I am trying to put in a dimmer switch to run my pot lights in my basement. The power goes to my lights.

I have the switch wired correctly to the light, but I want to connect to a recepticle after passing through the switch. I want the power to always run to the recepticle.

I have wired a normal light switch, and there are no problems, but with the dimmer switch - the switch must be on before power goes to the recepticle. Is there a special dimmer switch I need to buy? or do I have to wire it differently than a normal light switch?

Thank you

 

This may be impossible. Please tell us exactly what you meant when you said, "The power goes to my lights."

Then tell us all the wires that are available in your switch box, and where they go (to the best of your knowledge). Also tell us the color of the insulation on the two wires that were connected to your old normal switch.

 

Lets see....the wire directly from the fuse box on the wall goes to the light (1 white and 1 black). Then I have a 3-wire line from the switch to the light (1 white, 1 black, 1 red). At the light, the black from the fuse box is connected to the red from the switch. The white from the fuse box is connected to the white from the switch and to the light. The black wire from the switch is also attached to the light.

At the switch. The red is attached to the dimmer switch (there are only 2 black wires coming out of the dimmer switch itself). The white is connected to the white wire going to the recepticle. The black wire from the recepticle is attached to the switch and the black wire from the light.

When I wired a normal light switch this way, everythings works perfectly, but the dimmer switch is causing a problem.

It is tough to explain in writing, but I hope someone out there can help.

Thanks

 

If I'm following your correctly the black from the outlet needs to goto the red from the lightswitch.

 

Penta Volvo is correct. Let me add some detail.

Your wiring came very close. At your switch, the unswitched power is on the red and white, not the black and white.

This means that at the switch box, you should connect the black from the receptacle to the red from the light, and one of the two switch wires. The black from the light connects only to the other switch wire. The white wires are already connected correctly.

 

Thank you all very much. I changed the wiring around and it works great.