What do these wires do?

[Hot Chop shop]

Hey folks... Long story long... So got a new house (to me) and trying to figure out how to wire the garage....
So when I did the walk through on the house the previous owner had a bench and power strip on it, in the same spot where my bench is now... But there is zero outlets on this wall.... Hmmm how did he do it? I think he spliced into the wires on this light switch to power it. I know it wasn't up to code so he had to remove it when the house was inspected.
Any ideas on what can be done to add an outlet from this mess? Without running a new sub panel and metal conduit etc.
Also I found little wires tucked in here... What are they? Hmmm maybe part of the garage door wires? Just strange they are tucked into this outlet
Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[930dreamer]

interesting, but no idea.

 

[fitz11]

Do you know what is all on that circuit?
I would replace that duplex box with a quad box and have the switch and an outlet.
No idea on the small wires

 

[nadogail]

Guessing, those could be for a push button to operate the garage door opener or for a telephone.

 

[Mustang51js]

Some sort of low voltage wire,prob for an alarm system

 

[Mustang51js]

And if u want to ad an outlet you can run a 14/2 out of it to another box,or change the switch to a switch- outlet combo. White goes to silver screw,your hot is the black wire with the wire nut on it. Ground to ground

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Looks like the neutral is spliced in the box. If that is the case, then youre good to go.

Also, those white wires look like alarm wire, especially with the type of splice connectors that were used.

And it appears that the wires arent in the junction box. They come out of the wall below it...

 

[Rusty Bumper]

You could disconnect them and see what doesn't work any more.

 

[SALIV8]

Well, one lug of the switch is hot all the time. I'm sure he tapped off of that and tied his power strip into the neutral as well. This would energize the power strip regardless of the light switch position.

Are you looking to run an additional outlet off of this Box? If so, I'd figure out the ampacity of this circuit (looks like a 15) and design accordingly.

The comm wires I'm not sure of but are not in the box.

 

[Hot Chop shop]

Thanks for all the help gentlemen! I don't know why my app wasn't sending notifications of replies... (if I can't navigate the app I probably shouldn't try to play with electricity) so I thought I got no replies which means I should have used the search function before asking a dumb question.

So the plan is (((well unless someone tells me NO cause I'll burn my new to me house down))) is:
I'm going to add an outlet underneath the light switch. I'll fish the wire down the wall (to normal outlet height) and tap into that switch. I know it won't be ideal for running any heavy power tools but I should be able to have the bench's power strip plugged in to charge my cordless drill batteries, cell phone etc.

Should I make the outlet a GFCI ? For added protection to keep from popping the main breaker?


Thanks!

 

[Jinks]

The small wires are low voltage, ie: phone, alarm, garage door button. Any chance you bought the house from an old telephone employee? Those connectors are "connector, wire B", commonly known as "beans". Used a million of 'em, might know where there are still a few..........

 

[Mustang51js]

Yeah you need a gfi if it's in the garage

 

[stealthmagic27]

The garage door have sensors? Those small wires could be for those or the button...

 

[Zeke]

Looks like a 3-way switch being used as a 2-way. I'd get a 2 gang old work box, wire up the switch, put in a GFCI and power up a strip from there.

 

[justsam]

GFCI outlet should go at head end of circuit, closet to the panel. If you can not determine that, I would just install a GFCI breaker and then the whole circuit is protected.

Those are alarm wires. That is the type of wire and connector used by the alarm industry. Another clue is that they are wired red to green, creating a series loop, which is typical of a zone in an alarm circuit. Telephone circuits are not wired red to green, which would be a tip/ring short.

The alarm panel may be in the home and this is just part of the garage zone, perhaps protecting doors and windows. The system couldhave been pulled out long ago, and these are just remnants.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Looks like alarm wiring to me also.

 

[chops101]

Alarm wire splices.
I used the same splices when I added alarm points.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Another give away is phone wire would be 4-conductor- red green yellow black....

 

[jeffmoss26]

The one cable looks larger so it's probably 4 conductor with black/yellow cut off.

 

[mbatarga]

The one cable looks larger so it's probably 4 conductor with black/yellow cut off.

I think the wire gauge is larger on the cable coming in from the right.

 

[Hot Chop shop]

Thanks again for the input... Work got in the way of wiring up the new outlet tonight. I keep finding more and more fun stuff around here... Found this hanging out the wall.
Didn't know where it went too... Found the other end of the cord tucked in behind the cable TV wall plate in the living room. That makes it easy if I want to run cable in I guess.


