I have a box that has four 110(black, white and copper) wires coming in. (1) is power, (2) is light (3) is outlet & (4) is light across the room. I need power to (2), (3) & (4) but need a switch to (2) only. How do I do this?

if you can see which pair of black and white wires belong to eachother it will make things much easier. take a volt meter and test which black wire is the one coming from the breaker box. the white wire that is paired up with the black are the feeding wires to that outlet box those wires will go on the "LINE" side of the GFCI receptacle. The other black and white wires go to the "LOAD" side. (silver screw for white and brass screw for black) the two copper wires should be connected to the back of the outlet box and if so, take one of the wires and also connect it to the green ground screw on the GFCI plug. if they are not connected to the outlet box, be sure to connect them securely

Hi Don,

Shut the power off.

Inspect the switch.

If the switch has two cables (2 black & 2 white wires) which would indicate that power enters the switch on one cable and supplies the light through the switch on the other cable, you can supply a new outlet so that it can be on all the time or controlled by the switch. Either way, you'll need to run a 14/2 cable from the new outlet to the existing switch box. Connect the bare ground wire to all the other bare ground wires by adding it to the bundle in a wirenut; and connect the white wire (neutral) to the other two whites under a wirenut.

Power back on.

Using a meter or tester; carefully determine which of the black wires on the switch is "on" all time and which is turned "on and off" by the switch. Indicate which is which on the wire with tape, or other marker.

Power off.

Remove the wire you want to supply the outlet.

Cut a short (8" or so) length of insulated (black, red or blue in color) #14 copper wire & strip 3/4" off each end. Combine one end of this short wire, the original switch wire, and the black from new 14/2 cable together under a wirenut..

Connect the other end of the short black wire to the switch and put everything back together again.

Power back on.

The outlet will either be on all the time - or turn on and off by the position of the switch. You're done!

I hope this helps - if it was not the answer you were expecting, please describe how you want the switch, light & new outlet to work in greater detail.

Your copper, green wire are the ground. I beleave that the white is the power, and the black is your neg. to make sure i would use a wire tester to determen the power. From there white goes to white, black to black, and green to copper. I am not sure on the white/black wire it maybe another power. Look at your instalation manual it should tell you.
Hope this can help.

If you want to control both the light and the fan using 3-ways, then just wire 2 sets of the 3-way circuits. For this you need two sets of 3-wire between the switches, and one 3-wire cable from the switch location to the fan/light box.

At box #1 (a 2 gang box), you will run a power cable (marked cable #1) into it. From there you run 2 sets of 3-wire cables (identified as cable #2 & cable #3) to the other switch location, which will also be a 2-gang box (box #2).

Also from box #1, you will run a 3-wire cable (cable #4) to the fan/light box (box #3).

Hook up is as follows:

Box #3: connect black of cable #4 to black (fan), connect red of cable #4 to blue (light), connect white of cable #4 to white (fan/light), and connect the bare to the green.

Box #2: Connect white of cable #2 to identified terminal on 1st 3-way switch (#3). Connect red & black of cable #2 to the remaining screws of 3-way switch #3. Next connect white of cable #3 to identified terminal of 2nd 3-way switch (#4), and connect black and red to remaining screws. Tie all grounds together and terminate to both switches.

At box #1, connect black from cable #1 to whites in cables #2 & #3, using a wirenut. Connect white in cable #1 to white in cable #4. Connect black and red in cable #2 to 3rd 3-way switch (#1) and connect black and red in cable #3 to 4th 3-way switch (#2). Connect black in cable #4 to identified terminal of 3-way switch #1, and connect red in cable #4 to identified terminal on 3-way switch #2. Tie all grounds together and to the switches

Question is a bit unclear and wires are not known.
Are both GFCI devices inside same box?
Not necessary to install 2 GFCI devices inside same box since second outlet/switch can be protected using one GFCI.

1) Typical GFCI outlet device has 4 terminal screws (plus green ground screw for bare copper ground wire)
2) Two of the screws are labeled LINE. These screws are where the black Hot wire and white Neutral wire are connected. Black goes to brass screw and white to silver screw. And now the device has power to outlets, and both outlet are GFCI protected.
3) Two of the screws are labeled LOAD. These screws are where you attach additional outlets/switches that you want protected by GFCI. All outlets connected to LOAD screws would be GFCI protected. So attach black and white wires and run them to an ordinary outlet/switch and it will be GFCI protected. The key is to connect wires to the LOAD screws.
4) If you are using the outlet/switch combo GFCI device, then the same wiring shown above applies. The difference is the wires sticking out of back of device are for the switch. For example if switch controls a light, the wires going to the light connect to the two wires on back of device.

With most receptacles, you can connect up to two (2) sets of wires to the one recptacle/outlet. Be sure the power is off to the circuits you're going to be working on, by turning off the breakers in the main panel that go to these circuits.

Strip back the outer jacket at 8 inches on the Romex wires and be careful not to nick the conductors inside the outer jacket.

