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thanks for reading this and offering your advice.

So first I changed the switch which was super easy and the kitchen light continued to turn on and off totally fine. Then I went to change a nearby outlet (I say this, because obviously these are connected in some way behind the walls), which again seemed pretty straightforward with the classic set up of two black wires, two white wires, and a ground. Again, process went smoothly and the outlet works (both upper and lower). BUT now the darn light won't turn on! I've been trying to figure out why, or what to do next to try and troubleshoot, and I've read some things about breaking the brass tab on the outlet. Does anyone think, or know, if this is the solution? Or should I try something else?

Just seems odd to me that the outlet would work but the switch (again, presumably down the line of connections) wouldn't. I would think if they both didn't work, I would just need to recheck all of my wiring connections.

Also, nothing tripped during or after this installation process. And I did turn off and on the main switch from the power box several times, in an attempt to "reset" something?

HELP!

Holly
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    The tab is only broken/removed when the upper and lower outlets are on different circuits/or one is controlled by a switch. Electric circuits in a house are not the same as computers, resets/reboots do not work. Turn off the power and post pictures of the way the switch and outlet is wired, show the wires in the box also. – crip659 Aug 21 '22 at 16:50
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    Do you have the old outlet or picture of it? Do you remember if the tab was broken? – crip659 Aug 21 '22 at 16:58
  • I'm not home at the moment so can't share pictures, but I'm 99.9% certain the wires are all connected properly. And again, the switch only stopped working AFTER I changed the outlet. The exchange I made to that switch was fine until then. To be honest, this outlet is in an obscure location above and to the right of my fridge and I've never actually used it before, for anything. So is it possible that one of the outlets was controlled by the switch, and I just never had anything plugged in to notice? – Holly Aug 21 '22 at 17:06
  • And I've already tossed the old outlet, but it was REALLY old looking. It may have been before tabs. I thought I read somewhere that older outlets didn't have them. ? – Holly Aug 21 '22 at 17:07
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    One more question - what would be the harm or potential down side to just breaking the tab and seeing if that fixes the problem? Will I risk the outlet then not working, at all? – Holly Aug 21 '22 at 17:09
  • The tab is just a connection to the two outlets(like a jumper wire). An outlet just needs one hot wire on the hot side. The second screw is used mostly to connect a second wire to power something else(to continue the hot wire). The tab cannot be replaced after, would need a new outlet. It is a one shot deal. – crip659 Aug 21 '22 at 17:19
  • Is the new receptacle "plain" or GFCI? – manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact Aug 21 '22 at 17:21
  • It's plain, not GFCI. And I understand that you said an outlet only needs one hot wire on the hot side, but mine had two on the old one so I set the new one up in the exact same fashion. My question still stands, if I have two black/hot wires entering this outlet, if I break the tab nothing bad should happen. Right? Won't they both still be getting their power? – Holly Aug 21 '22 at 17:34
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    Maybe one of my two black wires aren't fully connected. That's why the outlet works (because as you said, I really only need one of them connected in order for both the upper and lower to work); and potentially the other isn't working, which could be running to power on the switch. Does that at all make sense? – Holly Aug 21 '22 at 17:37
  • Ignore the colors for a moment. Use a phase tester or multimeter to find out which one is the switch actually switching. The reason, you might have a wiring called switch-loop where the color changes (black to white) – Ruskes Aug 21 '22 at 18:52
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    There's an unlikely possibility that's worth checking. You know that you didn't remove the tab, but is it possible that someone did? Someone could have bought that receptacle, removed the tab, and then returned it to the store. You then installed it without noticing, which would be easy to do. If the second set of wires does provide power to the switchbox, a missing tab could explain the problem you're seeing. If this is the issue, only half the receptacle will work. You said it's working, but didn't mention whether you checked both outlets. – Mark Aug 21 '22 at 19:43
  • Have you checked both halves of the receptacle (top/bottom) to see if they're working or not? Also, can you turn the breaker back off and get us photos of the insides of the outlet box in questions? – ThreePhaseEel Aug 21 '22 at 20:21
  • Both halves of the outlet currently work, so like you mentioned, the tab must be intact. I will upload pics tomorrow if after I recheck my connections and the issue persists. When I checked for electrical current at the switch, I get nothing. Again, really hoping it's an easy fix if I notice that one of my black wires isn't fully connected. Fingers crossed! – Holly Aug 21 '22 at 21:51
  • Read https://diy.stackexchange.com/a/168565/47125 but probably, yes. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Aug 22 '22 at 01:01

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