MYSTERIOUS LIGHT OPERATIONS

By Val D. Greenwood

When we bought our condo as a spec home in January of 2002, some of the light fixtures were pretty low–end pieces and not what we wanted to keep permanently. For one thing, we wanted to get a couple of ceiling fans when we found some we liked and could afford them. One of these was to be a nice fixture for the family room—something that looked good, matched somewhat the fixture over our dining room table, was dimmable, and operated with a remote control device.

In the summer of 2006, we found just the right fixture on the Internet and learned we could buy it at a local store.  After it was installed, we were pleased with how it looked and how nicely it worked. Then, a few months later, it started to do strange things. It would turn on by itself at unusual times—sometimes it was on when we got up in the morning.  Or it would be on when we came home at night. It also turned off at strange times. We might be reading or watching TV when it would just turn off. This strange phenomenon continued for some time, and I finally resigned myself to the fact that I needed to take it down and return it to the store.

Then one morning before Church, however, before I had completed the determined task, our neighbor from the adjoining unit, came up and asked what seemed like a strange question: “Do you have a remote–controlled ceiling fan and light?”

“Yes.”

“Does it turn on and off at unusual times by itself?”

“Yes, it does.”

“So do we,” he said.  “But don’t worry, I’ll change the combination on my remote and that should solve the problem.”

And it did.