Also found this behind a wall plate in the garage. It's on the wall with the breaker box directly on the other side. Guessing it's the earth ground? (Not sure if that's the name for the stakes in the earth that ground your house) maybe it's normal but my last several homes have never had a wall outlet covering it.

Makes me jealous about the folks who buy an older house with lots of history. That have basements and attics etc. Where the house has been updated over the years whether it's good work and not so good work...
Unlike my 10 year old track home.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

I think the wire gauge is larger on the cable coming in from the right.

Thanks again for the input... Work got in the way of wiring up the new outlet tonight. I keep finding more and more fun stuff around here... Found this hanging out the wall.
Didn't know where it went too... Found the other end of the cord tucked in behind the cable TV wall plate in the living room. That makes it easy if I want to run cable in I guess.


Also found this behind a wall plate in the garage. It's on the wall with the breaker box directly on the other side. Guessing it's the earth ground? (Not sure if that's the name for the stakes in the earth that ground your house) maybe it's normal but my last several homes have never had a wall outlet covering it.

Makes me jealous about the folks who buy an older house with lots of history. That have basements and attics etc. Where the house has been updated over the years whether it's good work and not so good work...
Unlike my 10 year old track home.

That is a UFER ground.

Notice its rebar? Its tied into the rebar in the footing/slab...or at least it should be!

 

[Hot Chop shop]

Thanks for all the replies I picked up a switch outlet combo to make it easy to get power till I add a sub panel and run conduit for additional outlets way down the road...
But all the directions and YouTube videos to wire it only show examples of switch/outlet combos with the 4screws on the sides of it. The one I picked up has 4 screws and two wire coming out of the top. Hmmmm I was ready to hook 4 wires and a ground not 6... Gotta play with it... I had the light switch working but the outlet wasn't working. I'm trying to make it constant power regardless if the switch is on/off like in this YouTube video:

Bad pics I know... Would be better to actually show you'll the back when asking for help....But then the wife went into labor to ruin my garage fun... so I had to cap them off for safety... and off to the hospital we go.

 

[Mustang51js]

You need some jumpers. Take all the whites and add a tail and put on the silver screw,that will take care of the neutrals, the ground it looks like you had that already. Now for the blacks you need to find out which one is the hot and which one is the light. Take the hot wire and one of the black wires coming off the switch and wire nut them together with a tail and that will go on the brass screw. You will have two wires left,one from switch and one going to switch,wire nut them together. You don't need to use the set of screws on the outlet that have the paper over them,that's for the load side of a gfi. The two wires coming off the switch are just for the switch,one is for power to feed it and the other to the light, the power from the outlet does not give power to the switch part of the device. There is another way to wire it where your garage lights are gfi protected but to me it's not worth it doing it that way

 

[Mustang51js]

The one pic you have of it hooked up is almost correct,just need to have all the whites together

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Mustang steered u in the right direction.

Gotta figure out which one is the switch leg to the light and which one is the constant hot.

All blacks except switch leg to light and switch leg on switch go together.

Then wire nut switch legs together.

All neutrals are nutted together.

Should be 3 wire nuts and 2 pig tails!

 

[Hot Chop shop]

You need some jumpers. Take all the whites and add a tail and put on the silver screw,that will take care of the neutrals, the ground it looks like you had that already. Now for the blacks you need to find out which one is the hot and which one is the light. Take the hot wire and one of the black wires coming off the switch and wire nut them together with a tail and that will go on the brass screw. You will have two wires left,one from switch and one going to switch,wire nut them together. You don't need to use the set of screws on the outlet that have the paper over them,that's for the load side of a gfi. The two wires coming off the switch are just for the switch,one is for power to feed it and the other to the light, the power from the outlet does not give power to the switch part of the device. There is another way to wire it where your garage lights are gfi protected but to me it's not worth it doing it that way

The one pic you have of it hooked up is almost correct,just need to have all the whites together

Mustang steered u in the right direction.

Gotta figure out which one is the switch leg to the light and which one is the constant hot.

All blacks except switch leg to light and switch leg on switch go together.

Then wire nut switch legs together.

All neutrals are nutted together.

Should be 3 wire nuts and 2 pig tails!

Thanks for all the help!
I say it too often but I'm always amazed at the people on this forum that take the time to help out others and make this community amazing.