DIYbanter - View Single Post - Replacing an electrical outlet with 3 sets of wires

Jeff Wisnia

wrote:

Have you ever heard the phrase "haste makes waste".
You COULD have labelled them in a couple minutes.

And how about "Fools rush in where angels dare to tread"?

No outlet should have more than 5 wires going to it, (2 black to gold
screws / 2 white to silver screws / one bare to green screw. Either
you removed wirenuts or taped wires, or you already had an illegal
connection to that outlet.

I was going to make the same comment. But per his post, he now has "a
total of 7 wires coming out of the outlet." He probably means "out of
the box", but if he's that far removed from knowing which is which, he'd
be well advised to follow your advice below, for all we know that outlet
may have had its jumpers removed and one half is controlled by a wall
switch and the other half permenantly live.

At this point, I'd use your yellow pages and call an electrician
before you kill yourself or burn your house down.
Next time you'll get a pencil out before your tools.

Maybe an electrician isn't needed, a knowledgeable friend could probably
put things right.

Jeff
--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.8*10^12 furlongs per fortnight.

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On 17 Apr 2007 20:22:13 -0700, wrote:

Hi -- I need some help!

I am trying to replace an old electrical outlet in my home, because
it's so loose that plugs barely hold in the outlet. I turned off the
power, unscrewed the outlet, and removed the wires, but I made the
mistake of not labeling the wires before taking them out. Now I am
stuck, because there are a total a 7 wires coming out of the outlet
--- 3 sets of black/white wires and one bare (ground) wire. I don't
know where to connect each wire! This is the first time that I'm
trying to replace an outlet, and this configuration doesn't make any
sense to me. Can somebody help?

Thanks,

Will C.