Reply to "More Rheostat questions"

One other small problem: the Italian rheostats are often broken- no output at all. Fortunately, most can be fixed at home without even being disassembled. Inside, there is a hair-fine wire that takes 100% of the load out to the lights, and vibration/corrosion/age cracks it. But on the backside are two unused copper stub-contacts. By soldering an insulated jumper across them, magically the 'trons can get out to the lights again! You can easily check if this is your inop problem by holding a probe against the two stubs and seeing if your system then works.