In a message dated 11/2/01 1:33:30 AM, Gnarlodious@earthlink.net writes:

<< Seems to me that the arc may be so incomplete as to not even show lights at
the rear, especially daytime. >>

Rachel,

Thanks for the input.  Since it only happens when underway, I ruled out that
possibility by running it without the backup light fuse.  Of course, with an
aging Vanagon which has been known to provide winter refuge for various
little critters, there is always the possibility of a phantom circuit.

Maybe if I cancel the purchase order for the portable spectrum analyzer and
rely on my wife's interpretation of Karma, someday while I am under the van
my gaze will fall on a chaffed conductor that is in just the right strain to
provide an answer.  As unnatural as it seems to me, that might be what a
normal person would do.

Rich