I have been living in my house for 8 years now, and there has always been a mystery switch and outlet (both located on the same wall). My wife has rearranged the room, and now we will need to use the mystery switch and outlet.
The switch is wired and has power, but it does not go to anything. In order to determine which circuit it was on, I removed the switch and wired an outlet to it. I plugged a ground fault detector and it read Hot/Grnd Reversed. So I did what anyone else would do (i think) and switched the wires around. Same reading.
So I found a junction box in the basement, where I thought I would have found where my issue was or where the switch is wired to. NOPE. Here I found a white wire colored black attached to a black wire, so I change them around thinking this was my issue – nope same reading. There are 8 wires going into the junction box, so I undid all the wires and put them all back together (trying to find the wire for the switch) no luck.
The light switch in the room where the junction box is trips my breaker (the lights turn on when the light switch is off and trips the breaker when I switch the lights on) – yes this switch is wired to that junction box. I checked to see if I may have swapped a wire in the junction box but all neutrals are together as well as all the hots. Why is this happening?
Sorry for this being so long. I am looking forward to any insight or assistance you can provide.
Best Answer
Not all white wires are "neutrals", and not all "neutrals" are white. Some white wires are in fact used as "hots", especially those that are marked with black tape/marker/paint, and/or connected to single pole snap switches.
You should put everything back the way you found it, and contact a local licensed Electrician. Better yet, just shut off the breaker and call the Electrician. You can explain to them what you did.
This advice may sound harsh, but it sounds like you don't know much about electrical wiring. If you'd like to learn, take a course at the local college, or read some books. Messing with wires in your home, is not the way to learn the basics.