How to Wire an Electrical Outlet With a Light Switch
- 1). Turn off the electricity to your circuit by turning off the breaker in your main electrical panel.
- 2). Cut two 6-inch pieces of 14 solid THHN black wire and one 6-inch piece of 14 solid THHN white wire using wire cutter/strippers. Strip a 1/2-inch of insulation off of each end of the three wires. This step creates your pigtail wires that you need in later steps.
- 3). Locate the power supply wires inside your single gang electrical box. The power supply wires consist of a black (hot) wire, a white (neutral) wire and a bare copper (ground) wire. The power supply wires connect back to the electrical panel box. Locate the wires connected to the light fixture; they consist of a black, white and bare copper wire.
- 4). Connect the two black pigtails you created in Step 2 to the black power supply wire by twisting an orange wire nut onto all three wires. Connect the white pigtail wire, the white power supply wire and the white wire from the light fixture together by twisting an orange wire nut onto all three wires.
- 5). Connect the black wire from the light fixture to the screw on the left side of the switch portion of the device. The device should be oriented so that the switch is at the top and the outlet is on the bottom. This facilitates any plug you might plug into the outlet without being hindered by the toggle switch. Connect one of the black pigtail wires you previously connected in Step 4 to the screw on the right side of the switch portion of the device and tighten the screw.
- 6). Connect the remaining black pigtail wire to the copper screw on the right side of the outlet portion of the device and tighten the screw. Connect the white pigtail wire to the silver screw on the left side of the outlet and tighten that screw as well. Connect the bare copper wire to the green ground screw located on the device and tighten.
- 7). Attach the device to the electrical box in the wall. Push all excess wiring into the back of the box and connect the device to the top and the bottom of the electrical box with the screws provided with the device.
- 8). Install the duplex cover plate to the device with the provided screw and turn the electricity back on to your circuit by turning on the breaker in the main electrical panel.
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