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Electrical Wiring

how to connect 2 ground wires in light with no source ground wire

3 years ago

There is no ground wire in my electrical box. Home built in 2007. Current pendant lights are just connected through a halogen transformer (no ground wires I can find).

New pendant light has both green and bare grounding wires. I’m not sure how to connect this to the electrical box.

I’m assuming I connect the 2 ground wires that are attached to the light to a pigtail grounding wire, and then connect that pigtail to a grounding screw. A grounding screw didn’t come with the light but there is a hole with GND near it so I assume I just put the screw there.

Any guidance so I don’t burn my building down? 😬

Featured Answer

PRO

HALLETT & Co.

3 years ago

Commercial building, the metal box is the ground (not done that way anymore but it will work) Screw the ground on the fixture to the mounting plate, the mounting plate will ground to the box.

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Comments (7)

mtvhike
3 years ago
My guess is that your old halogen lights were low voltage (12 or 24) and didn't have a ground. Your new one is clearly labeled 120V, so you're going to have to run new wires, which, of course, will have a ground.
dennisgli
3 years ago
What kind of "building" is this?

Are you sure that the box isn't grounded?
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Bruce in Northern Virginia
3 years ago
The green wire is the electrical ground for the new fixture. The bare ground wire is the ground for the metal box (required by code for metal boxes). You just connect them both together with the bare ground from your 120 volt wiring.

However, for your situation I'm not really sure you have 120 volt wiring and a standard box. All I see in the picture is lamp cord. What exactly are we seeing in the picture? Is it a new fixture housing just laying on a counter or is it mounted on something? Do you have a picture of your NM house wiring?

Bruce
Cindy Blum
Original Author
3 years ago
I’m in a 3-flat walk up condo building built in 2007. The picture is just the new light fixture canopy and mounting plate sitting on my counter. Inside the ceiling I don’t see a ground wire. I’m attaching a picture.
Cindy Blum
Original Author
3 years ago
This is inside the ceiling
mtvhike
3 years ago
Why is that not done that way? For decades the ground and neutral connections have been separated and I thought the ground connection on a metal fixture is always connected to the ground wire going back to the load center, even if the box is not metal.

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