work with, her husband is and maintenance manager at some factory. So I called him and was telling him the issue. We discussed it for about 5 minutes and then he says, "Wan't me to come over and take a look at it?"
Yes, YEs, YES! Not long after he got here, he had his testing meter out and said the extra set of wires must be to an outside outlet (then I realized that outlet was on the other side of the wall outside). He rewired it and in less than 20 minutes of him being here, my shit was working again. After the repair, we sat and had a beer and talked about how bad the Browns suck. Then we spent the next hour hating on the Steelers and who we hated the most on that team past and present.
And that my friends is how a "Damn Browns fan saved my ass yesterday."
So, I take a break while jamming to some AC/DC and have a few more beers, then go back to pull all the wires out of the box. Somehow, what was 4 wires, now is 6? WTF? Did a damn wire fairy suddenly appear and add 2 additional wires? If so, Damn him, or her, or whatever! Anyway, I tried to rewire after the paneling was up and not only did the outlet not work, my hole damn south wall was dead. Again, WTF? I rewired a few different ways and even decided I would try to end the circuit at that outlet to try and get it to work. Wasn't happening, and, I wasn't even tripping a breaker when I tested it. I was baffled. What in the world is going on here?
My wife tells me to move on and continue working until we can figure it out later. Well, here's the problem with that lovely womans suggestion. I mentally can't (one of the many flaws in my brain). I struggle to move on until the current problem is solved. So I dwell on it. I tried to do other stuff, but my mind was on the unsuccessful wiring issue. So I just drank more beer and contacted a few people hoping for the answer, to no avail. So then I got wasted and went to bed.
Half the day yesterday, I wasted not doing shit but tinkering with that damn switch and nothing else. Then, I tried to replace the switch thinking it might have been bad out of the box (it wasn't - 2nd switch didn't work either). So, went to Mexican restaurant, drank some beers and some margarita and came back home to mess with it some more. Made a few more phone calls and tried again, Still nothing and now frustrated as heck. So, I sit at the bar and have another beer and all the sudden I remembered this girl I work with, her husband is and maintenance manager at some factory. So I called him and was telling him the issue. We discussed it for about 5 minutes and then he says, "Wan't me to come over and take a look at it?"
Yes, YEs, YES! Not long after he got here, he had his testing meter out and said the extra set of wires must be to an outside outlet (then I realized that outlet was on the other side of the wall outside). He rewired it and in less than 20 minutes of him being here, my shit was working again. After the repair, we sat and had a beer and talked about how bad the Browns suck. Then we spent the next hour hating on the Steelers and who we hated the most on that team past and present.
And that my friends is how a "Damn Browns fan saved my ass yesterday."
![[Image: 4CV0TeR.png]](https://i.imgur.com/4CV0TeR.png)
