What a Doofus...

[Bill-N-Donna]

In our new to us S&B, the DW brought to my attention that the chandelier lights were not as bright as what they were when she turned them on that same morning. They have always put out a real bright light. We haven’t used the ceiling light much at all but when we would it would illuminate the entire room.

Now when we flip the switch on, the lights are very dim. Considering that we’ve never experienced this before I figured something had to be wrong. I used my (phone-a-friend) and PM’d Jim and shot the question to him what could possibly be going on here.

We have two table lamps plugged into the wall on the same circuit and they were both putting out normal light. So, with that I eliminated that part of the circuit leaving only the ceiling light remaining. With Jim’s help, we concluded that it might possibly be a loose wire and figured the best place to start would be in the switch.

After turning the power off I disconnected and removed the switch to discover a larger than usual switch; still thinking it was just an On/Off switch, I figured I would need to go to an Electric supply store to find one exactly like it for replacement. About this time the D/W noticed a little thingy on the side of the flipper part of the switch and then it dawned on us what was going on.

I simply put everything back together and the little thingy turns out to be a dimmer control. Nothing was wrong just had to spend about 15-20 minutes learning how to use the wall switch.

I thought this was simply too funny not to share it with everyone. Have a great day!

[bncinwv]

I guess that is one way to make "light" of a "dim" situation. I will go ahead and supply the GROOOAAAANNNN for that pun!
Bingo

[K0LCB]

That is good to know, I never expected a dimmer to look like a regular switch

[jimcol]

The newer ones are really concealed. Look at the switch in this link: http://www.lowes.com/pd_354162-539-T...=dimmer+switch The small slide switch next to the right of the on/off toggle is the dimmer. Bill you are not the first to have missed it. Jim

[DQDick]

You're not alone. I put some of those in before we sold the S&B and last winter, you guessed it, I got that call.

[kylec2]

I put one in our bathroom a few years ago so the light could be dimmed during in midnight visits. Several months later I am scratching my head why the lights were so dim...my bride just laughed at me and pushes up the slider. She still likes to remind me of that (lol).

[Recumbent]

Hey, we find new (to us) stuff every little bit, and enjoy the laughs especially when others are observing. Just bought a new dining room dimmer switch and now have to do the install.

[Flymutt]

Is that where the saying, "the light is on but no is home"? comes from? No, that wouldn't be right. Maybe it's, "there's someone home but the light's not on"

[Art-n-Marge]

I thought the phrase was, "Ya learn something new every day"... It doesn't have to be complicated, and Bill-N-Donna learned something... YEE-HA

[ALSAN]

Blessed are the ones that laugh at them selves for they will all ways be amused. been there done that

[CORattler]

Kinda goes along the same line as turning off the battery cutoff switch at the service center then trying to figure out why none of the 12 volt stuff works in your rig!