I am generally competent with electrical circuits and wiring. I have wired homes. I reference wiring diagrams, etc. So, I am not a total newbie. Not an electrician, but pretty knowledgeable. I have an old farmhouse. Need I say more? All that said, YEARS ago a light quit working. It was a junky florescent that was poorly installed (flush mounted against a drop ceiling). We do not use the room much. I finally got around to messing with it. I hated to drop the large fixture, so I decided to do the switch. The physical switch has two switches, each single pole. As far as I know, these are the only things on the breaker; I have never found anything else. The one toggle works fine. To be clear, I turn off power at the breaker before making a change. I see that the power to the secondary switch/fixture turns off and consider it safe. This is done for each change mentioned below. Step 1: I bought another switch and wired it identically. No change. Step 2: Time to pull down the fixture. I attempted to pull it down normally. It did not go so well. The fixture was quite heavy and as I removed the last supprt screw, it came down faster than I thought. I did not have a chance to examine the wiring as it pulled apart on its own. I looked at the wire nuts. One was missing (A) and I could not find it on the floor. It was a bundle of several wires without a wirenut. Hmm. I do not know of anything else running on the circuit, remember. Two other older wirenuts were there. One was on a single wire by itself (C). Another had three wires (B). Hmm. I should have tested at this point, but I did not. I guessed. I hooked up the fixture to wirenut A and C. No dice. Step 3: Time to pull out the meter. I have a DVM. I put a jumper on the wire at the fixture and run that jumper down to where I can touch the switch leads. Wirenut A did not show continuity anywhere at the switch. Wirenut B seemed to flicker all over the place. I assumed my jumper wire was not connecting well. Dumb assumption, but I made it. I tested wire C. It had continuity. I attached to B and C. Turn on power. The puzzle: The light did not turn on. Then, I turned on the second switch and both illuminated. Hmm. I killed the breaker so I could think but left both switches on. Both lights FLICKERED continually. Yes, the breaker is off. Both are flickering. I separate my wirenuts and the secondary switch works fine. HELP! I hope you are following what I have said. I do not understand the wiring, and now feel like I need to take additional precautions so I do not get electrocuted (kill main for testing). Why the heck is there power on the circuit with the breaker off?

Can 1 awg direct burial aluminum wire be used for a 200amp service at 65 meters in length? My electrician told me it would be okay so long as it is not encased in conduit so as to reduce heat build up. However, there is conduit from the footing to the meter base. Currently the electrical code in Canada states that you can have 135amp service with aluminum 1awg encased in conduit. I just want to make sure that this service is not compromised. Thanks