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How to wire incandescent light fixture with black and white wiring is it wired to ground?
Wiki User
∙ 14y ago
== == === === By asking this question you are probably not quite ready to take on this particular task.
The correct answer to your question will depend on the exact location of the light fixture, its voltage and its power rating. <><><> Whatever is going on, your present wiring situation is not just confusing, it is dangerous. The bare wires are not meant to carry current. They are not coated, and thus have no insulation to protect surrounding material from the heat created by electrical current passing through the wire. You need to cut the whole circuit off at the breaker box until you can get the situation sorted out. Otherwise, you could have an electrical fire. This is what is wrong. At some point in your circuit, some numbskull (probably not a professional electrician) connected something wrong. The thing about electrical circuits is, the current doesn't know what color wire it is travelling through. It travels just as easily across black, white, red, and bare wires. In fact, there is no real difference between any of the wires, except that the "ground" wire has no coating. Electricians use the coating colors so they can keep track of which is which. So it's really more appropriate to talk about hot, neutral, and ground wires than black, white, and bare wires. All the wires could have the same color coating, and the circuit would still work fine. The problem is, if you were trying to hook something up, you wouldn't know which wire was hot. So someone got smart and color coded the wires. By standard, electricians use the black wires for hot and the white wires for neutral, but only because they assume that everyone else does. If the previous "electrician" didn't, it screws everything up. And that's what happened here. Someone did something that was not according to standards. I would start with the switch box that controls this light fixture. There should be two bundles of wires coming into this box. Each bundle will have a black wire, a white wire, and a bare wire. The two white wires should be connected to each other, but not to the switch itself. The two black wires should be connected to the switch. The switch will have two brass screws on one side. The black wires should be bent into a hook and hooked around those two screws and the two screws tightened. It doesn't matter which is on top and which is on bottom. The two bare wires should be connected to each other, and IF the switch has a green screw at the very bottom, the two connected bare wires should be connected to that green screw. That's how everything SHOULD look. But, it may not be that way, which would explain why your light doesn't hook up correctly. You may have a black wire and white wired connected to the two brass screws, instead of two black wires. You may have a bare wire connected to one of the brass screws. You may have a white wire and a bare wire connected to each other. All of these are no-nos. Anything other than what I described above is unacceptable. Hot and Neutral are reversed. You should not be getting any voltage through the ground wire ... EVER !!
On many light fixtures the black and white colors do not matter, except as a safety standard; it should work either way. Typically, however, the black goes to the tip of the bulb and white (neutral) to the shell, for safety when the bulb is being replaced and the current may be on. If the light fixture has a switch, it should always switch the black (hot) connection.
In your case, the white to ground means that the "neutral" may have been accidentally reversed somewhere with the black (which should never happen), leaving the safety grounding wire as the only connection that will "work." It also could mean that the voltage is still "on" when the switch is off, and a person could be electrocuted by "completing" the circuit even with the switch "off". <><><>
As always, if you are in doubt about what to do, the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to advise what work is needed. Before you do any work yourself,
on electrical circuits, equipment or appliances,
always use a test meter to ensure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.
IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOB
SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY
REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.
Wiki User
∙ 14y ago
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Do you connect both wires on a pull chain switch one to black one to white?
There should be two wires in the box, black and white and possibly a bare one depending on the age of the wiring in the house. The fixture has two screws on the base. One wire goes on each screw. If there are short wires on the fixture, black to black and white to white. If there is a bare ground wire in the house box, it attaches to the body of the fixture. If there is no ground screw on the fixture, do not worry about it.
How do you hook up outside light fixture that has black white green to house wiring with only black and white?
If your house wiring is encased in armoured (metal) sheathing back to the panel, then you can secure the green ground to the ground screw in the box. Make sure the armoured cable connector is tight on the box. This should ground the light back to the panel. If you are on "knob & tube" I would suggest thinking about re-wiring the house.