With the black, white and bare ground wires now exposed and separated from the jacket, you can stirp off 1/2 inch of the insulation off both the black and white wires. You can also tear off the paper wrapper that covers the bare copper ground wires too.

Now take the ground wires and twist them together for at least 3 inches, making sure that you start the twist near the back of the outlet box, where the wires come into the box. Use a pair of lineman's pliers to twist the bare wires together. Once you've done that, you can clip off one (1) of the bare ground wires that is left sticking out, as you only need one to connect to the Green grounding screw on the receptacle/outlet.

Now connect the two (2) black wires to the brass colored screws, which is the HOT or common side of the outlet. On the other side, connec the two (2) white wires to the silver colored screws, as this is the Neutral side of the outlet. Now you can carefully bend the wires to let you push them into the outlet box and screw the outlet into the wall box. Put on the plate cover and you're all set. Turn the breaker back on and you've completed the wiring.

On the box with the single #14/3 wire (w/ground) just follow the instructions above, except you only have one wire to connect to each side of the outlet, matching them Black to brass screw and White to silver screw and the bare copper wire to the Green grounding screw.


Hope you find this Very Helpful and best regards.

Make sure you turn off the power at the power panel.
If you are lucky you will find the following in the electrical box behind the light:

1. A black wire that brings power from the fuse/breaker panel--connected directly to one or two other (black) wires (not to the light).
2. A white wire from the panel--connected to one or more white wires including one to the light.
3. A black or white (maybe taped black) wire that comes from the switch and is connected to the light.
4. A green or bare wire connected to the box and maybe also to the light.

If this is the case then you can run a new cable to a new electrical box in the wall for the GFI. Connect the new black wire to the Line In terminal/black wire of the GFI outlet and to the group of black wires in (1) above. Connect the new white wire to the Neutral terminal/white wire of the GFI outlet and to the group of white wires in (2) above. Connect the new green/bare wire to the Ground terminal/green wire of the GFI outlet and to the original box or ground wire. If there is a Load/Feed through wire on the GFI outlet, tape the end of it and do not use.
If the black and white wires described in (1) and (2) above do not appear in the electrical box at the light then they are probably in the switch box and there will be only one black wire and one white wire that connect to the light on the wall. In that case you will need to run a new cable from the switch box to the new outlet. You will not be able to wire the new outlet from the existing electrical box at the light unless you do it through the switch and it will not be on unless the switch is on.

4 wire recepticals are used for 220 Volt appliances, there should be 2 hot (117V to ground) and one each Grounding and grounded (read neutral) conductors) Breaker or disconnect should be 2 pole for 220 Volt circuit. A 20 Amp 110/117 Volt circuit would have a single pole breaker or disconnect, one "hot" conductor(should be black or colored , not green or white), one neutral conductor (should be white or neutral with white stripe) and an equipment grounding conductor (should be green or bare copper). It sounds to me like your receptical was wired for 220 V using whatever colored wires were handy. Back up to breaker or fuse (disconnect), and shut off circuit. New 117 Volt outlet will be wired with Black to Brass colored screw (short slot on face), One White wire will be used for Neutral conductor (make sure you know which one it is at the breaker panel) and one of the other white wires may (but shouldent be) used for ground (use green marker to identify it at each end),The third white wire should be removed if you can, otherwise cap with wire nut at each end and coil up in back of boxes. At the breaker/ fuse panel, the Black wire is connected to the breaker (It will be your "hot" lead), The white being used for the Neutral is connected to the neutral buss bar with the other Neutrals, and the green goes to the grounding buss bar (should have other green or bare copper wires. Once all is properly connected and secured but without the disposal plugged in, turn on the power and check for leaking smoke (smoke here is a bad thing) The fuse or breaker should protect your wires and help keep that smoke inside the boxes. Check voltages at the new plug, 117 V accross Short and longer slot, 117 from short to ground (round) and 0 or close to it from long (Neutral) to ground. If voltages check, plug in the new appliance and test.
If in doubt about what you have, dont hesitate to contact an electrician, they get paid for their knowledge and experiance and their ability to keep that nasty smoke inside the boxes.
Good Luck.,

Normaly black, white, copper (ground) is a 2-wire 110 volt, black white, red, copper is a 3-wire 220volt circuit. You must have a 3-wire cicuit run from circuit breaker box to stove connector.

Okay, the normal color coding for a 220-240VAC receptacle is as follows:

White (Neutral) - 0VAC
Black (HOT) - 110 VAC
Red (HOT) - 110 VAC

I suspect that the two black wires from your power panel are the two hot leads in your case. That is...each one should read 110-120VAC. Verify this my measuring each black lead to ground. The copper wire is probably a ground or neutral. It sounds like this is an older house (?).

The following link will give you some advice as well:

http://www.fixya.com/support/r793520-3_prong_4_prong_power_cord_conversion

In addtion, the electric service for major appliances like a Range or Dryer should have its OWN dedicated circuit to prevent overloading. I hope you find this information helpful. If you have questions, please let me know.