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A weird power issue on a new install almost got me
I was finishing up a job in a big old house in Tacoma yesterday, putting in a new panel. Everything tested fine, but the keypad kept resetting every few minutes. I spent over an hour checking my connections and the transformer, thinking it was a bad unit. Turns out, the outlet I plugged the transformer into was on a switched circuit the homeowner didn't know about. I moved it to a constant hot and it was solid. Have you guys run into any sneaky power problems like that lately?
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cameronrivera2mo ago
Man, that switched outlet thing is a CLASSIC. Had a similar headache with a smart thermostat last winter. The C wire was live at the panel, but the old wall plate had a hidden junction where the previous guy just capped it off. Took forever to trace that ghost voltage drop.
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willowc609d ago
Oh man, @harper_murphy is totally right about checking those first, but this takes the cake. I swear every house has at least one of these "surprise" junctions hiding somewhere. The previous guy probably thought he was being clever, but really he just made a time bomb for the next person. Seriously, who does that and thinks "yeah, this is fine, they'll figure it out"? Glad you finally tracked it down, even if it took forever.
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