Light Switches don't seem to control anything.?
Question:I bought a townhouse a few months back and switched out all the outlets and switches. I have 3 switches that don't seem to turn anything on. I plugged a light into each top/bottom outlet and turn the switch on and off, but nothing. I am thinking that I didn't break off one of the tabs on the side but don't know which one I should break off which outlet. Can I choose which outlet is controlled by the switch? How do I know which tab to break off? Really annoying having switches that don't power anything. HELP !
Answers:
If you have a red and black wire in a outlet box that is the oulet tab you want to break off , if you have 2 black wires dont break tabs .
Do not worry, these are probably "dummy" switches. They were put in by the electrician because he put in a larger box than necessary and did not notice his mistake until the drywall was put up and finished. They were put in to hold the plate on, and nothing else. if the switches have no wires connecte4d to them, then this is what it is. If there are wires connected to the switch, then you will have to find out what they are controlling. You can choose what outlet is controlled by a switch by making sure that the wire coming from the switch is on the terminal of the outlet you want controlled by the switch. This is only applicable if there is one wire one EACH of the BRASS terminals. The brass terminals are the hot terminals. This is also the only tab you should have to remove.
You do know that one of them controls your neighbor's garage door..did you see the commercial ?
And the other one flushes the people around the corners toilet.
I have seen this in townhouses. The one i saw went to a ceiling box to control a potential ceiling fan
wow good thing you weren't asking how to save a life
you are refering to switch/plug where a switch operates 1/2 of a plug, dont forget dishwasher switch, out side lights...
if switch plugh you most likely didn't snap the tab to isolate the 2 halves of the plug, may be hard to find. you cannot choose the outlet it will only be one, pe-wired that way
Your ceiling fixtures may be prewired for fan plus light kit, but you only have one or the other. E.g. our family room has a ceiling fan with no light, but our wall has two switches - the switch for the light is wired but not connected to anything. Our bedrooms were prewired for both but had no fans. I bought fans with light kits later.
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