Help with a DPST rocker switch

I am trying to use this rocker switch to power a 20 amp GFCI outlet for a 120v 1500 watt heat stick. It will simply act as a portable GFCI breaker with an on/off switch.

What I'm not sure of is witch pins are load and line. I assumed it was two lines in and two loads but I think I'm off with that. I wired it line in on the bottom pin then used the pin directly above it for the load to the outlet. When I fired it up there was nothing. No LED no power to the outlet. Then I switched the load tab to the other bottom tab (across from the tab I used as line in). Fired it up and I did get power to the switch (the LED lit up) but there was no power to the outlet still. Any thoughts? BTW- the outlet came with the breaker tripped. It would not reset when powered. Thanks

http://www.amazon.com/Amico-Light-R.../189-2082938-6976306?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

I should also mention I have the white neutral wire from the power supply going to the outlet (silver screw). There is no white wire going to the switch. The hot wire form to the outlet again is coming from the switch. Everything is grounded to the box and to the incoming ground wire. Using 12/3 wire and a 20 amp plug.

There should be two sets of terminals on the gcfi receptacle. Are you sure you are connected to the line terminals?

lschiavo said:

There should be two sets of terminals on the gcfi receptacle. Are you sure you are connected to the line terminals?

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Yes. I'm connected to the line not load.

SO what I'm thinking now is I have to wire up both hot and neutral wires to the switch and the out to the outlet. as it is now I only have the hot wire coming in and out with the neutral wire directly wired to the outlet.

Most lit switches have a 3rd pole for neutral to power the light, I don't see that on this switch. The specs say the LED requires 240v though.

You don't have to switch your neutral. I'd guess you have a bad GFCI, can you wire it up to straight power and get it go work? Not resetting when it's hot is not right, unless your wiring has a fault. Do you have a meter to ohm out the switch and check voltages?

stevo4361 said:

You don't have to switch your neutral...

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That may be true but a neutral will have to be connected to the switch for its internal lamp to light, so the op might as well switch the neutral. BTW, its not likely to actually be an LED but probably neon.

I would ring out the switch with a meter. DPST means 4 terminals like the link shows. If you switch the hot and neutral, you will be providing 120 to the light which should work.

The draw from the light to ground may be enough current to trip the GFCI....?

The LED/Lighted switch gets light as soon as I turn it on without a neatrul. So that does not seem to be an issue. As for the GFCI not working. They come "pre-tripped" so they should not work until you reset them. I tried to reset them and they wouldn't budge.

So is my wiring sound correct? Neutral going direct to the outlet, hot coming into switch and then out to the outlet? My thought was the switch is just interrupting the hot line to the outlet when turned off. As soon as it is turned on it should allow the hot wire to flow to the GFCI... no?

Are you getting 120 V to the GFCI? If its getting power and not resetting you have a bad outlet. Your wiring sounds like it should be fine, unless your switch light is creating enough imbalance. You could try a normal switch. Try wiring up just the outlet and see if you get normal operation, so you can narrow down your problem.

stevo4361 said:

Are you getting 120 V to the GFCI? If its getting power and not resetting you have a bad outlet. Your wiring sounds like it should be fine, unless your switch light is creating enough imbalance. You could try a normal switch. Try wiring up just the outlet and see if you get normal operation, so you can narrow down your problem.

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That sounds like a good idea. I'll wire the outlet alone and see what I get. Problem with the switch I already cut the hole and mounted it in my box. I'll try and post a pic later.

SpartyParty said:

The LED/Lighted switch gets light as soon as I turn it on without a neatrul. So that does not seem to be an issue.....

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That's quite an assumption. This may actually be a symptom of the problem. I couldn't find any specs on that switch but generally, a neutral is required to light the internal neon bulb. The neutral may be getting to the switch from the GFCI being miswired.

SpartyParty said:

....So is my wiring sound correct? Neutral going direct to the outlet, hot coming into switch and then out to the outlet? My thought was the switch is just interrupting the hot line to the outlet when turned off. As soon as it is turned on it should allow the hot wire to flow to the GFCI... no?

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Maybe a snapshot of your wiring?

So what did OP find?

My bad fellas. I made this for a buddy for his birthday. He made the trip down to visit and I gave it to him. His dad will know how to get it working. I wish I would have snapped some photos. Sorry. Thanks for all the feedback!

Not that it matters anymore, and I didn't read the thread in the utmost detail, but it sounds like you may have had an unbalanced load on the switch. As I understand it, the GFCI works by measuring power out and power back in through the neutral, comparing the two, and if they're not the same - that means there's a leak, which results in tripping. If you only have one leg go through the GFCI, then it basically sees 100% power out, 0% power back in, and assumes you have a major fault in the line, thus it will remain tripped.

Granted, your buddy is on his own now...

BadNewsBrewery said:

Not that it matters anymore, and I didn't read the thread in the utmost detail, but it sounds like you may have had an unbalanced load on the switch. As I understand it, the GFCI works by measuring power out and power back in through the neutral, comparing the two, and if they're not the same - that means there's a leak, which results in tripping. If you only have one leg go through the GFCI, then it basically sees 100% power out, 0% power back in, and assumes you have a major fault in the line, thus it will remain tripped.

Granted, your buddy is on his own now...

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But when the switch is thrown doesn't that make it balanced?

If you have Common and Neutral going into this GFCI switch (it is GFCI, right?), and only Common leaving, then my understanding is that the GFCI will think there's a problem and trip, because there is no return loop for it to balance the load against.

BadNewsBrewery said:

Not that it matters anymore, and I didn't read the thread in the utmost detail, but it sounds like you may have had an unbalanced load on the switch. As I understand it, the GFCI works by measuring power out and power back in through the neutral, comparing the two, and if they're not the same - that means there's a leak, which results in tripping. If you only have one leg go through the GFCI, then it basically sees 100% power out, 0% power back in, and assumes you have a major fault in the line, thus it will remain tripped.

Granted, your buddy is on his own now...

Click to expand...

A 120V GFCI monitors the CURRENT passing through the HOT and NEUTRAL paths and trips when they are not equal. This is why a GFCI breaker has a neutral connection. A 240V GFCI monitors the current in the two HOT paths the same way.

I'm assuming that the GFCI receptacle was mis-wired.

Doesn't a 3-pole (H-H-N-G) GFCI also allow for equal current through one H and the N without tripping?

jeffmeh said:

Doesn't a 3-pole (H-H-N-G) GFCI also allow for equal current through one H and the N without tripping?

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Sure. But, that's still considered a 2-pole GFCI breaker. It has two hot and one neutral connection and is labeled for 120/240 operation.

Essentially, a gfci breaker monitors all current flowing to and from the load(s). At any instant of time, these currents should be equal and when they are not, by a few milliamps, the gfci trips.