Light switch problem

Shop deals on ebay
shop deals on amazon
SpartanEpoxies
House Repair Talk

Help Support House Repair Talk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
T

TGMcCallie

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2011
Messages
59
Reaction score
6
I needed another outlet so I bought a outlet that had a toggle switch to control a garbage disposer and a outlet under it. I left the tab intact so I would have voltage to both the light switch and the outlet. This is one that has a little red light that tells you when the light is on. Now you can plug something into the receptacle and it works fine UNTIL you flip the toggle switch to turn on the garbage disposal (then the light that is plugged into the receptacle goes out.

What did I do wrong? I thought I followed the instructions but evidently I did not.

Another thing that may help you figure out what I did wrong: The little red light that is suppose to come on when the switch is on DOES NOT come on. I thought oh well I can live with that until I found the other problem with the lamp that I also had plugged in goes out when the switch is flipped and the disposal comes on.

Thanks
 
I did not get any reply from this forum so I called Cooper Electric who makes the outlet. Here is their reply which I followed and fixed my problem. This might help someone else that might read this post.

Quote from Tech Support with Cooper:
"To wire your device you need t o do the following:

Hot (120V0 to either of the black screws
Switch Leg (Load Wire) to the top right brass screw
Neutral Wire to the Silver screw on the bottom left.
Note: Do NOT break off the tab between the two black screws. If you have any further questions feel free to write back."
 
That great that you got it fixed but you did not explain how you had it wired that was wrong so other could learn what not to do.
 
I had not pigtailed a neutral wire and attached it to the silver screw on the bottom outlet.

I had instructions with the outlet when I bought it but threw them away because I thought I had installed it correctly. Both did work but my wife discovered that when you turned on the disposal the lamp went out.

Now I undersand that the neutral sides of the outlet must be factory tabbed as well as the hot sides and I was probably breaking the neutral when I turned on the switch.

I had just never installed an outlet that had a switch on top and outlet below so I did not understand how they worked, I guess.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top