outlet question.

sanman

I bought a nightlight outlet: http://www.lowes.com/pd_116414-1571-...true$Ntt=night light outlet at lowes to replace an outlet in my hallway. On the soon to be old outlet it has 4 wires (2 white and 2 black). On the soon to be new nightlight outlet,it has only 2 places to screw the wires onto(one white and one black). Can I put the two black wires together and put them onto the new outlet and vice-versa? I tried putting one white onto it and one black onto it and capping the left over white and black wire. When I did that it did not work. Any help would be appreciated.

a7ecorsair

You can not put two wires under one screw. You will have to get two pieces of wire, one black and one white, the same size as what is in the box, and pigtail these to the wires in the box. Then put the pigtail under the screw.

sanman

So what you are saying is that the white and black wire that are NOT connected to the new outlet need to be pigtailed together and have a cap put on?

McSteve

No, definitely not. The two black wires that are in the box need to be connected together with a wire nut, along with a short length of black wire to connect to the gold screw on your new outlet.

Same with the white wires, connect them together, along with a short length of white wire to connect to the silver screw on the new outlet.

One black/white pair of wires is bringing power into the box, the other pair is carrying power through to the next outlet on the circuit.

Make sense?

sanman

Ahhhhhhhhhhh yes...I see the light says the blind man..... Thank you

sanman

woohoooooooo it works! Thanks for the help.