Hooked up a system for a retired electrician last Tuesday and he made me feel like a rookie

I was installing a wireless setup for this older guy, maybe 70 or so, and he starts asking about my panel placement. He mentioned they used to run everything on 2 wires with resistors back in the 80s, no wireless at all. I told him how I sometimes miss the simplicity of hardwired zones, no batteries to fail. He laughed and said 'at least you don't have to crawl through attics in August like we did.' It hit me different because I complain about new tech issues, but that guy dealt with way worse. I mean, we have it pretty easy compared to the old timers, right? Has anyone else had a chat with a retired installer that made you rethink your setup?

2 comments

2 Comments

lewis.terry1mo ago

Whoa, hold up lol. I get what you're saying but I actually kind of disagree. Sure they didn't have wireless headaches but those old guys had to run literal copper wires through every wall and crawl through hellholes too. And their panels were huge metal boxes with no diagnostics, just a bunch of jumpers and resistors. At least now I can troubleshoot a bad sensor from my phone in the truck. I think the hardwired simplicity is romanticized a bit because it was a pain to install and even worse to service when something went wrong.

nathan9011mo ago

Honestly, I used to be one of those guys who thought the old hardwired systems were bulletproof and everything new was garbage. But hearing you lay it out like that, especially about crawling through hellholes and wrestling with those giant metal boxes, makes me realize I was just romanticizing the past without remembering the actual headaches. I remember pulling a four-hour shift just to trace a short in an old 2-wire smoke detector loop, and that was with a manual meter. So yeah, you changed my mind. I'll take app-based diagnostics over that nightmare any day.