How do you wire a ballast that has two black wires for a one tube fluorescent lamp?
There should be a black & white wire coming from the light. Hook black to black and white to white. Then connect the ground wire to the light chassis. You need 12/2 with ground for the circuit. You do not need a light fixture box for these type lights.
You want to install a new light fixture in your bathroom upon removing the old fixture down you discover there is no grounding wire only a black and white wire and GFCI outlet on the circuit?
Just install the new fixture with black to black, white to white, and cap off the ground wire on the new fixture. It'll be fine.
How do you wire light fixture with three wires when there are two house wires?
CAN'T. Must have 3-wire w/ground. [First off, I want to admit that the wording of this answer is skewed. However, if you read the answer you will understand why. It is techinically correct in terms of the NEC. -TJNII] The idiot that wired my house did this. To add insult to injury he connected the hot to one circuit and the neutral to another. I was almost electrocuted because of it. Do it right or don't do it at all. Your negligence may kill someone.
Do you connect both wires on a pull chain switch one to black one to white?
There should be two wires in the box, black and white and possibly a bare one depending on the age of the wiring in the house. The fixture has two screws on the base. One wire goes on each screw. If there are short wires on the fixture, black to black and white to white. If there is a bare ground wire in the house box, it attaches to the body of the fixture. If there is no ground screw on the fixture, do not worry about it.
How do you hook up outside light fixture that has black white green to house wiring with only black and white?
If your house wiring is encased in armoured (metal) sheathing back to the panel, then you can secure the green ground to the ground screw in the box. Make sure the armoured cable connector is tight on the box. This should ground the light back to the panel. If you are on "knob & tube" I would suggest thinking about re-wiring the house.
Can you run power from a light fixture to another light fixture?
Yes. Connect Black to Black, White to White and bare ground wires together.
When wiring a light fixture does black go black and white on white?
If these are all the wires you have then this would be a great assumption. It assumes also that everything before the fixture is wired correctly and with commonly used color schemes.
Which is the positive wire between a white and black wire?
That depends if it is automotive or household wiring. On a car a black wire is almost always ground. On house wiring black is the supply (hot) wire.That depends if it is automotive or household wiring. On a car a black wire is almost always ground. On house wiring black is the supply (hot) wire.
How do you wire a ballast that has two black wires for a one tube fluorescent lamp?
There should be a black & white wire coming from the light. Hook black to black and white to white. Then connect the ground wire to the light chassis. You need 12/2 with ground for the circuit. You do not need a light fixture box for these type lights.
You want to install a new light fixture in your bathroom upon removing the old fixture down you discover there is no grounding wire only a black and white wire and GFCI outlet on the circuit?
Just install the new fixture with black to black, white to white, and cap off the ground wire on the new fixture. It'll be fine.
What is the stereo wiring for 1985 ford f250 what color is hot and ground?
ground is the black...
When connecting a ceiling fan in an old home and the existing light is wired black to white and white to black what should you do?
At that point, you should verify the home wiring; make certain that the black wire IS, in fact, the "hot" wire and that the white wire IS in fact the neutral. If the house is wired properly, connect the new fixture with "black to black and white to white." If you aren't certain that the house wiring was done properly, contact a local electrician to perform the work for you. Connecting a light fixture improperly can be dangerous to you and to anyone who subsequently changes a bulb or otherwise comes in contact with the fixture.
Troubleshooting 40 year old outside wiring to light fixture?
Yes
How do you find accelerate Ground?
Wiring diagram of trace the wires and find the black one leading to a ground source.
How do you wire light fixture with three wires when there are two house wires?
CAN'T. Must have 3-wire w/ground. [First off, I want to admit that the wording of this answer is skewed. However, if you read the answer you will understand why. It is techinically correct in terms of the NEC. -TJNII] The idiot that wired my house did this. To add insult to injury he connected the hot to one circuit and the neutral to another. I was almost electrocuted because of it. Do it right or don't do it at all. Your negligence may kill someone.
