[silentbob152]

My fiancé and I recently purchased a condo, and there is a lightswitch in the master bedroom that doesn't do anything. We've tried every port on every electrical outlet in the room and it does nothing. I thought maybe it was wired to something in the ceiling, but there is no cap or anything anywhere on the ceiling, just popcorn texture over the whole thing. I pulled the plate off the switch and all the wires are connected (I'm not MUCH of an electrician) Any suggestions? Anyone know how I could find out if the ceiling is wired for a fan/light combo without cutting the ceiling open? (that's a bit of a problem, as there is another unit upstairs from us.)

THANKS

SilentBob

[RickJ]

Assuming all of your outlets have power at this time, first step is seeing if there's power to the switch. As a condo owner, a good thing to have is a tester. They're about $2... just two "leads" attached to a head that has a light in it.

You'll put one lead on each of the wires (that go to the switch) and see if it lights up.

If it does, just replace the switch (about 50 cents) and then you can find out what it controls.

If there's no power, then you've got a variety of troubleshooting steps to take.

[silentbob152]

Don't remember for sure, but I think there were actually 4 wires behind the light switch panel. Would that make any difference?

Silent Bob

[labman]

There are a variety of ways for light switches to be wired up. If both black wires are connected to the switch and the 2 white wires connected together, likely one pair is the incoming power feed, and the other goes to to whatever the load is. The test lights are cheap, but very limited and you must have 2 wires exposed and hot to use one. For $5 you can have a cheap multimeter, and for $15 a voltage detector. They work through the insulation of wires. There are several brands. I have a GB Instruments GVD-505A, less than $15 at Home Depot. Touch it to a hot wire, and the end glows red. You can even find hot wires under the drywall. Won't work if the wires are in a metal box with a cover. Still, you can find them where they go into a box.

I would be very careful applying power to any wire I don't know where it goes. The switch could be bad because something shorted out and burned it out.

[tkrussell]

Bring an offering of wine, cake, lagsana, or whatever suits the neighbors next door and go visit for a while. Ask what they may have in that room, perhaps they will let you take a quick look. Your switch to no wheres can be a good conversation piece.

My point is that I will bet most if not all the other units are wired exactly the same, with the same devices, lights,etc. you may discover someone that has chosen that option you may be missing in your unit..

The switched wire may be found in one of the outlets that either someone chose or forgot to connect. May times I find that wire connected to an outlet, intended to control that outlet, and I find the small jumper between the two brass screws on the outlet still in place, when it needed to be removed to allow the switch to control it.

[silentbob152]

Ok, got a voltage detector and it indicates the wires have power.

There is one white wire, one black wire, and one exposed copper wire (that is sort of shoved in the back). I bought a new switch, but I'm not sure which wire is + or -. Could someone help me out with that?

Silent Bob

[labman]

If there is only one black wire, and one white wire, and the switch only has 2 terminals, it doesn't make any difference. One way to wire a switch is to run the feed pair to the load. Then run a pair to the switch with the black connected to the black wire of the feed and the white to the hot terminal (brass). At the switch, connect the black and white to the terminals. Power flows to the junction box at the load, out the black wire to the switch, and back the white wire to the load.

I thought about giving a detailed explanation of part of tkrussel's answer. Perhaps the prints called for a duplex outlet to have one hot all the time outlet and one switched outlet. Run power to the outlet. Break off the little jumper TK mentioned and the other half is dead. Run a pair of wires to the switch, and connect the white to the other screw, and that half is switched, nice for the lamp, and plug the alarm clock into the always hot half. Now as TK suggested, somebody could have forgotten to break off the jumper. That would leave both wires to the switch hot, and the switch doing nothing. If both wires are hot, a new switch isn't going to do anything either. The old on may be working. Have you checked both halves of all the outlets with it in the off position?

I do my best here, but I needed tkrussel to remind me that you can split the feed to a duplex outlet.