How To Wire An Electrical Outlet To A Switch

Wiring a switch in series.

How to wire an electrical outlet to a switch. Neutral wire is not required in 240v outlets wiring. The neutral earth and live wire should be connected to the box. The black circuit wire goes on the brass line terminal and the white wire goes on the chrome line terminal. Use the black wire as the power in.

The ground wires go on the ground terminal just as they do for a conventional outlet. Wiring a switch to an outlet in this wiring a switch is added to to an existing outlet by removing the hot wire from outlet brass terminal and connected to the first terminal of switch. Ensure the cable you feed in is long enough to reach the terminals of the socket. Connect the last switch in the usual manner looping the wire around the screw in a clockwise direction.

The neutral could be white or black. If neutral wires are present in the electrical box they are simply joined together with a wire connector bypassing the switch. With this example these two wires are configured to break the circuit power and send the power to the switch and then back to the outlet. Connect the wires to the receptacles.

The silver screws should be connected to the neutral wire white or blue the green screw should be connected to the ground earth wire green yellow or naked if there is no color coded screws on outlets refer to the user manual or contact a licensed electrician. Connect the black wire to one of the switch terminals and the black wire going to the light fixture to the other switch terminal. The source hot at the switch is spliced with the red cable wire to the outlet and a pigtail to the switch. When wiring standard switches the wires connected to the switch are both hot.

Connect the white neutral wire to one of the neutral silver colored terminals. Mark the wire wire with black electrical tape at each end and use it for the power out. This way the outlet is wired and controlled on off through the switch. To connect the switches simply score the wire with your wire stripper and push the insulation to expose about 3 4 in.

When that s done you can treat the cable coming from the outlet into the switch box as a regular line cable. Instead of running a separate pigtail from the hot wire to each switch just leave the hot wire extra long. At the receptacle the red connects to the top half of the outlet. Twist the white wires together and cap them and connect the ground wires to the ground terminal.

Rewire the existing electrical outlet connect the wires of the new cable to the existing wires. The 3wire cable can be used for switching as follows. The outgoing black and white wires must be connected to the load terminals. Strip about 10 inches of plastic sheathing from the new cable to expose the black white and copper wires.

The second terminal of switch then connected back to the brass terminal of outlet.