Problems with electrical outlet?

Question

my light switch is currently connected to the LAST outlet, meaning onely 1 set of wires runs through it. i have a ground, hot, nuetral, and one that runs to the light switch. my problem is that the light switch controls both of the outlet plugs. i rewired it and managed to have the light switch only control 1 plug but now the unused plug doesnt work. is there something i am missing? i connect the switch wire to a black hole and a hot wire to the seperate black hole. i only have 1 neutral though, is that a problem? i really need this outlet to work. 8(

Answer 1

**Make sure you turn off the power at the breaker box FIRST!**

One outlet gets the pink wire on the gold s***w and the other outlet gets the black wire to the gold s***w.  The neutral, white wire, goes to the silver screws on both outlets. Green wire goes to green s***w.

**Make sure you turn off the power at the breaker box FIRST!**

Answer 2

you have a breaker or fuse in the fuse/breaker box. the load/black wire comes from the fuse ,the white wire called common returns to the common block in the fusebox. to turn a light on and off you need to break the black wire ,which you do with the switch,think about a circle fuse box- black wire- to switch ,-switch to light,-  to white wire,- back to fuse box complete circle ,you can add as many switches as you want ,or lights or outlets until you pull more amps than the breaker is rated for,then it kicks.put all this in your circle ,draw a picture if it helps ,i sometimes do it like that. you will find your circuit looks kind of like this black wire-switch light ,outlet,outlet,white  wire fusebox , you will need to find the wire that is always hot on the switch and run a wire off it to the outlets to take the switch out of the problem..........tom

Answer 3

A duplex receptacle has break-away tabs between the screws, they're there just for this purpose, to be able to switch half of the outlet, and have the other half "live" all the time.  

If the outlet has the wires you mentioned, you need to make sure,

1) The break-away tab on the neutral side of the duplex receptacle is intact.  

2) The hot wire goes to the bottom "hot" s***w and to the switch.

3) The switched "hot" wire gets connected to the top "hot" s***w.

Add info to your question if this doesn't help.

Answer 4

It sound like you broke off the tab on the silver side of the outlet.  You will need to jump the neutral so that it is on booth sides of the outlet.

If that doesn't work can you tell me the total number of black and white you have in your outlet?

  Bill Lutz

Generation 3 Electric, Inc.

www.Generation3electric.com

http://electrician-in-philadelphia.blogs...

Answer 5

What you have is the power goes to the switch first then to the outlet.  To get what you want you need to pull another wire either form the switch, from the breaker box, or from another outlet.