Re: lights

[Terry Tyler <tylerbears@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

David, did you plug in a circuit tester (with the little led lights which
tell if there's an open neutral, etc.) to make sure all is well in that
department? As Jim said, it's unlikely to be the problem, but you know how
to spell the word "ass u me" - right?. Many of us have had our share of
false assumptions (and then some). I've included a cut and paste of my
latest "face turning red" faux pas.

Terry
mailto:tylerbears@airstream.net
----------------------

According to my diagnostic test lamp, there was an "open neutral" in the
system. Being somewhat cocky about it, I figured it was nothing more than a
loose white wire in one of the wall outlets. While piling up the miles and
boondocking most nights, there was no need to connect our pigtail to a
campground utility box - thus, no rush to solve that issue immediately. 
We could concentrate on chugging along across the continent.

One very windy afternoon in Kansas, we stopped early and I dug out my
multi-tester to began searching for the outlet without continuity. With a
cavalier attitude, I thought, "This should be simple enough." Ha!!

Several days later (in Colorado) and still not finding the elusive wire, I
decided to get serious about this search and stop thinking of it as an 
after dinner romp.

Each of five (out of six) wall outlets were opened and all nuts tightened.
While at it, I used my flashlight (with new batteries) to look at each of
the screws holding the wires in place. All screws were tight and all
surfaces at each screw were shiny. I thought I had looked all the outlets
and was still baffled.

Rationalizing, I thought, "We don't need 120 volt power anyway. The solar
panels are more than adequate for our power needs." But, the problem kept
nagging me. The next afternoon, I remembered the 1967 Airstream manual 
that came with the trailer. Digging it out, I added up the wall outlets and
counted six. Elation set in as I opened the sixth outlet (under the 
gaucho next to the refrigerator).

Voila` - there it was. Not only a loose wire, but a crusted over screw to
boot. That meant this was the culprit and was an old problem just waiting
for an opportunity to require my attention.

In my stash box was an exact brand new replacement electrical outlet  (price
tag of 37 cents was on it from17 years ago). Ten minutes later, I had it
installed and my test gauge read OK. Everything was back to normal.

Two lessons learned:

1 - Check the screws holding the wires in ALL the outlets MORE OFTEN THAN
NEVER. <grin>

2 - Being cocky and having a cavalier attitude isn't necessarily the best
way to approach solving simple problems. Sometimes I eat crow. This was 
one of those occasions.