The Swiss Wall Switch
A dead light, strange wiring, expensive plastic, and one call I preferred not to make.
The light stopped working after I connected one thing too many to a wall unit that combined a plug and a switch. The timing made me look guilty. Opening it made the case less clear.
The switch already looked tired inside. Some of the damage had clearly been developing for a while. I may have delivered the final insult, but I do not think I wrote the whole story.
The ordinary Swiss solution was to call someone. The interesting part is that the visit may become your bill if they decide you caused the problem. I preferred to spend that uncertainty on a replacement part and an afternoon with my tools.
Swiss switches are also impressively expensive for objects whose main intellectual contribution is on and off. At those prices, I wanted to at least understand what I was buying.
I cut the power, opened the unit, photographed everything and started mapping the wiring. The arrangement was unfamiliar enough to be annoying and logical enough to become satisfying once it finally clicked.
The replacement worked. The light came back, the socket behaved, and I understood one more small piece of the place where I live.
I already owned the tools. Apparently they also expect assignments.