Hey everyone! I recently added some lights to my small bedroom, which previously only had a ceiling fan for lighting and no switch-controlled lights. There's also an outlet in the room that's controlled by a single pole switch in a one gang box, where I've got 14/2 wiring with one white, one black, and one ground wire. I've expanded the box to a two gang box and I'm hoping to power the new lights from the existing 14/2 cable while keeping the switch functional for the outlet. Is this even possible? If so, what would the wiring configuration need to look like? Thanks in advance!
3 Answers
The current switch setup you have only includes power in and power out. You could use the power coming in for your new lights, but you'd need a neutral wire to connect to the lights too. One option is to rewire the outlet to keep both sides active and run power and neutral to the switch box.
To really make this work, you’ll need to run another switch loop from a constant power source, preferably from the ceiling fan or another location. If that’s not doable, consider going for a wireless switch system instead.
Isn't the outlet already switched? Are you saying I can’t achieve my initial plan?
You might have to run another cable or pigtail the wires to make it work. Just be sure to check the compatibility with your existing setup.
Pigtailing could be tricky here; you might want to be cautious.
Sounds like a good plan, but I'm not keen on adding more wires.