"Don Y" wrote in message
...
On 2/22/2016 10:17 PM, Texas Kingsnake wrote:
It;s really not that bad! And, it's not really *hard* work. It's
FRUSTRATING because you can't see what you are doing... can't tell
if this is likely to be the problem, etc.

But, I'll wager you didn't hesitate the first time you tried to
unhook a bra strap "without seeing"! :

Funny you should say that. I just pull the shoulder straps down
simultaneously and keep pulling until it's down around the waist. The
change in diameter from shoulders to waist often unhooks the bra all by
itself. Either way, what needs to be accessed is accessible, if you
know
what I mean!

Ah, well I seem to recall sort of being "graded" on "technique".
So, the one-hand approach got the best appraisal!

It's all relative - one young lady exclaimed it was like have her "bodice
ripped" just like the potboiler paperbacks! Back when I went through
puberty girls weren't even wearing bras (wimmen's libbers)! Solved the
problem directly. Ah, the golden age of the Free Love seventies when a
woman was just as likely to undress YOU first. I don't recall ever having
to go through all the bases back then. Women on the street (not just on TV)
actually wore microskirts and see-through-blouses. Then came AIDS and
pantyhose and the party was over. But I "digest."

Of course, back then, it was much easier to impress.

EVERYTHING was easier back then, or so it seems to my aching back.

OTOH, I drove SWMBO for some labwork the other day and apparently
managed to "impress" the technician:
"Is that young man with you?"
"Yes."
"Lucky *you*!"

[I've learned that the only safe answer in these situations is
to SAY NOTHING!! : ]

Last weeks "Life in Pieces" (about the only good new sitcom I've found, 70
year old James Brolin gets his grey hair dyed jet black and restyled 70's
style. His wife is fine with it until they go shopping and the clerk says
something that ends in "your son." Then she says, "dye it back!"

I hope when all the possible loads
are removed, the arc fault disappears and I can add things back one at
a
time until it pops. Not sure what I will do if the AFCI still trips
with no
detectable loads. I suppose that when I get the clamp ammeter out to
see if
there is a load I missed.

First make sure the AFCI doesn't trip with NO WIRE attached to it!

Yep, that's on the list. I've decided to wire a SPDT switch between the
two
breakers (now that I have so many open slots) and the circuit wire --
temporarily. That way I can power the circuit through either breaker at
the
flip of a switch.

I'm not sure why you are adding a second breaker and then wanting to
switch
between them.

Well, because I have other things to do and not having light or power on
those circuits is problematic. I've shunted all the loads I can without
stringing the house with 50' extension cords -- a technique that has
remarklably low SWMBO approval ratings. I might rethink that as I get down
to real testing. Somehow, with the old breaker connected things seem far
less urgent than with that circuit dead. I was lying in bed (you apparently
don't sleep much, Buckaroo!) thinking -- got a new panel, got 5 working
AFCI's out of 6, got a new main breaker (part of the new panel) and
legitimate room for expansion -- so why beat myself up about one farking
AFCI breaker that might even be bad? We even down-graded a 15A circuit back
to a 15A breaker instead of the 20A that someone had put in. So things are
immeasurably better.

While it does bother me that there's something sizzling away in the walls or
somewhere it doesn't bother me so much that I was unable to fall asleep.
How DOES the AFCI figure out there's a bad connection out there?

Note that switches come in different contact configurations.
Be sure yours is "break before make" else you can end up shorting one
"side" of the switch (i.e., one of the "DT"s) to the other as the
armature travels from one position to the other. The short will persist
for one or two ohnoseconds... long enough for a profound "Ooops!"

Got a huge, ancient porcelain-based knife switch that HAS to be break before
make. But there's a lot of exposed copper which makes it probably more
dangerous than an enclosed switch. How do you tell if it's make before
break? Why would anyone ever want to make before break unless the circuit
can not tolerate being unloaded?

The fox and hound tester might be useful elsewhere, but it wasn't very
useful in this situation. If the break is in the walls, a whole new
circuit
will be pulled. Great Caesar's ghost this got complicated in a big
freaking
hurry. frown

Time for a nap. A 6:00AM day, tomorrow (whoever invented AM should be
taken
out, beaten until bloody, then shot -- repeatedly!!)

This situation has a built in nag factor. My buddy said he would come back
when I had traced the arc fault down so I probably have to show a good faith
effort. He was unhappy about leaving the breaker hanging and the cover off
but I told him I was just going to uncover it anyway and leaving it hanging
would make swapping it out faster.

AFTER he installs the box he tells me that new AFCI panels have an extra
neutral rail -- no more farking pigtails. I asked why we didn't use that
and he said so we could reuse the old (actually quite new) breakers. So I
agreed.

It would have been nice to get one of those smart panels but you would never
recapture that expense upon resale and I am not sure knowing how much juice
every circuit is using would be useful. At least I think that's what a
smart panel does -- now that I think about it, I am not sure.

TKS