I have had a non working outlet for probably more than a decade. So, while the electricity was shut off so I could install my new dining room light that hasn't been functional in almost 4 years... thanks to the help on this site; I thought I would change the outlets that didn't work (2). One of the newly installed wall outlets works now (it only had one black, one white and a green coming in from the wall)... YAY the other one... the one I really really wanted functional still doesn't. That one, was a bit different from the one that now works. There are two black wires coming in, two white wires and a ground. I put one white wire on the top screw post and one white wire on the bottom screw post and the green ground wire on the green screw post directly under the white wire side. On the opposite side, I put one black wire on the top screw post, one black wire on the bottom screw post. The outlet still isn't working.. Any tips or ideas on how to make this thing work for me.

Have you measured voltage at the outlet?

I agree with Brian. You have to check to see if you have power at the box. The cable may not be connected to anything or is coming from another dead location.

Chuck

Sherry,

Good morning.

Receptacle outlets are normally daisy chained. At the start of the circuit one cable (black - white - ground) is the feed into the receptacle. They are connected to the bottom connection screws. White goes to the Silver" screw. Black goes to the darker screw. Ground (bare or insulated) is pigtailed and then connected to the green ground screw. The pigtail is made up of the feed's ground conductor, the ground conductor for the next receptacle and a short ground conductor to be connected the receptacles' grounding screw. The White conductor for the next receptacle is connected to the top "Silver" screw. The black conductor goes to the top darker screw.

That's the start of the daisy chain. With that said, there are only two places you will find only one cable feeding a receptacle outlet. At the end of the daisy chain or an individual branch circuit.

If your failing receptacle is in the middle of the daisy chain, the first thing to test for is voltage on the incoming conductor. If you connect a voltmeter to the ground post on the Black and White conductors, you should get a reading of 120 Volts (+/-). If you get 0 (zero) volts, the problem is most likely upstream of the receptacle. Usually it will be a loose connection or no connection at all. If your receptacles are "backstabbed" (the conductors are inserted into the holes in the back of the of the receptacle instead of connected under the screw posts that's the most probable failure point.

Thank you so much! I will begin the process of using my brand new voltage meter to go down the daisy chain and check each out.

One question to ensure I understand for future reference, you are saying that the only time there is one black, one white and one green (one cable) coming into the box is at the end of a daisy chain or at the end of an individual branch circuit. All other outlets will have two black wires, two white and one green (two cables coming in). Which means the difference between the one I fixed successfully was the end of the chain most likely given the location and the one giving me grief is most likely in the middle of a daisy chain.

This has been very helpful and I cannot thank you all enough! I have learned so much from this site thanks to everyone here.

Sherry

Thank you so much! I will begin the process of using my brand new voltage meter to go down the daisy chain and check each out.

One question to ensure I understand for future reference, you are saying that the only time there is one black, one white and one green (one cable) coming into the box is at the end of a daisy chain or at the end of an individual branch circuit. All other outlets will have two black wires, two white and one green (two cables coming in). Which means the difference between the one I fixed successfully was the end of the chain most likely given the location and the one giving me grief is most likely in the middle of a daisy chain.

This has been very helpful and I cannot thank you all enough! I have learned so much from this site thanks to everyone here.

Sherry

Thank you so much! I will begin the process of using my brand new voltage meter to go down the daisy chain and check each out.

One question to ensure I understand for future reference, you are saying that the only time there is one black, one white and one green (one cable) coming into the box is at the end of a daisy chain or at the end of an individual branch circuit. All other outlets will have two black wires, two white and one green (two cables coming in). Which means the difference between the one I fixed successfully was the end of the chain most likely given the location and the one giving me grief is most likely in the middle of a daisy chain.

This has been very helpful and I cannot thank you all enough! I have learned so much from this site thanks to everyone here.

Sherry,

Good luck with the hunt!

The daisy chain is a general branch circuit that contains multiple outlets. It would trace in either direction to the next outlet. Since the last receptacle outlet would only need the feed cable coming into it will only have the one cable.

An individual receptacle outlet will have the one connection. It would trace directly back to a circuit breaker or fuse.

Sherry