Doper electricians - illuminated switch won't illuminate.

[Valgard]

I must be doing something wrong but danged if I can tell what.

I'm installing a switched outlet in my attic, with an illuminated switch - switch and duplex outlet are in one 4x4 box.

Very simple hookup - live wire runs into box. Hot goes to one terminal of switch, neutral goes to neutral of the outlet. Second terminal of switch connects to hot of outlet.

Everything is grounded and I've tested continuity of everything.

Turn the power on and the switch (which should glow when it is off) doesn't glow. There's no short, and testing the incoming hot to ground (or hot to neutral) shows current flowing.

Flip the switch on and the outlet becomes live. I plugged in my little receptacle tester and it shows that everything is wired correctly (that is, nothing open, no ground problems, no hot-neutral reversed, etc).

This is the second illuminated switch that I've tried. The first one lit up exactly one time, and then when I turned the switch on the breaker tripped. I opened up the box, rechecked everything and plugged it all back in and reset the breaker. Circuit worked fine but the switch would not light up (it did however switch power to the outlet just fine).

I figured that I had a bum switch and the little light had shorted out, so I exchanged it for a brand new one. Again, the switch works completely fine but the little illuminator won't go on.

Anyone have any ideas? I'm stumped.

[Q.E.D.]

Originally Posted by Valgard

Very simple hookup - live wire runs into box. Hot goes to one terminal of switch, neutral goes to neutral of the outlet. Second terminal of switch connects to hot of outlet.

Make sure the live hot (from the breaker panel) is connected to the correct terminal on the switch. If they are reversed, you will get the symptoms you describe. If the switched hot (the one that goes to the outlet) is connected to the the light in the switch, it will be off when the switch is off, which kinda defeats the purpose. Switch the hots and it should work.

[Valgard]

Originally Posted by Q.E.D.

Make sure the live hot (from the breaker panel) is connected to the correct terminal on the switch. If they are reversed, you will get the symptoms you describe. If the switched hot (the one that goes to the outlet) is connected to the the light in the switch, it will be off when the switch is off, which kinda defeats the purpose. Switch the hots and it should work.

I double-checked that I've got it hooked up the way that the diagram on the instructions shows, and I just now tried reversing those two wires. Still no light.

However, if there is something plugged into the outlet, the switch does glow when it's in the off position. Which I guess makes a certain amount of sense (there has to be some path to neutral for a little trickle of current to light the light) but that's no help for switching an outlet (as opposed to something like a light fixture).

[Valgard]

Here's a link to the exact switch - this should be very straightforward, it's a plain old single-pole switch. I installed one in my garage with no problems.

http://www.leviton.com/OA_HTML/ibeCC...&beginIndex=30

[Q.E.D.]

Aha! You don't have a light that this switch controls, do you? That's why it's not working. I just looked at the wiring diagram. It needs to have a lamp in the circuit, because the filament must carry the small current needed to illuminate the switch. If there's only an outlet, it won't work because it's an open circuit. That's why it works with something plugged in, but not otherwise.

[Valgard]

Correct, there's no light however I was thinking of leaving an inexpensive flourescent strip light plugged in up there so all is not lost, I guess.

Dang.

[Q.E.D.]

There are such switches which have a third terminal for the neutral; you can connect a short wire to the neutral connection with a wire nut in your switchbox and run it to this neutral terminal.

[Chefguy]

Plug a night light into the outlet.