Is it possible to wire this diagram the way I want?

Question

This all started when I tried to attach a fixture in my Mudroom to a Ceiling Box that I was told was ready for it. The house is older (1948) and undergone some "interesting" DIY additions by the previous owner(s).

The Ceiling Box had four (!) cables coming into it, so it was a little scary to look at for me; however, there ultimately was one black and one white wire hanging down seemingly "ready" for a fixture. But, testing my fixture after attaching it, the bulb did not turn on, so I set about mapping out where all the cables went.

I'm pretty confident my diagram below is correct for the boxes I have access to.

I'm most likely going to hire an Electrician, but, I'd like to know if what I want to do is even possible without having to run new wires, or tear open walls.

So, I'd like to know if it's possible to:

1. Switch 1 (S1) operate the Garage Lights (E)
2. Switch 2 (S2) operate the Mudroom Light (F)
3. Mudroom Receptacle (D) be ALWAYS ON
   • Or, bonus points, turn (D) into a "half-hot" with Switch 2 (S2) operating the switched outlet

More Details from my troubleshooting and Googling:

• I believe the Power In (A) from the Panel has an "Open Ground"
• I believe the Circuit Breaker for this circuit is a Combination AFCI (black case with white button)
• The Garage Lights were currently operated by Switch 1 (S1). However, there was A LOT of wire-nut gymnastics that seem unnecessarily complicated, so I'd rather start from an unbiased starting point and do it more simply (if possible).

Answer 1

for the extra credit you could wire it like this:

Cap the unused ends of the red in A , connect all grounds together at each location and connect them to the ground screws too.

don't forget to remove the live tab on the outlet, else you won't be able to turn the lights out.

Answer 2

Here is one way to wire your lights. The diagram does not include switching half the outlet because you don't have enough switches and wires. If you use S2 to control half the outlet, how will you control the mudroom light?

Answer 3

Yes. Wire nut together all the whites in the switch box. Wire nut together all the whites in the ceiling box (including the one from the light fixture)

Connect the Black (? - is this the live hot from the panel? You have 2 potential current carrying conductors, so I'm just going to assume the hot from the panel is black) to the top of S1, top of S2, and Red in B.

Connect the bottom of S1 to the Black in C. Connect the bottom of S2 to the black in B. We'll call B the S2 (mudroom) bundle and C the S1 (garage) bundle

In the ceiling box, connect the Red from B to the Red in D. This sets up the always hot to the mudroom outlet.

In the ceiling box, connect the Black from B to the Black in D as well as the Black in F. This sets up the switched hot for the mudroom lights (and outlet).

In the ceiling box, connect the Black from C to Black in E. This sets up the switched hot for the garage lights.

In the mudroom outlet box, connect the Red from D to the bottom half of the outlet. Break the tabs between the outlet halves and connect the Black from D to the top half of the outlet.

Connect all grounds from all switches and outlets together in all boxes. I don't exactly know the situation about the open ground - but that possibly means there is no ground connection from the panel to the first box.

Answer 4

Yes, but for best results you'll need a 5-pack of colored electrical tape.

White is neutral in all cases. (that was easy)

In cables A B D, black is always-hot, and RED is defined as switched-hot for switch 2.

Except the red in cable A is not used, it gets marked with invisibility tape, and capped off solo with a wire-nut, since it may be energized at a future time or under different conditions. (e.g. someone throws the 3-way switch you don't know about yet). (Invisibility tape is not part of the standard 5-pack, you may need to get that from your local magical supply).

The hot wire in the mud-room light gets re-marked with RED tape. It is now a red wire.

In cables C E, the black wire on both ends is re-marked BLUE. This is defined as switched-hot for switch 1.

The mud-room light gets its black wire re-marked blue.

Switch 1 and switch 2 get a black pigtail. Their remaining screw will receive 1 blue and 1 red wire, respectively.

The receptacle gets white on a silver screw, the brass-side "tab" broken off, and red and black each on a brass screw.

Bind all same-color wires together and you're done.