This morning, whenever I tried to turn on my bathroom light, it would flicker, then die. From what I understand, the most likely culprit here is a loose connection somewhere.
When I took my switch out of the wall, I noticed that the ground wire was not connected to anything. I thought I'd reattach the wire by looping it clockwise under one of the screws coming out of the side, but I'm… less sure about that now that I'm getting a good look at things – I think those are used to secure the black cable and create contact.
When I took it off, the ground wire was just kinda chillin in the box, not really connected to anything. The box is covered in paint (or maybe just primer?), but even still, it doesn't feel like metal, so I don't understand how anything would be grounded.
The white neutral cables are all kinda tied together. The two black hot cables on the right side are connected via a nut, and the resulting cable out of that is what feeds the switch. The cable on the left is what heads up to the light in the bathroom (the light switch is outside the door – don't ask).
Once I get the flickering fixed, is it safe to put it all back in there with the ground wire just kinda… hangin' out? I don't see any way to attach it to this switch.
Best Answer
Someone was lazy and used the backstabs which are notorious for working loose over time. That would be your issue.
Use a screwdriver to take out the blacks stabbed in the back and instead connect those on the screws. That should fix your issue.
The ground wire should be connected only to a green screw or the connection marked as ground if present. But it doesn't look like yours has one. If you are worried you can replace the switch with a new one that will have the green ground screw.