When you daisy chain receptacles in a residential circuit youre actually wiring them in parallel not in series. To wire outlets in series youll need to cut taps theyre also called pigtails or conductors.
Branch Circuits Part One Ec Amp M
Wiring two outlets in series. The outlet automatically splits the electric path. The procedure for wiring an outlet is to connect the incoming wires to one set of terminals and the outgoing wires to the other set. The other cable goes to the next outlet in the chain. Here two outlets are installed in one box and wired using the device terminals to connect them. If youre wiring an outlet in the middle of a chain of outlets youll have two cables in the outlet box. The neutral wire from the circuit is shared by both sets.
Wiring diagram for dual outlets. Wiring outlets has to be done in parallel since that way should one outlet fail or a bulb inserted in one light fixture burn out the rest of the fixtures and appliances hooked up to that same line will keep working. These are short lengths of wire. One of the cables is the live cable that either comes from another device that has power or directly from the panel. With this arrangement if receptacle 1 fails receptacle 2 may also fail. If the first outlet in the circuit is damaged internally in some way it may affect the flow of electricity to the outlets that follow.
This wiring is commonly used in a 20 amp kitchen circuit where two appliance feeds are needed such as for a refrigerator and a microwave in the same location. A parallel circuit is also a closed circuit where the current divides into two or more paths before coming back together to complete the full circuit. Box typical inside dimensions are about 2 in. Strip ½ inch of the insulation off both ends of each wire and set the wires aside. Here 3 wire cable is run from a double pole circuit breaker providing an independent 120 volts to two sets of multiple outlets. Parallel wiring is used in homes because of the reliable self containment of each outlet or light fixture that allows current to flow past them even if they fail than to have.
Wiring dual outlets in a series. They only need to be a few inches long. Cut three of them one for the hot one for the neutral and one for the ground wires. Much more common than series circuits are those wired in parallelincluding most household branch circuits powering light fixtures outlets and appliances. The outlet addition methods we show here are based on the most common wiring 14 gauge wire on a 15 amp circuit and an 18 cu in.
Gallery of Wiring Two Outlets In Series
