In article , (Rich Greenberg) wrote:
In article . com,
david wrote:
hi
I have a total of three wires coming into the box. Two black come to
the right side of the switch and the white wire (this goes to the
electric box) is in a red capping to join electric cables.

Would a duplex switch work with me spiltting the black cable assuming
one black wire goies to the vanity and the other to the overhead light
thanks

Do the tests that I described to verify that the white is the hot (hot
wires should not be white) and that the 2 blacks go to the vanity &
overhead. It everything checks out, then yes you can use a duplex
switch.

Bad advice. Didn't you read what he wrote? "I have a total of three wires
coming into the box... two black ... [one] white".

That's _very_ unlikely to be true. There's probably a fourth wire there
somewhere. If there really are only three, it's probably black, white, and
red, not two blacks and a white.

It's clear enough from what he wrote that the white wire does _not_ connect to
the switch, and therefore it is impossible that it is the hot wire.

Furthermore, his description of how the black wires are connected is
ambiguous: "to the right side of the switch". Does that mean they both connect
to a single terminal on the right and something else connects to a terminal on
the left, or does it mean that both of the switch terminals are on the right
side, and one black wire connects to each one?

You're acting as though it's the former - in which case there *must* be a
fourth wire, and therefore the OP's description is incorrect and should not be
relied on as the basis for giving *any* advice.

And if it's the latter - then what you suggest *can't*possibly* work.

Before giving any further advice to the OP, it's important to find out exactly
where those black wires connect, and exactly how many wires are in the box.
I'm betting that:

a) the switch has two terminals, with one black wire connected to each
terminal, and

b) there are *two* white wires, not one, wire-nutted together, and the OP
simply didn't look carefully before deciding there was only one.


--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?