How do you wire a double duplex outlet?

Answer 1

This is a good one. First, you will need 3-wire Romex cable rather than the standard 2-wire Romex (actually, you will need some of both). These terms are actually misnomers because 3-wire cable actually has 4 wires, counting the ground wire, and 2-wire cable has 3 wires, counting the ground. The 3-wire cable you want will have black, white, red, and bare wires inside the sheath, while the 2-wire cable has everything except the red wire. I'm assuming this is a brand new switch and a brand new outlet. If not, the instructions will have to be modified somewhat. I'm also assuming that the house is in the middle of contruction (stud walls have been erected, but not covered with drywall yet). If this is not the case, the instructions will still work, but you have to figure out how to run all these cables behind existing walls, which is a pain. I'm just telling you how to make the connections. Make sure the breaker controlling this circuit is turned off before you do anything! First, you need to figure out where you want your switch and your outlet, and attach standard (4" x 2") electrical boxes to the studs at these locations. (I like to use the plastic boxes that come with nails already inserted.) Run 2-wire Romex from your breaker box to the box that will house the switch. Cut the cable about 8 inches longer than it needs to be to reach the switch box and push the cut end through one of the holes in the back side of the switch box, so that the end of this cable is now hanging out the front of the switch box. Now run 3-wire Romex from the switch box to the outlet box. Cut it 8 inches longer than you need, on both ends. Push one end into the back of the switch box and the other end into the back of the outlet box. At this point, the connection is "roughed in", and you could leave it alone until the drywall is hung, then make the connections later. That is how it works in most construction projects. But I'm skipping ahead to the connections. Okay, I'm assuming that the switch is going to be standard, "On-Off", or "single pole" switch (as opposed to a 3-way switch). Your switch will have two brass screws on the right side and one green screw on the bottom left. Now, look at the switch box. You have one set of black/white/bare (2-wire Romex) wires coming from the breaker box and another set of black/white/red/bare (3-wire romex) wires going to the outlet. Cut and remove the outer sheaths from both cables, being careful not to cut through the insulation around the individual wires inside, and separate the wires. Then strip the last inch of insulation from the black wire coming from the breaker and the red wire going to the switch, and bend both stripped ends into a U shape. For all remaining insulated wires, strip only 1/2 inch of insulation. Next, hook the U-shaped end of the black wire coming from the breaker over the top brass screw on the right side of your switch, squeeze the bend into a closed loop around the screw, and tighten the screw. Then hook the U-shaped end of the red wire going to the outlet over the bottom brass screw on the right side of your switch, squeeze the bend into a closed loop around the screw, and tighten the screw. Now look at the back of your switch. You should see a series of holes, 2 circular and 2 square. Actually, there are 1 circular and 1 square hole matched up with each of the 2 brass screws. The circular holes are alternate connectors (can be used instead of the screws on the side, but not recommended). We need to connect the black wire going to the outlet to the same connection (top brass screw) as the black wire coming from the breaker box. We COULD wire both black wires together with a third, short piece of black wire going to the screw. But it is so much easier (and probably safer) to just take advantage of this alternate connector. So, just insert the stripped end of the black wire going to the outlet box into the topcircular hole on the back of the outlet (the hole corresponding to the screw that the black wire is attached to). When you encounter resistance, keep pushing until the wire breaks through the resistance and locks into place. There should be very little, if any, of the stripped part of the wire visible. If you can see more than 1/8 inch of bare wire, you either didn't push the wire in far enough, or you stripped too much insulation off of the wire (you should have only stripped 1/2 inch). Try to pull the wire out of the hole. If you can do it, you didn't push it in far enough - try again. If you can't pull it out, stick a small flathead screwdriver into the square hole right next to the round hole to release the catch, then pull the wire out, and trim the stripped end so that no stripped wire will be visible when the wire is re-inserted into the hole. Then re-insert the wire into the hole. Now, the only unconnected wires remaining should be two white and two ground (bare) wires. Twist the stripped ends of the two white wires