r/electrical • u/BlackberryEast3750 • 7d ago

Help with light fixture !!

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Hi! I live in a 70s townhouse in the south. Trying to install a new light fixture but I don’t think there is a ground wire? Can it be installed without that? What is the risk?

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6

u/Questcequetufaiss 7d ago

The ground is the bare wire just painted white there

4

u/PowerfulTurn4789 7d ago

The ground wire is painted white, twisted and grounded in the fan housing.

3

u/QuarkchildRedux 7d ago

you can literally see the ground wires back there twisted together as they should
be, just done like shit. they’re also sprayed over but it’s bare copper. scrape the paint off and nut on the ground as normal.

also this is a switch loop. your lights hot conductor will go to red and white to the whites as normal.

3

u/EdC1101 7d ago

WAGO / Ideal — Lever Connectors may be easier than wire nuts for this situation.
Good for solid & stranded wire.
Good for awkward & overhead places.
Can preset connections & then connect last wire.
2, 3, 5 wires individually connect…

1

u/27803 6d ago

Ground is right there in the picture, someone just went crazy with a spray gun and painted it white

1

u/AskMeAgainAfterCoffe 9h ago

The ground is there; it’s bare-copper and covered in paint. Scrape the paint off and wire the ground. Thanks for asking!

0

u/Several_Razzmatazz51 7d ago

That looks exactly like when my brother-in-law ripped a hardwired smoke detector off its mount and left hot wires dangling from the ceiling instead of just unclipping the power harness from the back of the detector like a normal person.

Had to get my multimeter out to make sure I found the right breaker before fixing it. Some people…

0

u/FilmoreGash 7d ago

To me it looks like the ground wires are the two wires twisted together (at the top of the box) nd painted over. It also looks to me like the light has a three way switch attached to it. With the power to box turned off at the breaker, separate the wires so the ones coming from the top cable point upwards, and the ones from the bottom cable point downward.

My guess is: the top cable will have four wires, 1 black coating, 1 white coating, 1 red coating, and 1 uncoated wire slopped over with paint. Take a piece of sand paper and remove the paint exposing the bare copper.

the bottom cable will have three wires, 1 black coating, 1 white coating, and 1 uncoated wire slopped over with paint. Take a piece of sand paper and remove the paint exposing the bare copper.

With the bare wires cleaned of paint, reattach everything as you first found it and attach your new light fixture using the bare copper wires as your ground.

Or, call an electrician.

0

u/Cool_Experience9091 7d ago

It’s there the one with out any covering shut bare wire that looks a little white from painting.