I am experiencing a problem with electrical wiring. I was trying to change a lightswitch to a duplex lightswitch/outlet. I could only get the outlet to work, not the lightswitch part. So I deceided to switch back to my original lightswitch (that originally worked just fine) because I would have to wait for someone who knows more to help me with the duplex. Now the lightswitch doesn't work either. What could have happend to cause this and how do I fix this?
Did i get you right , that what you needed is a light switch and an extra outlet? the power line for a light switch, one passing thru the switch then connected to the light, while the other, live one is connected directly to your light or receptacles, when you switch the light the line that pass thru you switch is powered giving you a positive and negative power. to light your lamp. Now when you installed an additional outlet, you must connect the two negative and positive wire to your outlet. See to it that the line connected to your receptacles is not altered but connected to one terminal of your outlet say as the positive line,while the other line the negative line, connected to your outlet should extend thru your switch then from switch this line shall be connected to your receptacle to complete the connection. I presumed that you know how to connect the wire to your switch. This is only a single live wire, cut off into two, one connected to he upper terminal of your switch and the one one connected to lower terminal then this line is connected to the terminal of your receptacle to complete the cycle. Check that even if your light is off, your outlet must be energised if it is not, then review your connection The failure of your light switch might be due to loose connection or parts of it isn't working anymore that you need to change it to new one.
To tell you the truth, I think you should call an electrician for this. Did you reconnect the neutral wire after trying to attach it to the receptacle outlet? How many wires did you have to start out?
It sounds like there are pigtails inside the box and one of them came loose. A pigtail is where the main electrical lines come into the box and then there is a shorter piece that it wire-nutted onto that. This shorter piece then goes to the switch or outlet. I would check the connections to see if one of them is loose.
