Bathroom Light Switch

First, I am new to this and don't have much knowledge or experience with home electrical work.
I have a bathroom electirc wallplate that consists of one light switch for the bathroom lights and two power outlets. The light switch will not turn on the lights, but the outlets still work when turning on anything plugged into them. I opened up the wallplate and discovered when gently moving or jiggling the wires the lights came on. I closed up the wallplate when it began to work, but a week later it didn't work again. For awhile during that period of time the lightswitch would work when gently jiggling it but eventually it died out. I opened the wallplate again and tried what I did last time by gently moving or jiggling the wire with no success.
It appears the light turns on when the wires are in a certain position but not sure what I need to do. Is it possible the lightswitch or wiring is bad? Please advise on what I need to do. Much appreciated.

POH

 

You have a loose connection. Turn off the breaker/fuse to that circuit and pull the switch and outlet out of the box. Check the wires. At leastone of them is loose. It could be the that they are using the back stab connections which are very prone to bad connection. Move the wires to the screw terminals if the back stabs are being used. You may need to cut a short bit off the wire as it might be burnt from the poor connection.

 

If the connections look tight, you might have a bad switch...which can be a fire hazard. If it's the standard toggle type that most homes have, a replacement costs 39 cents.

 

joed & karen_z,

thanks for the advice...it's working now...much appreciated