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Jim Redelfs

In article
,
wrote:

Someone I know has a 2 story house from around the 1930s. There is a
room with a wall switch, but no overhead light, and he knows at some
point the celing was redone in plaster. He suspects the ceiling light
socket is there, but not sure of the exact location and does not want
to tear up the plaster looking for it. Is there any way to
determine?

Without invasive action (cutting, drilling, etc) the only way to locate the
wires is with a test probe. An amplified test probe is the most convenient
model but none are cheap.

http://www.arcade-electronics.com/detail.aspx?ID=22590

Such test equipment is used heavily in the telecommunications industry,
particularly in legacy telephone facitilies to locate a single pair in a cable
or enclosure containing many hundreds or thousands of pairs. The probe SHOULD
reveal the location of wires as long as they are connected to a working (or
workable) circuit, energized or not. Disconnecting the wires at their source,
then adding a locating signal, might improve locating success.

A good metal detector SHOULD work to locate the BOX from which the original
fixture hung as long as it is still there.

If this house was indeed wired in the 1930s, it is reasonable to expect that
every room had a ceiling fixture generally dead-center of the room with the
possible (though unlikely) exception of the living room. It is surprising,
however, that when the ceiling fixture was abandoned (if it indeed existed),
the box was not simply covered with a blank plate. It is unlikely there would
be switch-controlled wall outlets from that era. Of course, that possibility
should be investigated. Good luck!
--

JR

Climb poles and dig holes
Have staplegun, will travel