What Is The Tab On Electrical Outlet Screw Terminals

If you ever wondered what those mysterious tabs on the sides of the outlet are for, I’ll be explaining how they operate and why you might use them for specific electrical needs.

[@lastgameplay]

new to me

[@jamessotherden5909]

I knew about it from one of your past videos. But the one outlet i wanted to do that to isnt wired to work that way.

[@watuzi]

Thanks, I did not know that tidbit until this video. Have you done a video on adding a light to a room? Why is that even a thing? Why don't they have lights in all the room of the house?Makes no sense to me.

[@roberthughes2665]

I did that for a switched receptacle just inside our front door when we built our home in 1996. We also wired the room for a switched ceiling light/fan attachment with full time power at the ceiling box for the fan to run without use of the wall switches

[@hwbehrens]

I knew that from a previous video, AND I ended up using the knowledge to replace a switched outlet! What I didn’t expect was how difficult it was to remove that tab - is there a right way to do it? I thought it would just break off, but I had to disassemble the thing and cut it with my wire cutters. Surely that can’t be right?

[@ashamar]

Holy cow - I actually picked up a couple of these this afternoon to replace this weekend. I was looking at one and wondering what the tab was and if I needed to remove it. Thanks for the update!