I'm atempting to put a switch on a light in the basement. one wire going in and one going out to another light in the line. I put white to white and black to black with the ground in place. when i turned the switch on the breaker is triped.
Answer:
It cannot help but short out. Imagine the cable leading to the switch from the light as being a single wire. You still hook the black to black in the light receptacle but then you hook the white to the load (light fixture). You did the right thing with the ground but all the cable to the switch is doing is making the black wire in the light receptacle that much longer. You'll notice that on the light fixture and on wall plugs you have a brass bolt and a white bolt. On the switch (power interruptor), you only have brass bolts. I hope this helps.
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