electrical switch

[ng_reader]

so I installed a light switch connected to two separate light sockets. One way the switch lights one light, the other way, the other light.

I have two cables coming into the switch box. One from a socket from whence it derives power, the other going out to a socket, newly installed, which is the "end of the line".

In the normal "on" position, the original socket works as it should.

In the off position, it will turn on the new socket that I just ran my

12/2 with. Of course the other light bulb is now off.

What gives?

[Metspitzer]

You need to change the switch to a 3-way

[RBM]

To wire the second light, you should have run the cable from the first light, not the switch. You have only two wires coming into the switch from the existing light. This is a switch leg and a return. You don't have a feed, which consists of a hot leg and a neutral. What you've done is wired the second light in series with the first.

[ng_reader]

OK, Considering that...

I have my blacks twisted under one nut, whites twisted under another. Any advice...?

[trader4]

I'm glad you could figure that out. I've read it several times and have no idea WTF he's talking about or what the problem is.

[RBM]

I was laughing myself, trying to figure out WTF he could have done. Then the word Nube came into my mind. It was all clear from there

[Metspitzer]

[Reed]

Years ago my neighbor did a similar "mis-wiring". He was installing a yard light that had a photocell for on/off, and an outlet on the post. Then he was trying to drill holes for a street number sign, plugging the drill into the outlet, but the drill would not run. From across the street I could see that every time he pulled the trigger, a light in his basement would go on. After I stopped laughing, we looked at what he had done, and sure enough the switch box he used, being the nearest thing to where the yard light wire came into house, was a "switch leg". BTW, the white wire was *not* tagged with black tape, not that he would have known what that meant anyway.

[ng_reader]

Thanks for your effort, but, I'm not sure it "works". But I should have a 3-way around, to see if that will work out.

And, I'll just keep screwing and unscrewing copper till it does.

Also, I'll answer this here as well, but, the box with existing light fixture was "full up". I could either put a junction box right next to it, but, instead chose to make the run back to the light switch.

[ng_reader]

My first thought was to run off the first light, but I had no more knock-outs to knock out. It had all the cables it could manage! I could have added a junction box right next to it, but, opted instead to remove and replace the light switch with a larger box able to accommodate the additional cables. I think I will try the 3-way switch as that sounds logically like it might work.

[RBM]

It's not going to work. You don't have the necessary wires to do what you want

[DerbyDad03]

Care to explain how you came up with that suggestion?

What in the OP indicates the need for a 3-way switch?

[DerbyDad03]

...

...

That would be fun to watch.

...

[ng_reader]

Yes, now that makes sense. Dammit.

[Hot-Text]

White wire!

< >

[Doug Miller]

Metspitzer wrote in news:40hfl71iqfqmpjhbq27irqq15q5t6mipla@

4ax.com:

That diagram clearly will not produce the behavior the OP describes.

The OP clearly doesn't understand how residential wiring works, and you're making things worse with your suggestions that obviously don't address the problem. When it comes to

120V wiring, *one* person who doesn't understand what he's doing is already one person too many. Don't be the second one.

The OP has already received the correct answer from RBM: it is impossible to make the system behave the way he wants it to behave, given the wiring that he has.

[heathcliff]

news:40hfl71iqfqmpjhbq27irqq15q5t6mipla@

making things

Good point. OP: Trial and error is not a good way to do wiring. You, or some future person who does work on your house, may suffer for it. -- H

[hrhofmann]

do you want both lights to come on at the same time???????

[ng_reader]

Oh, you should have been there when I kept going back and forth to the breaker with my circuit tester and disambiguation of wire ends.

[ng_reader]

elsewhere - ponyPop