Small mysteries
A few years ago, I had a handyman replace the outdoor floodlight fixture over the garage. Last winter, one of the light bulbs stopped working; I presumed it had burned out. I bought two replacement bulbs, figuring it wise to replace both at once (especially since the fixture is in a location I can't get to). I bought pricy, super-long lasting bulbs for the same parenthetical reason.
When the house painters were here, I asked them to replace both bulbs. They did. But the fixture didn't work. It has a motion detector and I could see a bit of an orange glow come on that seemed to indicate it was detecting motion, but no floodlights. My best guess was that there was something about my pricy, super-long lasting, fancy-dancy bulbs that didn't work in the fixture.
The guy at Lowe's thought any of their floodlight bulbs should work when I talked with him while buying lower-priced replacement bulbs. Of course, by the time I got around to doing that, the painters were long gone. One of these days, I really do have to buy an extension ladder....
The summer passed, with no floodlights, ever. I finally turned the switch off, flipping it every once in awhile wishing that hope might triumph over experience, but it never did.
On Monday, my neighbor came down to work out with me. (We've just started doing this; hope it sticks!) It was dark when she left, and she asked me to turn on the light. I told her it wasn't working and flipped the switch to demonstrate.
The floodlights came on, of course. They've been coming on regularly (when they should) for 48 hours now. They go off a bit more quickly than I would prefer (or that I remember them doing before), but they come on! I should know better than to look at this gift pony's teeth any more closely.
"Should know better" so rarely trumps "because curiosity."
I don't know enough about electricity to know if shorts or other wiring problems can be temperature sensitive. The Interwebs tell me that resistance typically increases as temperature increases, and, as a Wikipedia article says, "As a consequence, the resistance of wires, resistors, and other components often change with temperature. This effect may be undesired, causing an electronic circuit to malfunction at extreme temperatures."
Only it seems that my circuit resumed functioning as soon as it got cold. Besides, Massachusetts spring, summer, and fall temperatures can hardly be considered "extreme." Even this cold snap isn't extreme.
And if there were damage to the wiring, caused by mice or squirrels, for example, it hardly seems likely that there are rodent electricians in my Flamingo Loft, repairing damage done by their cousins.
So why did the fixture stop working as soon as the new floodlights were installed...and why did it start working 6-7 months later?
When the house painters were here, I asked them to replace both bulbs. They did. But the fixture didn't work. It has a motion detector and I could see a bit of an orange glow come on that seemed to indicate it was detecting motion, but no floodlights. My best guess was that there was something about my pricy, super-long lasting, fancy-dancy bulbs that didn't work in the fixture.
The guy at Lowe's thought any of their floodlight bulbs should work when I talked with him while buying lower-priced replacement bulbs. Of course, by the time I got around to doing that, the painters were long gone. One of these days, I really do have to buy an extension ladder....
The summer passed, with no floodlights, ever. I finally turned the switch off, flipping it every once in awhile wishing that hope might triumph over experience, but it never did.
On Monday, my neighbor came down to work out with me. (We've just started doing this; hope it sticks!) It was dark when she left, and she asked me to turn on the light. I told her it wasn't working and flipped the switch to demonstrate.
The floodlights came on, of course. They've been coming on regularly (when they should) for 48 hours now. They go off a bit more quickly than I would prefer (or that I remember them doing before), but they come on! I should know better than to look at this gift pony's teeth any more closely.
"Should know better" so rarely trumps "because curiosity."
I don't know enough about electricity to know if shorts or other wiring problems can be temperature sensitive. The Interwebs tell me that resistance typically increases as temperature increases, and, as a Wikipedia article says, "As a consequence, the resistance of wires, resistors, and other components often change with temperature. This effect may be undesired, causing an electronic circuit to malfunction at extreme temperatures."
Only it seems that my circuit resumed functioning as soon as it got cold. Besides, Massachusetts spring, summer, and fall temperatures can hardly be considered "extreme." Even this cold snap isn't extreme.
And if there were damage to the wiring, caused by mice or squirrels, for example, it hardly seems likely that there are rodent electricians in my Flamingo Loft, repairing damage done by their cousins.
So why did the fixture stop working as soon as the new floodlights were installed...and why did it start working 6-7 months later?