Never underestimate the value of that “random dude on the Internet.” A few weeks ago, I put a dimmer to put a (ahem) damper on an overly zealous set of hallway lights after replacing old halogens with energy efficient LEDs; these were insanely bright compared to the halogens.

Long story short… our house is 40+ year old, meaning we have old wiring (no neutral wires), which meant I had to buy special dimmers (from Lutron, if you care), which them meant I had to replace an old GFCI outlet on the same circuit (bought a Leviton). After wiring it up exactly like the original, it didn’t work, despite the happy green light that indicated we should all be happy. Oddly enough, the lights on that same circuit, including the dimmers and three-way switches, all worked. Just no power to those outlets.

Tried a dozen things. Re-checked wiring. Nada. Almost gave up. Modified my search to indicate brand of GFCI and made sure to include the part about the light being solid green. Just like that, Google directed me to some random dude on DIY StackExchange who knew the not-altogether-obvious answer. Now, everything works as it should.

My outlets have power, and life is good.

I love the Internet. And I love you too, random dude.