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I attempted to replace an electrical outlet that was not working. My voltage tester indicated nothing was working. A receptacle analyzer indicated nothing was working as well. but when opening it up, I was surprised to discover that the outlet was wired using two black wires and one white wire. There was a bare ground as usual. Surprisingly, I didn't see an additional white wire in the group of wires, so I got confused. I wired it back up the same way it was just with a new outlet and it still didn't work.

Why would this wiring configuration be like this? Was it a mistake?

paneerlovr
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1 Answers1

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Assuming you are in the US, this could be a half-switched outlet. Do you still have the old outlet? Look at the side and see if the metal tab between the screws is broken off on one or both sides. If it is, then (at least) one of those black wires is probably controlled by a wall switch somewhere, resulting in one outlet being on all of the time and the other switched.

longneck
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