Split receptacle wiring diagram

Top: off · Bottom: on

Flip the switch: the top half follows it, the bottom half never changes. That is the whole reason to break the tab. Tap a conductor to replay the path. The copper highlight is the live path, not a wire colour.

A split receptacle is a duplex outlet with the brass tab broken so its two halves are fed separately. Here the top half runs through a wall switch and the bottom half is fed straight from the supply, so one plug is switched and the other is always live. The silver tab stays intact, so both halves share the one neutral.

How this circuit works

Two hots arrive at the receptacle: a switched hot for the top and an always-hot for the bottom. Because the brass tab is broken, they do not touch — each feeds only its own half. The neutral tab is left whole, so a single neutral serves both loads on the way back. Flip the switch in the diagram and only the top half responds; the bottom never flinches.

That independence is the whole trick, and it is why the tab exists as a knock-out feature. Snap it and you have two outlets in one yoke; leave it and you have an ordinary duplex.

Questions people ask

What is a split receptacle?

A duplex outlet whose two halves have been separated so they can be fed independently. Normally a small metal tab links the two brass terminals into one; snap that tab and each half can be on a different hot — one switched and one always live, or two different circuits.

Which tab do you break — brass or silver?

For the common "top switched, bottom always hot" arrangement you break only the brass (hot-side) tab, so each half takes its own hot, and you leave the silver (neutral-side) tab intact so both halves share the neutral. Breaking the wrong one, or both, changes what the outlet does — the diagram shows the brass tab broken and the silver tab whole.

Why would you switch only half an outlet?

So a lamp plugged into the top half can be controlled by the wall switch while the bottom half stays live for a clock or a charger. It is the tidy way to get a switched plug without giving up the whole receptacle.

Duplex receptacle wiring — the same outlet with the tabs left intact.
Single-pole switch wiring — what controls the switched half.
All wiring diagrams

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