Does it ever turn out to be anything other than a bad connector in this line of work? Man, three hours in a Phoenix attic sounds rough, at least you finally smoked it out.

The whole "neighbor Dave walks over and solves it in 10 seconds" thing is basically a law of nature. My version of Dave was the guy at the hardware store who watched me buy a second baffle after I gave up on the first one, and he just said "you know the cone goes the other way, right?" Three weeks of me standing in the rain staring at a wet feeder like it owed me money. Anyway, the cheap ones work fine once they're right side up, I've had a $20 pole cone going on four years now and the squirrels still act like it's a war crime. Pole mount holds up better in wind, the hanging ones swing and dump seed every time it gusts.