I replaced a 110 volt outlet and ran an additional outlet from it. Now my vm says I have 110volts but nothing works when I plug into it. So I removed the second outlet while checking to make sure I had wired correctly, tested the outlet - vm says I have voltage but nothing I plug in works. Please guide me O wise ones......
TIA, Kim and Tim
Which "it"-the one you replaced or the one you added?
Describe what you consider to be "correctly"
Which outlet-the one you replaced or the one you added?
- vm says I have voltage but nothing I plug in works. Please guide me
How many wires, and what color were attached to the original outlet, and how did you reattach them to the replacement outlet?
Check Neutral wire and hot wire with volt-meter.Make sure your reading a/c voltage.If you pig-tailed any connections check those to see if your moving them when you try to get a reading.If you replaced the home run (wire back to the panel) check thats its connected to the neutral bar and not the ground bar if they're seperate.The way it sounds though you just have a bad connection and your not reading feed back. Hope this fixes ya.
Besides the other suggestions, measure the voltage BOTH without and with a load connected. A significant change indicates a wiring problem.
The only thing that comes to my mind is if you hooked up a GFCI outlet, you wired it reversed such that you put the feed on the "load" wires, wheras it's suppose to be on the "line" wires. Or perhaps you did wire it correctly, but you have to press the reset button on the outlet. Again, this is only you are hooking up a GFCI.
My first guess would be a bad connection, or incorrect wiring at the first outlet. You should really connect the wires together with a pigtail for the existing outlet, rather than daisy chaining through that outlet to power the next one.
Turn off the power, then go back to the first outlet and remove the wires from the outlet. Cut three short wires (black, white, ground) about 6" long. Use a wire nut to connect the incoming black wire, the black wire running to your new outlet, and the short 6" black wire. Then use another nut to connect the three white wires, and another nut to connect the three ground wires. Now connect the other end of the three short wires to your outlet, making sure the black wire connects to the "hot" terminal of your outlet, and the white connects to the "neutral" side. Most outlets tell right on them which color wire goes where. You can then connect the wires up on your new outlet.
You may also want to check if the metal tab between the two screws on each side of the outlet has been broken away. This would isolate the two halves of the outlet, making one half appear "dead". Replace the outlet if that's the case.
Anthony
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