I'm having trouble figuring out why my light switch box is wired the way it is. The place I'm living in is quite old (guessing built in the 80s?). Originally, I opened open the panel with the hope of installing a switch-outlet combo… which I can't do until I figure out why it's currently wired the way it is.
I've made a diagram (below). The large rectangles on the edges of the box are the ROMEX cables, while the smaller squares are wire nuts. W = white wire (neutral), B = black wire (hot), Gnd = bare copper (ground). The switch is on the far right of the diagram.
As you can see, the wiring is quite strange. Two of the neutrals are connected to ground, with another neutral connected to a couple of the hot wires. If I had to guess, it looks like they wanted to make another power line without having to run separate cabling.
Can anyone tell what's going on here?
Thanks for the help!
Best Answer
You have some pretty weird wiring to the light fitting. It looks like at the light fitting (fed from top-right romex at box) you would find
So I'd expect an ordinary light fitting to be using the false "ground" and switched hot wires only.
The permanent hot (false neutral, white) might have been used (now or previously) to power some kind of device that needs live power. For example a remote light control or a ceiling fan that is operated by a pull-cord independently of the light bulb itself.
I would check the wiring in the light fitting controlled by that switch. Then I'd label the wires at each end to make clear what each wire is really used for. Alternatively, you could rewire it properly - that would be best if the light fitting is a normal conventional simple light only. I'd double check that something else (an extra outlet?) isn't already wired from the light fitting end - disconnect the white wire from the three black and see if an outlet or something stops working.
If you can't figure it out it might be best to call an electrician.