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I had a switch (the physical toggle part of a light switch) break last night. Bought a replacement today. Found the correct breaker and turned it off. Replaced the switch and all seemed fine but now None of the lights work as if the breaker went bad when it was turned off and won't turn back on. Any ideas before I start trying to replace the breaker tomorrow?

Keep in mind that I know nothing about electricity other than it scares me. I would gladly call the man but don't want to have to wait until Monday if I can help it.

Call the man.

Electricity will fugg you up.

I don't know a man at 5:45 on Friday evening. That is the only issue.

Swap the breaker with a known good breaker

You could move the wire to another breaker.
Or you could call somebody. I think in your case I would call somebody

Wait til Monday.

Did you use the screw connectors or the back plug in connectors?

It's probably an easy fix, and I'd come do it for you. But not close at all.

When you flip the switch the breaker trips? Is that right?

We'll live without bathroom lights tonight. Going to go to Lowes and buy another breaker and swap it out tomorrow or try to anyways. I'm guessing the breaker is bad now. for some reason.

Pull a good breaker and swap it with the one you think is bad before buying a new one. If that doesn’t fix it, it’s on the new switch end.

Last time I went back home for a spell David, my wife called and said the power had been off all day. They just had to go get a hotel that night. The main breaker was bad. I bet it is a breaker. Just shut off the main breaker and swap out the problem one. Call me if you have any questions a buddy is a master electrician.

Are you saying that you replaced the light switch. Flipped the breaker back on, the lights worked and now at some point they stopped working?

If the lights didn't work after replacing the switch, make sure the breaker is actually flipped on all the way. Flip it off then back on and make sure it's all the way. When I was working electrical, we got a call one time similar to this. Turns out a lady flipped the breaker, but it wasn't all the way on.

Did you buy the correct switch? Is it a regular switch or a 3 way? Do you have a power tester? Just a little cheap that lights up when it’s close to electricity?
Do you have power? Is it getting to the switch and not getting out?
I’ll be up that way tomorrow or Sunday if you need a hand let me know. I’m down in Bear creek if I remember your up in Florence?

Is it tied into gfci plug someway. If so it may have tripped and needs resetting.Its also possible the wire broke inside the insulation when you were bending it to put under the screw on the switch

It has to be something from the breaker because other lights on that breaker worked until I turned it off, now none on that circuit work. Common sense would tell me that it is not a switch issue anymore, plus the breaker just doesn't feel like it is all the way on. I bought another breaker anyways. Lowes didn't have a GE 1 Pole 20 Amp breaker so I got what looks to be the same except it is an ABB 1 Pole 20 Amp. I'll make sure they are compatible before I trust it.

The shame of all this is that my father was an electrician and I never paid attention to any of it when I was growing up. If I had paid attention when he or my uncle needed my help I would know electricity, auto repair, welding, etc. I did learn how to cut cows, clean deer, and have a hog killing from start to finish on the coldest days of Winter though. If we ever go back to days of living off the grid at least I will fare better than most.

Is the switch in a metal box? Its possible the breaker is tripping due to hot wire grounding on something. You can disconnect the switch and see if breaker will reset. That will shed light on the problem. Double check the wires to be sure nothing is grounding.

Make sure breaker is resetting. Sometimes you have to flip them to the off side kinda aggressive/hard before flipping back on.

Sometimes an old breaker doesn't complete the circuit when turned on. You could tap it, or flip it on/off a couple of times.

Sometimes the spring that hold the snap in part get weak when it's snapped on the bus bar, so you can press the end of the breaker towards the middle of panel to make sure it didn't pull away from busbar when you flipped it off.

Replacing it is gonna be your best bet though..

Just to give you an example. A breaker can be held in the on position and still trip. Like on a fire alarm circuit that's mechanically locked in the on position so that it's never accidentally turned off. It'll still trip internally.

Remember when wiring the switch, black goes to gold, white goes to silver

Volt meter will help.