i have a switch which controls one of the two outlets. there are four wires that come out of the box. i have tried to connect each of the wires to the outlet and although the outlet works, the switch does not control the outlet anymore. in addition, i tried to break off each of the metal strips on both sides of the outlet and still doesnt help the problem. anyone with suggestions? thanks!

 

Which box are you referring to - the switch box or the receptical box? What changes have you made? Did you replace only the receptical (s) or the switch, or both?

 

i was referring to the receptical box. i tried the switch before and it worked - controlled the bottom outlet.

 

Is this a new installation, or is this the receptacle you've had all along, or did you replace the receptacle? Can you give us the bigger picture of what you are doing?

When a switch controls one half of a receptacle, you must break out the tab on the brass-screw side only. If you break out neither tab, the receptacle will be continuously hot. If you break out both tabs, only one half of the receptacle will work at all.

If this is a receptacle replacement, look at the receptacle you removed. What is the state of its tabs?

Another important consideration is whether or not a switch loop is involved, but we can postpone discussing that for a minute.

 

this pertains to the replacement of a receptable. when i removed the old receptacle, the tabs on both left and right sides were broken and the left side of the outlet(facing outlet) consisted on a black wire on the top screw and a red on the bottom screw. on the right side of the outlet, a black wire was connected to the top screw and another black wire was looped to BOTH the top and bottom wires. when i connected the wires to the new receptacle, i broke off the metal strip on the right side of the outlet and connected the wires back in the same fashion as previous except that each wire was screwed to one screw only. the outlet had power but the switch could not control the bottom outlet.

 

"Left" and "right" are ambiguous information, unless you tell us whether the ground hole is up or down. Normally, it's better to talk about the brass-screw side and the silver-screw side.

The tab should not have been broken out on the silver screw side. Sounds like the person who wired the old receptacle compensated by using the wire to essentially replace the tab.

Break out the tab on the brass-screw side. Do not break it out on the silver-screw side.