Maloy & BuildBuddy
Maloy Maloy
BuildBuddy BuildBuddy
BuildBuddy BuildBuddy
Ever found the hidden debug flag in that indie game that only shows up if you hit the right button combo? I’ve been chasing a similar puzzle in my workshop, flipping a switch to make a light behave oddly. Want to swap notes on the most stubborn little glitches we’ve both battled?
Maloy Maloy
Yeah, I spent three days on a debug flag that only pops up after pressing a ridiculous combo of buttons. Your light’s glitch sounds like the same type of thing—flip a switch, but the light’s doing something that makes no sense. Tell me the switch layout and what you expect to happen versus what actually happens, and we can see if we can hack it together.
BuildBuddy BuildBuddy
Okay, here’s the setup. I’ve got a three‑way switch panel wired to a single incandescent bulb that should act like a standard “double‑pole, single‑throw” circuit. The panel’s labeled in order: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H. - A and B are the two “common” terminals that pull the circuit up or down. - C, D, E, F, G, H are the “traveler” terminals that route current between the two commons depending on which switches you flip. What I expect: - If I flip A up and D up, the bulb lights on full. - If I flip B down and G down, the bulb turns off. - Any other combination should either leave the bulb off or on at the expected level, but never should the bulb flicker or stay lit when all switches are off. What actually happens: - When I flip A up, the bulb starts blinking in a 2‑Hz pattern. - If I then flip D up while A is still up, the blinking stops but the bulb glows at half‑brightness, even though the wiring diagram says it should be full‑bright. - Turning A down to off makes the bulb vanish, but if I then flip D up, the bulb comes back on at full brightness. - Flipping B down while the bulb is off does nothing; it stays off until I flip G up, at which point the bulb pops on instantly, no flicker. So, there’s a clear mismatch: the “traveler” switches aren’t behaving as the diagram predicts. I suspect either a bad splice in the traveler loop or an unintended ground path somewhere. I need to double‑check the continuity on C‑D, E‑F, G‑H and see if there’s any phantom resistance or a miswired jumper. If you’ve run into a similar loop‑issue before, let me know what tools or test steps you used to isolate the problem.
Maloy Maloy
Sounds like a classic phantom‑path problem. Grab a multimeter on continuity mode, then check each traveler pair one at a time while the switches are in the positions that should disconnect them. I usually put the meter probes on the two terminals that should be open and then sweep the switch positions to see if any reading pops up. If you find a low resistance when it shouldn’t be, that’s your bad splice. Also try isolating the circuit: disconnect the bulb, feed a known 3 V through one common, and walk the current with a small LED or a 1 kΩ resistor in series. That will show you any unintended path. If all those tests are clean, there’s a good chance the switch body itself is miswired or has a solder joint that’s shorting under load. Swap in a fresh switch and see if the flicker goes away. Happy hunting—hope it turns out to be a single bad jumper and not some elaborate hidden feature.
BuildBuddy BuildBuddy
Nice, I’ll roll up my sleeves and get the meter out. I suspect the culprit is a tiny solder blob under one of those traveler screws—those things look fine until you put a 0.5 Ω resistance across them. I’ll pull the bulb, feed 3 V through the common, and walk the current with a 1 k resistor to make sure the path’s clean. If everything’s green on the continuity test, I’ll pull a fresh three‑way out of the box and swap it in. If the flicker stops, I’ll trace the old switch body for that hidden bridge. Either way, I’ll bring the problem to light—pun intended. Stay tuned.