Need some wiring help

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edog's 80

edog's 80

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
May 13, 2008
Threads
38
Messages
350
Location
Boulder, CO
I'll try to keep this as non-confusing as possible. I have an outlet that used to be hooked to a switch so if one desired, you could switch the outlet on and off at will. At some point, someone didn't want the switch and converted the outlet to always hot. To do this, they spun the hot and neutral together and called it a day.

Here is where I come in. I want to use the power supply to connect to a switch that runs a recessed light. The problem is that I want to maintain the outlet in an always hot condition because my plasma is hooked up to it.

If I leave the neutral/hot spliced together and run a hot pigtail off that to the switch, I will end up with an unmatched neutral coming off the recessed light. It seems like my only option is to keep both the outlet and the light connected to the switch, which I would like to avoid because I will no longer have my hookup for the TV.

Thanks

A picture below might help:
Wiring.webp
 
Did they wire nut the wires together in the switch box?
 
You need to go to the box with the outllet and pick up your power there. There should be a hot coming in, that will feed the outlet and switch and the white can be connected to the other whites and become a neutral again. That shoiuld give you hot and neutral to the switch.
 
Thornton said:
You need to go to the box with the outllet and pick up your power there. There should be a hot coming in, that will feed the outlet and switch and the white can be connected to the other whites and become a neutral again. That shoiuld give you hot and neutral to the switch.
Click to expand...

Crap, I was afraid that might be the case, it's quite far away unfortunately and will require cutting drywall and monkeying around fishing wire.
 
Please make sure that you disconnect the black and white wires in the switch box before you turn the breaker back on
 
You should check w/ you local club to see if there are any experienced electricians around who could take a look on the cheap. Thornton pretty well stated what I was thinking-at least as a place to start. This type of situation can become murkey for the non electrically inclined, and you don't want to get it wrong.....
 
Thanks for all the help, I have learned a lot that's for sure.

I think I am just going to abandon getting power from that area, I have a live outlet/switch in a much more convenient spot that I can pull and pigtail off of. In order for me to find said outlet and pull hot wire from it I would need to do significant fishing and sheetrock work just to make it happen. Needless to say, there is an outlet and switch nearby in a bathroom that would make a great place for a new switch to pull from.
 
fsusteve said:
not really sure why they would do it that way when they could just leave the switch on.
Click to expand...

Tell me about it, this place is full of funky wiring. I found out that they also have a half hot outlet that they decided to throw a dimmer switch onto, probably to dim a lamp they had there. Of course that's not up to code.
 
I already fished the wires in for the ceiling light. I ended up running off a switch and relocating the whole switch panel. It works great now!
 
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