I'm installing a brand new motion activated security light to an existing box on my garage. After removing the old light, I notice it only has white/black wiring while the new light fixture has of course white/black/green (ground) wires to attach. What do I do if no ground wire is available with the old box?
Wiring – Installing grounded light fixture on box with no ground conductor
groundingwiring
Related Topic
- Wiring – Which wire is the ground in this light box
- Wiring – How to ground a light fixture with two ground wires and only one ground at junction box
- Wiring – Need help replacing light fixture
- Electrical – Installing an exhaust fan in place of a light fixture
- Electrical – Wiring IKEA light fixture into old fixture
- Electrical – Wiring Light Fixture with 2 Sockets into Junction Box with 2 White, 2 Black, and 1 Red Wire
Best Answer
There's a few options.
No grounding conductor
If there's no grounding conductor at all, there's a few things you can do.
Install a grounding conductor
Obviously, you could install a grounding conductor for the circuit.
Share a grounding conductor
Code allows you to share a grounding conductor from another circuit, as long as the grounding conductor is properly sized.
GFCI protected
If you're replacing a fixture, you don't need a ground if the outlet is GFCI protected.
Grounding via conduit or cable covering or ground in box
At times, metallic boxes are grounded using metallic conduit, or the outer covering and/or internal bonding strip of armored cable. If this is the case, then the box may actually be grounded.
There's also a chance that there's a grounding conductor stuffed in the back of the box.
Extend the grounding conductor
If the box is grounded, you can simply connect a grounding conductor to the box. If there's a grounding conductor stuffed in the box, you can simply connect to it.