I'm having no luck with this project.

This is a bathroom with a light controlled by a switch. It also has an
outlet by the sink, and both the light and the outlet are on the same
circuit. The switch turns off both the outlet and the light.
Everything worked just fine with a regular outlet, but now the lights
won't turn on or off with the GFCI outlet in place. The outlet has
power, but the lights don't, and I can't figure out why.

There are two lines feeding into the outlet box, one the load line,
and the other to the light, I believe. I've wired it the same way as
the original outlet, but no joy. Is a GFCI not possible in this
situation?

KLS wrote:

This is a bathroom with a light controlled by a switch. It also has an
outlet by the sink, and both the light and the outlet are on the same
circuit. The switch turns off both the outlet and the light.
Everything worked just fine with a regular outlet, but now the lights
won't turn on or off with the GFCI outlet in place. The outlet has
power, but the lights don't, and I can't figure out why.

Does the GFCI test button work? If not, you have probably wired it
up with the line power going to the "load" side of the outlet and the
light being wired to the "line" side.

Take the outlet out and undo the wires. One pair of black and white
wires should have power (with the switch on) and the oterh should not.
Wire the pair with power to the terminals marked "line" on the GFCI
outlet. Wire the other pair to the terminals marked "load." Make
sure you get the black and white wires on the appropriately labeled
terminals also.

Bill Ranck
Blacksburg, Va.

On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 18:20:18 +0000 (UTC), wrote:

KLS wrote:

This is a bathroom with a light controlled by a switch. It also has an
outlet by the sink, and both the light and the outlet are on the same
circuit. The switch turns off both the outlet and the light.
Everything worked just fine with a regular outlet, but now the lights
won't turn on or off with the GFCI outlet in place. The outlet has
power, but the lights don't, and I can't figure out why.

Does the GFCI test button work? If not, you have probably wired it
up with the line power going to the "load" side of the outlet and the
light being wired to the "line" side.

Bill, you are exactly right. I figured this out on my own yesterday
after countless trips up and down the stairs to the attic from the
basement (this is a 2-story house with full basement and finished
attic, so we're talking three flights of stairs here) and could have
throttled something. I did in fact have the lines incorrectly
connected. All is well now, thank goodness.

"KLS" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 18:20:18 +0000 (UTC), wrote:

KLS wrote:

This is a bathroom with a light controlled by a switch. It also has an
outlet by the sink, and both the light and the outlet are on the same
circuit. The switch turns off both the outlet and the light.
Everything worked just fine with a regular outlet, but now the lights
won't turn on or off with the GFCI outlet in place. The outlet has
power, but the lights don't, and I can't figure out why.

Does the GFCI test button work? If not, you have probably wired it
up with the line power going to the "load" side of the outlet and the
light being wired to the "line" side.

Bill, you are exactly right. I figured this out on my own yesterday
after countless trips up and down the stairs to the attic from the
basement (this is a 2-story house with full basement and finished
attic, so we're talking three flights of stairs here) and could have
throttled something. I did in fact have the lines incorrectly
connected. All is well now, thank goodness.
Look at it this way- you now know this little tidbit forever, and all it
cost you was some time and a little exercise. Most of my self-taught
learned-the-hard-way electro-mechanical lessons have been considerably
more expensive. :^)


aem sends...

On Fri, 16 Feb 2007 00:30:59 GMT, wrote:
"KLS" wrote in message
.. .
On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 18:20:18 +0000 (UTC), wrote:

KLS wrote:

This is a bathroom with a light controlled by a switch. It also has an
outlet by the sink, and both the light and the outlet are on the same
circuit. The switch turns off both the outlet and the light.
Everything worked just fine with a regular outlet, but now the lights
won't turn on or off with the GFCI outlet in place. The outlet has
power, but the lights don't, and I can't figure out why.

Does the GFCI test button work? If not, you have probably wired it
up with the line power going to the "load" side of the outlet and the
light being wired to the "line" side.

Bill, you are exactly right. I figured this out on my own yesterday
after countless trips up and down the stairs to the attic from the
basement (this is a 2-story house with full basement and finished
attic, so we're talking three flights of stairs here) and could have
throttled something. I did in fact have the lines incorrectly
connected. All is well now, thank goodness.
Look at it this way- you now know this little tidbit forever, and all it
cost you was some time and a little exercise. Most of my self-taught
learned-the-hard-way electro-mechanical lessons have been considerably
more expensive. :^)

So true! Plus at least now I can use this newfound knowledge to help
other people with similar problems. And I got a nice butt toning in
the process.