Switch-plug combo:
bare ground goes to green screw
dark screw goes to hot from breaker
silver screw to neutral
brass screw goes to load (light)
Add a comment any time
You are replacing single pole light switch?
Single pole switch has 3 wires: black and red and bare copper
New device has 4 different colored screws: green, dark, brass, silver
Bare copper goes to green screw.
Black wire goes to dark screw
Red wire to brass screw
Nothing on silver screw for a moment. Test circuit and make sure light turns on-off.
If lights works, then good so far.
Now let look at silver screw. Neutral wire has to connect to silver screw.
In back of your electrical box are white wires twisted together and covered with wire nut.
These are neutral wires.
You must connect another short piece of insulated wire to these neutral wires and run that wire to silver screw.
The neutral wire will complete circuit to receptacle.
If you do not have neutral wire, then receptacle will not work in that box without additional wiring.
Hook up neutral wire to silver screw.
Now turn on power and click switch again.
If circuit breaker trips, then reverse your red and black wires.
Otherwise this should be correct wiring.
i thank you for your help, BUT...I am replacing a switch/ outlet combo...with a switch/ outlet combo....when I removed the old one, there were only 3 wires connected to it within the box...(it worked fine, the only problem was that the toggle switch broke off) ; it is configured differently than the "cooper" brand that I purchased...the old one had 2 copper colored terminals on the left and on the right it had 3 terminals #1brass, #2 green #3 silver (in this order top to bottom)...and only 3 wires were connected to this. (The wiring is old; my house is over 50 yrs old...dont know if that makes any difference or not)
Noli > let's focus on your new combo switch-plug. The directions I posted are correct for your new device. But you seem uncertain, possibly because your box does not contain a white neutral wire as required by code. So let's do a simple test using ordinary tester from hardware store. Here's how to test, one step at a time. 1) If some wires are twisted together, leave them twisted together but take wire nut off. 2) Separate wires and turn on power. 3) Tape tester leads to wood pencils to keep hands away from electricity. 4) Power is on. Test each wire to bare copper wire. 5) When tester lights up, that is the hot wire. 6) The hot wire will connect to dark-colored screw. 6) Continue testing: Test the hot wire to all other wires inside the box except bare ground wire. 7) When tester lights up, that is neutral wire. 8) The neutral will connect to silver screw. ### If your box does not contain a neutral wire, you can connect bare copper wire to silver screw ... but this is not code, and is unacceptable wiring but it will work. 9) Now that should leave 1 final wire that does not light up when tested. The final wire is the Load wire and it connects to brass screw. 10) Let's review: Hot goes to dark screw <> Load wire goes to brass screw <> Neutral wire goes to silver screw, and if your box does not have a neutral, you can connect bare ground wire to silver screw until additional wiring can be added.
thank you
×
645 views
Usually answered in minutes!
What did you take out of the place where you're puting this in?
Sounds like you are replacing a switch with this combo switch/outlet. Your black and red wires are your power in and power out. You apparently have no neutral wire, which is not needed for a switch but is needed for an outlet. The neutral wire is usually white. On the other hand, you might also have two white wires connected together with a wire nut in the back of the outlet box. But without knowing more about your exact situation I can't tell you exactly how to proceed.
i removed an outlet/ switch combo, but it is configured differently than the "cooper" brand that I purchased...it had 2 copper colored terminals on the left and on the right it had 3 terminals #1brass, #2 green #3 silver...and only 3 wires
×