I have a light switch that is supposed to be attached to an outlet(the outlet is upside down), but when I turn the light switch on. It does not control the outlet. The outlet works and provides power regardless of what position the light switch is in. What should I do to fix this? I do not have money for an electrician!Does anyone know of any good self-help or do it yourself forums for electrical wiring type problems like this? I have very limited knowledge in electrical field but I am pretty handy with everything else.
Perhaps the person who lived in your house before you didn't want the outlet to be switched. Perhaps his TV and entertainment center was plugged in, and he didn't want to lose the VCR clock, program settings, and a number of other things by turning off the power. He may have connected the two wires together in the switch box, defeating the switch. Take the switch apart and see if anything looks out of ordinary.
Go to Ehow or Wikihow. Lot's of instruction to do Basic Electrical work. Your light switch is supposed to control only the light, not the outlet. So, there is nothing wrong with your electrical set up. So, when you turn the light switch off to turn off the light, you can still use your outlet to charge your phone or plug in a coffee maker or vacuum cleaner. You should not mess with it unless the outlet is bad: got loose connection etc.
The outlet must wired to the switch, most of the time is the upside down one! You need to cut out the center jumper on the plug, make sure you do it on the gold side (hot side). Good luck with your little project!
Either the switch isn't wired to the outlet or the switch is broken internally and not breaking the circuit. The first option is much more likely. Light switchs are pretty cheap and you can replace the one you are working on with a screwdriver or two, just turnthe power off first. If that doesn't solve the problem then I doubt the light switch ever controlled the plug. If you know how to use a multimeter you can check the circuit without replacing the switch but if you don't have one or don't know how to use it, just replace the switch. Good luck!
This type of receptacle is referred to as a half hot. The outlet has a little gold tab on the hot side that bridges the two lugs that you wrap or stab the wire into. Typically this tab is broken and that seperates the two lugs and effectively the top and bottom of the outlet giving you the half hot. Either the top or bottom will always be hot and the other turned on via the switch. If this receptacle was changed out it could not have been wired properly or that brass gold looking tab was not broke off. Alternatively the switch could be disfunctional or bypassed to eliminate the switch all together making it a dummy switch with no purpose.
