Wiring – Back stabbed outlets

I may be imagining this, but it seems like the breaker switches to the said outlets are a little weaker then the others, as in, they turn "off" easier....

An easy to move handle is the classic sign of a tripped breaker.

I think you have one of three problems:

1. You wired two circuits together. When you turn on the breaker for both circuits, you trip the breaker for both circuits.

2. You have a dead short in the circuits somewhere. This could be a bad outlet (not likely) or a mis-wired outlet (likely) or a damaged wire somewhere (likely). To troubleshoot this, find the first device (outlet, switch, light, etc.) in the chain and disconnect everything downstream. Turn the breaker on. If it stays on, you know the problem is downstream somewhere. Now keep connecting/disconnecting devices until you find the wire or device causing the problem.

3. You might also have a bad breaker. Take the cover off the breaker panel, and turn off that breaker. Measure the voltage with your multimeter between the screw on the breaker and the bus bar that all of the white neutral wires are connected to. With the breaker off, it should be 0. If so, loosen the screw on the breaker that clamps the wire. Pull the wire out and put a wirenut on the wire. Now turn the breaker on and measure the voltage again. If you get 0, then the breaker is bad. If you get 120, then the problem is elsewhere.

When wiring multiple outlets on one circuit, whether splicing or chaining is the better way depends on whether your devices are made to be chained.

If you are using North American type devices, your second illustration is the best way, even though it requires the two wire nuts (or other splice connectors) ("splice"="derivation"). It is not good to rely on the tab or other connections inside a N. A. device.

If you are using devices like the one in your fourth picture, then you do not normally use splices. For the middle outlets, you can use the two wire positions on each terminal to chain the outlets together, similar to your first picture.

I live in the U.S. but I have seen pictures of switches, outlets, and ceiling light rosettes from the U.K. and Australia that have multiple screw terminals electrically joined, and are made to be chained. Some outlets used in the U.S. look like they could be chained, but they're not really designed for it and often fail in ways that are difficult to diagnose.

Your first illustration is correct for the kind of outlet shown, which seems to be a GFCI protected outlet. These usually have two screws labeled "LINE" and two screws labeled "LOAD". These labels are not shown in the picture but I guess the top screws are the LINE and the bottom screws are the LOAD.