Electrical wiring question

[Delat]

Very OT even for the OT room, but here goes.

I’m swapping out a regular power outlet for a smart outlet, which only has one screw each for hot and neutral. The outlet I’m replacing has two black wires (which I’ll call “hot”) and one neutral white wire.

The tab for the two hots isn’t broken, so I believe what’s happening is the electrician is just using the outlet as a daisy chain. I’m going to verify by disconnecting the wires, turning the power back on, and presumably one black wire should actually be hot, and the other should have no power.

So what I think I need to do if this is the case, is just wire the two blacks up together with a pigtail and connect the pigtail to my new smart outlet. And attach the single neutral (and ground) directly. Does all this sound exactly right?

If it turns out both blacks are actually hot (vs daisy chained) I think that would be the point to call an electrician. I’m double-checking because this room had some weird incorrect wiring at other outlets and switches that needed to be corrected in the past.

 

[WildBoar]

paging @Bill13

 

[deltaplex]

Those two Blacks are bussed together on that switch. So yes, you can tie them together with a wire nut and run a single wire to your smart switch and accomplish the same wiring configuration as current.

 

[Delat]

Those two Blacks are bussed together on that switch. So yes, you can tie them together with a wire nut and run a single wire to your smart switch and accomplish the same wiring configuration as current.

Thanks - yup I took a closer look and it seems like the electrician just ran out of wire nuts or got lazy. There’s one cable in, one cable out. The neutral and ground got pigtailed but the black wasn’t.

All set and my first ever smart outlet is operational!