I am trying to add an outdoor outlet to my home. Right now I have one outdoor outlet on one side of my house that is controlled by a switch near my front door inside my house. I would like to add the other outlet to the other side of my house for the purpose of plugging in Christmas lights. Can I wire the second outlet to my existing switch? If so, how? I have heard of something called a pig tail connection(?). If I need to do this, how is it done?

Gregory E.

 

I'm not an electrician, but I would pull a 12/2-with-ground wire from the junction box feeding the first outlet OR from the first outlet box itself to a new box on the other side of the house.. IF the first outlet is wired with 12/2.
If it's wired with 14/2, go with that.
The first outlet should be gfci, and if so, you come off of the load side to a regular outlet (and it also will be gfci protected).
(That's definitely NOT a technical answer, but it's all that I know. LOL).
Good luck!
Mike

 

You can do what OldGuy said, but wouldn't it be easier to find an outlet closer to where you want the new one?

I recommend you get a book on home wiring from your local home improvement center or public library. It will have pictures and safety instructions for this job. There are a lot of details that it is difficult to cover here, and it sounds like maybe this is the first time you've done a job like this.

You need to learn about how GFCI receptacles work also. All outdoor receptacles must be GFCI protected (but this is not the same thing as saying that these need to be GFCI receptacles). You need to figure out what provides GFCI protection to the receptacle you have now.

Please get a book or two or three.

 

John is absolutely right. It would bebmuch easier just to come off of the nearest indoor outlet to a new gfci outlet.
However, I just like to keep all of my outdoor outlets on the same circuit to keep from confusing myself when I need to cut the breaker. LOL.
Mike