Wiring problem

Tdsgraffiti

Have a switch that was taken apart, put back together and now it doesn't work. I did not see the setup before and now I'm confused as to how it goes back together... It is a switch that controls a single side of a wall socket. The other side of the socket has constant power.

Or if I could just turn it Into a single switch for a light in the center of the room?

Attached Thumbnails

 

Tdsgraffiti

Also, this is what the receptacle looks like that the switch is powering.

Attached Thumbnails

     

TarheelTerp

judging by how short the white wires are... I'd say they get wirenutted together.
The red wire is PROBABLY the switch leg.
The two blacks are PROBABLY the always hot and the feed through.

Five minutes with a good tester would tell the tale.

Tdsgraffiti

The red and black on the left side are hot.

stickboy1375

probably because a tab on a receptacle is not broken off. Pull out all the receptacles in the room and verify this.

Tdsgraffiti

What do you mean by that? This switch was working correctly at one point.

stickboy1375

Did you change any of the receptacles out? and why was the switch ever removed to begin with?

Tdsgraffiti

No receptacles were changed.. It was originally removed because my girlfriend thought she could put any old switch in to replace the one that was there. She put it in and it didn't work, do she left it like that.

Now what I really want to do is put in a light in the center of the ceiling and have that switch control it..

stickboy1375

You will have to run a new wire up to the ceiling light from that switch box, if no attic exist you could use a surface wiring method such as wire mold.

Tdsgraffiti

I can run a new wire no problem, but how would I wire this back together, make the receptacle functional, and have the switch only control the fixture in the ceiling?

stickboy1375

at the switch location, wire all the whites together including your new cable, wire all the blacks and red together, EXCEPT the black from your new cable, that wire goes to the switch, then add a pigtail from the previous blacks and red splice to feed the switch.

Tdsgraffiti

Thanks so much for the info. I will try this out when I get home. I'll post the outcome.

stickboy1375

One other concern, that switch could very well be a three way application, So that will have to be determined before you make the splice up.

Tdsgraffiti

If I was to hook it up the first way, what's the worst that could happen?

TarheelTerp

Look at the first picture again... see the black wire on the left?
if has a stripped insulation section in the middle.
That part goe on one screw of a standard switch an the red goes on the other screw of that standard switch. The other end of that black wire gets wirenutted to the the other black wire and the two whites get wirenutted together

This puts the switch box the way it belongs.
---
If you're measuring 120V to ground on both the red and black...
you'll trip the breaker.
That problem will be answered in your next thread.