Wiring a combination light switch/receptacle

[kirkroy]

I bought a combination light switch/receptacle to replace an existing light switch in my garage (to allow me to power my shop vac and other small items separately from the existing receptacle, which is on a different circuit from the existing light switch). In the past I've only done the simplest of wiring and hoped this would be just as simple. Well, it's not. This is probably a simple thing for anyone with more significant electrical experience than me though...

The box containing the existing light switch has one set of wires with black, white, red, and bare wires and another set with black, white, and bare wires. The two white wires are connected together. The two bare wires are connected together and hooked into the switch. The two black wires and the red wire also connect to the switch.

I'd like to end up with the receptacle always hot. Can anyone help me out?

Thanks,

Kirk

[Tequila]

Hopefully this will help. If you're unsure of any of this, please do the safe thing and call in an expert or professional.

The bare wires are ground.
The white wires are neutral.
The black and red wires are hot.

You said the two black and the one red wire are connected to the switch. Two of them are connected to the same screw and one of them is on it's own, right? Is anything else controlled by that switch, or just the light?

If it's just the light, then the one wire on it's own provides the hot line to the light. The other two wires; one brings power in, and the other goes out to someplace else in the house. Fortunately, it doesn't matter which is which - you'll just need to keep them together.

Your new switch/outlet should have four screws.
One is green for the bare ground wire.
One is silver - you'll need to connect the two white wires to that. The proper way to do it is to add a third white wire and connect it to the others with a wire nut.
The other two are brass, and are meant for the hot wires.
The one next to the outlet should bring in the hot line - that's the two lines that were connected to the same screw. Again, the correct way to do that is to jumper them to the screw with a third wire and a wire nut.
The wire that was on it's own gets connected to the last remaining screw - that's the switched terminal and will control the light.

Again, please play it safe if at any point you're not sure what you're doing.

[LarryG]

You said the two black and the one red wire are connected to the switch. Two of them are connected to the same screw and one of them is on it's own, right?

This is key, before you go any further. If the switch has three screws, with one wire to each, it's a three-way switch and you won't be able to use the combo device unless you are willing to lose the function of the other three-way switch in the circuit.

EDIT: If the switch is not a three way, then what Joe wrote is correct, but this book excerpt should help you visualize things. Wire the combo device as shown in the bottom photo. The two black wires will each connect to one of the two brass screws on the left side (Joe said there'll be four screws total, but I'm betting on five). The red wire goes to the lone brass screw on the right side. The white pigtail and bare ground connect as shown, and as Joe described. If this wiring scheme does happen to result in the outlet being switched, reverse the blacks and red, as mentioned in the book excerpt.

[kirkroy]

Your two descriptions and the book excerpt made it very clear. A couple minutes of hooking up and it's working fine. Thanks!