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I'm trying to wire up a half switched outlet. To the left of the switch is the outlet I'd like to make half switched and to the right is a regular outlet that's always on. In the switch box is 2 wires coming from the always on outlet, 2 wires going to the half switched outlet, and 3 wires (red/black/white) going to something... it doesn't control anything I can find. I traced all the wires with a 9v battery to make sure I identified them right, and hooked everything up, and here's what I'm getting in the switch box:
77 volts from the always hot outlet's hot wire
22 volts from the always hot outlet's neutral
22 volts from the black wire going to whatever
I understand all those voltages together give me the 120 I need, but is it safe to connect them all together? How about if I disconnect the neutral from the always hot outlet and cap it (it has 2 neutral wires)?
It's an extreme pain to get to the part of the attic where I'm guessing everything is connected, to the point where I'd hire someone else to do it.
77 volts from the always hot outlet's hot wire
22 volts from the always hot outlet's neutral
22 volts from the black wire going to whatever
I understand all those voltages together give me the 120 I need, but is it safe to connect them all together? How about if I disconnect the neutral from the always hot outlet and cap it (it has 2 neutral wires)?
It's an extreme pain to get to the part of the attic where I'm guessing everything is connected, to the point where I'd hire someone else to do it.