electricalgroundinglighting
I have a 50W external light, installed on an outside wall, high on the wall.
When touching it, I received an electrical shock.
I cut the electricity, and opened up the electrical junction. I saw there that the earth wire was not plugged properly. I plugged it back. The live and neutral cable seemed fine.
Does the fact that I got a discharge mean that the live cable was actually not wired properly? Should I bin the lamp? Is grounding properly just a way to hide the problem?
I would advise checking the wiring of the switch. It sounds like it might be a case of the switch for the lamp is switching the neutral instead of hot. The result of this is that when the switch is off, there is no visible light because there is no return path for the electricity (broken by the switch), but there is still eletricity making it up to the fixture.
I'd pick up one of these at the hardware store:
If you're not in North America, I'm sure there's a local equivalent.
Based on the LED's that light up, you can tell if the circuit is wired correctly. The only thing it can't detect is a ground/neutral swap. But it can detect a missing ground.
Best Answer
Fixtures are grounded to protect one from getting shocked if there is a short or fault in the fixture. The ground wasn't connected properly, according to you, so you got shocked because of some problem. Now that the ground is properly connected, you shouldn't get shocked but the problem still exists and must be fixed. Examine the fixture for frayed wires, cracked insulation. Be careful if you're up on a ladder and make sure to turn off the power. If you don't feel comfortable examining it, just replace it.