Stuck in the wall

[yuandrew]

I was fishing a new wire today for a bath fan/light in my upstairs bathroom. Used my 2AAA River Rock (Nuwai TM-311H) to light the inside of the wall where I was running the wire by shining it in through the hole that was cut for the light switch box. Unfortunately, I managed to drop my light down into the space between the wall by accident.

All I could do was get another light and finish running the wire then I tried using a strong magnet on the end of the fish tape to try to retrieve the river rock but was unsuccessful (and the magnet came off).

Guess my only choice now is to cut a hole in the wall to retrieve the light and the magnet but I'd probably wait till the weekend. I could also use some good drywall repair tips (I also have a hole above the light switch that needs to be patched as well)

Anyone ever lost a light down a confined space like I did earlier today ?

 

[Sgt. LED]

It happened to somebody a couple of months ago.

He left it there! I say get a bigger magnet and try again. :thumbsup:

 

[StandardBattery]

You can try one of the flexible wire claws, that might be able to grab the clip. I would think though you could get a better magnet and try again.

If you cut the whole, you can repair the drywall, or just buy a cover plate and mount an empty box and secure the cover. It can become your secret hiding spot.

 

[A/V Dude]

"Anyone ever lost a light down a confined space like I did earlier today ?"

I lost a mini Maglite (before I knew better) I was fishing speaker wire under a built in book shelf via the inside of a window seat when I dropped my mini mag and it rolled under the bookshelf and down a hole in the floor that was an old hvac vent no longer in use and just so happened to be in no mans land in the basement.

a second time I left a 2D Mag in a customers ceiling. It was on and it was a month or more before I was able to go back to the customers house. just happened to look in btween the ceiling bay and I found it. It no longer worked so I went to replace the batteries and the end cap would not come off as easily as it use to. Turns out the batteries had leaked out and coroaded
the tube shut. I was able to clean it out and use it again any way.

 

[Guy's Dropper]

Someone left a Surefire Centurion in a wall after they dropped it. They must have been insane!:thumbsdow

 

[aussiebob]

Ive done the same thing, while instaling 5.1 speakers in the ceiling, i droped my L0D approx 10ft down the cavity between the brick and and inside wall. I got a long peice of dowel from the shed, applied chewing gum to the end and probed it down to the bottom, the light stuck nicely and i pulled it up.

 

[Lightguru1]

Good idea !

 

[Sandman_Bravo]

I'm an electrician and had the same thing happen to me except the wall cavity was over 8' deep. Magnets don't really work on an aluminum body and gum doesn't have enough sticking surface/purchase. I got a length of 1/2 pvc conduit (it's flexible enough to bend in the from top if the exposed space is tight) and put a gob of duct seal (inexpensive-available at electrical dept. of lowes) on the end. It's sticky enough to grab the flashlight with ease. Good luck!

 

[Fallingwater]

Magnets don't work on the aluminium body, but they do grab the cells inside through the body.

Build a big fat electromagnet, hook it to a car battery, and get that light out of there

 

[Superdave]

There are a few mag-AA's in the walls of the casino i work at.. probably about 10-20 of them laying around in the ceiling as well. :duh2:

 

[Bectel]

I was able to suck my nitecore ex10 up with a shopvac when it was dropped in the wall while running wire.

 

[LLCoolBeans]

You should leave it in there for future generations to discover. Like a time capsule.

Reminds me of the stories where homeowners find all sorts of interesting doodads inside the walls of old homes when doing a remodel. Like tommy guns or prohibition era liquor bottles.

 

[scottaw]

If you know where it is, and you're patching holes anyways....just cut a hole in the drywall and fish that out. Use wall-span to fix the holes, it looks like screen and it's sticky on one side, stick over hole, mud over that, use a couple thin coats of mud and you'll never know it was there.

 

[65535]

If the magnet stuck to the flashlight and came off your hook, get a chunk of iron or steel and attach it well to a rope and go fishing for the magnet.

 

[rala]

I think you may have dropped it subconciuously so you would have an excuse to buy a better replacementBut for future reference, I highly recommend the use of a lanyard for jobs like that where there is a good possibility of losing or dropping your light.

 

[Guy's Dropper]

use a glob of duct tape on a string.

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

Go ahead and cut a hole to get the light. To repair the drywall, don't throw away the piece you cut out. Take another piece of drywall and cut it into the same shape as the other (should be a rectangular cut piece). Run a drywall screw through the middle of the non-painted piece. Use a hot melt glue gun to glue near the ends of the same drywall piece. Quickly pick up the piece by the drywall screw and put it through the hole. Turn it 90 degrees behind the layer of drywall and then pull on the screw some to put pressure on it and let the glue stick better. Hold in place until the hot melt glue hardens. Unscrew the drywall screw. Put hot melt glue on the back of the cut out piece of drywall. Carefully press it into the hole with minimal pressure until the glue hardens. Now all you have to do is place the sticky mudding tape over the cuts and mud over it. This is how my dad patches drywall holes. He's an electrical contractor.

 

[The Light!]

There are some seriously strong magnets over at www.gaussboys.com that might help to get your flashlight back by grabbing onto whatever has iron in the flashlight (switch, batts...), just stick them onto a length of chain or something and swing them down there! Then you can have some fun with the magnet and some magnetic thinking putty from www.puttyworld.com :duh2:Good luck getting it back!

 

[rala]

If you try using a magnet, neodymium is the way to go.

 

[A/V Dude]

And I have no idea how I lost my Fenix TK10:mecry: