Thank you in advance for your help. I recently purchased a home and while removing some built-ins I found that they had a 14/2 wire running inside the built in between an outlet behind the built in and an outlet next to it. I assumed they ran a new switch off the hidden one when they installed the built-in and removed the wire and its connection to the outlet without worrying about paying attention to how they had it connected. Turns out that wire was actually feeding four recessed lights that must have been installed after the build. That outlet at one point was a switched outlet that they made always hot and had a dimmer controlling the lights.
What is a strange to me is that the switch has 14/3 going to the first outlet from a dimmer and both the black and red are always hot in the switch box before it even gets to the dimmer but there is no second switch for this room so it’s not used like a 3-way. The power into the switch box is 14/2 and when that breaker is turned off the red loses power as well. I disconnected the dimmer completely to verify the 14/2 coming in is the source and with just the Black to Black and White to White wired together the Red going out to the first outlet is still hot.
I attached a diagram of what it looks like today, the question marks are the connections on the outlet that was wired to the recessed lights that I need to try and figure out how to wire properly along with the switch. I'll be using a new outlet for Outlet #2 as well so the tabs are in place. I have also attached a picture of the switch box / dimmer and what the old outlet looked like. There is a jumper on it, not sure if that was to turn the outlet always hot again after they had it set up as a switched by removing the tab.
I’m looking for thoughts on wiring the switch with a single pole switch (don’t need the dimmer) so that the outlets are always hot and then from outlet #2 to the lights as well.
Thank you again in advance for any advice,
Mike M.
What is a strange to me is that the switch has 14/3 going to the first outlet from a dimmer and both the black and red are always hot in the switch box before it even gets to the dimmer but there is no second switch for this room so it’s not used like a 3-way. The power into the switch box is 14/2 and when that breaker is turned off the red loses power as well. I disconnected the dimmer completely to verify the 14/2 coming in is the source and with just the Black to Black and White to White wired together the Red going out to the first outlet is still hot.
I attached a diagram of what it looks like today, the question marks are the connections on the outlet that was wired to the recessed lights that I need to try and figure out how to wire properly along with the switch. I'll be using a new outlet for Outlet #2 as well so the tabs are in place. I have also attached a picture of the switch box / dimmer and what the old outlet looked like. There is a jumper on it, not sure if that was to turn the outlet always hot again after they had it set up as a switched by removing the tab.
I’m looking for thoughts on wiring the switch with a single pole switch (don’t need the dimmer) so that the outlets are always hot and then from outlet #2 to the lights as well.
Thank you again in advance for any advice,
Mike M.
- TL;DR
- Looking for advice wiring recessed lights off an outlet that was previously 1/2 switched.
