A fiber optic switching apparatus for switching electrical loads is comprised of a switching box, an optical cable, and an electronic adapter. The switching box consists of an internal housing attached to the front panel of an external housing, and an actuator and a fitting for holding the optical cable. The internal housing consists of an optical switching module that includes a fiber aligning unit and a shutter with filtering means; the filtering means can slide in a narrow gap in the fiber alignment unit which has illuminating and detecting fibers; the shutter is mechanically connected to the actuator. The fibers are terminated in a fiber optic connector that is located outside the internal housing. The electronic adapter consists of a light illuminating and a light detecting means which are operated by a microcontroller providing output to a switching means that switches electrical loads.