together in a clockwise direction. Place a yellow wire nut (the "standard" yellow wire nuts will easily hold two 12- or 14-gauge wires) over the twisted ends and screw it on, also in a clockwise direction, until it is tight. Then wrap the wires and nut with eletrical tape (I like to fold over the last 1/4-inch or so of electrical tape onto itself to leave a little tab that I can pull to unwrap the tape later if I need to). Now you are left with only the two bare (ground) wires. Twist the two bare wires together (I like to wrap one around the other), and bend the last inch of one of them into a U shape. Hook the U-shaped end of the bare wire over the green screw at the bottom of your switch, squeeze the bend into a closed loop around the screw, and tighten the screw. Now go to your outlet box. Look closely at your outlet. There should be two brass screws on the right side, two silver screws on the left side, and a green screw on the bottom. There is a metal plate where each brass screw is attached to the outlet. And there is a little metal tab that connects these two plates together. This tab (and its counterpart on the left side of the outlet) is what makes sure the circuit is continuous between the top and bottom receptacles. But you do not want a continuous circuit between the receptacles. So you need to remove this tab - only the one on the right side, where the brass screws are. Just grasp it tightly with your needle-nose pliers and keep bending it back and forth until it breaks off. Now you are prepared to wire your outlet. But first, you need to decide which of the two receptacles (top or bottom) in this outlet you would like to be controlled by the switch. The way you wired the switch, the black wire will always be "hot", but the red wire will be hot only if the switch is on. So the red wire will be attached to the switched receptacle and the black wire to the other receptacle. In the instructions in the next paragraph, I will assume that the BOTTOM receptacle is the one you want to be controlled by the switch. If that is not the case, simply replace "bottom" with "top", and vice versa. Cut and remove the outer sheath from the cable, being careful not to cut the insulation on the wires inside, and separate the wires. Strip the insulation from the last inch of the black, white, and red wires. Bend the last inch of all 4 wires (including the ground wire) into a U shape. Then hook the U-shaped end of the black wire over the TOP brass screw on the right side of the outlet, squeeze the bend into a closed loop around the screw, and tighten the screw. Next, hook the U-shaped end of the red wire over the BOTTOM brass screw on the right side of the outlet, squeeze the bend into a closed loop around the screw, and tighten the screw. Hook the U-shaped end of the white wire over EITHER of the two silver screws (it doesn't matter which one, as long as it's silver) on the left side of the outlet, squeeze the bend into a closed loop around the screw, and tighten the screw. Finally, hook the U-shaped end of the ground wire over the green screw at the bottom of the outlet, squeeze the bend into a closed loop around the screw, and tighten the screw. The wiring is now complete! Just a few more steps to finish up. At each box, bend or fold the wires back into the box until you can push the device (outlet or switch) flush against the outside rim of the box, and, with the screws provided, fasten the outlet to the box itself. Place appropriate cover plates over both devices and fasten the cover plates in place with the screws provided. Then turn your breaker back on and test everything. With the wall switch you just installed turned ON, plug a lamp into the unswitched receptacle - it should be on (you may have to flip the switch on the lamp itself). Flip the wall switch OFF - the lamp should stay on. Now, without touching either the wall switch or the switch on the lamp, unplug the lamp from the unswitched receptacle and plug it into the switched receptacle - the lamp should be off. Now flip the wall switch to ON - the lamp should come on. If everything works like it should, you were successful.

Answer 2

Connect the incoming power wire and the outgoing power wire going to the light switch to the line side of the GFCI outlet. This will protect the outlet and will not turn off power to the light if the GFCI trips.

Answer 3

To wire a double duplex outlet, you will need to connect the hot (black) wire, neutral (white) wire, and ground (bare or green) wire to their respective terminals on the outlet. Make sure to follow the manufacturer's instructions and turn off the power before starting. It's common practice to wire the top and bottom outlets independently to separate circuits for added safety and versatility.

Answer 4

If you already have 120v pwr to the box you simply pigtail all conductors to wire as single.

Answer 5

This can not be done with the wire that you have. If you would like a detailed answer as to why not, start a discussion.