In this short guide, I’ll focus on connecting a 3-wire light to a 2-wire connection.
What happens when your light has three wires and the connection point only has two? This is a common situation.
In general, you can get three different cords with your fixture; black, white and green. Connect the black (hot) wire to the black wire of the house electrical system. Do the same for the white (neutral) wires. And connect the green (ground) wire to the metal electrical box.
Continue reading for more details.
Wiring a 3-wire light to 2 Wires Wired Connection
As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, this is a common situation. When it happens, you may get confused about which two wires to connect to the main power supply. But really, if you have the basic knowledge of hot, neutral, and ground wires, you can solve this problem quite easily.
If you are connecting a 3-wire light to a 2-wire connection, follow below.
- Connect the live wire from the fixture to the main live wire.
- Connect the neutral wire from the fixture to the main neutral wire.
- Connect the ground wire to the metal electrical box. It will make a proper ground connection for the lamp.
- You can leave the ground wire free. But this is not the NEC recommended method, and you could end up damaging your lighting fixture or receiving an electric shock.
How to correctly identify the live, neutral and ground wires?
To connect a three-wire light switch to a two-wire connection, you must first correctly identify the wires. Otherwise you can connect ground to neutral or neutral to hot. Therefore, to avoid this, you should have a basic understanding of household electrical wire color codes.
Color Codes
In a single phase connection, the black wire is the hot wire. It transports electricity from the main electrical panel to the source. The white wire is the neutral wire and acts as the return path for electricity.
If you see the green wire or the bare copper wire, it is the ground wire. And this ground wire acts as an alternate path for power in an emergency.
2-wire and 3-wire lighting fixtures
In most of US homes, you can find two-wire lamps. These two wire fixtures come with hot and neutral wires. So you won’t have a problem connecting them to the 2-wire connection.
But when it comes to 3-wire lamps, they come with an additional third ground wire. And it would be best if you connected the ground wire to a good ground point.
Importance of the ground wire
When wiring a three-way light cables change to a two-wire connection, most people omit the ground wire. But this is wrong, and you wouldn’t do it if you knew the function of the ground wire.
The main purpose of the ground wire is to provide an additional path for current to travel. . As you know, the neutral wire is the first choice of path of travel for current. But during the electricity surge, look for an alternate path to travel to the ground.
If the ground wire is not present, the electricity will choose your body as the alternate path and you will be electrocuted. That’s why the ground wire is much more important than most people like to believe.
Is it safe not to connect the ground wire to the fixture?
The lamp can be damaged during an electrical surge without proper grounding. Or sometimes you may receive an electric shock or be electrocuted. Connect the ground wire from the fixture to the metal electrical box.
Where there are wire connections, these types of metal electrical boxes are often present. So, connect the ground wire to one of the screws in the metal box. It will make a proper ground connection for your light fixture circuit.
Safety Precautions to Take During This Process
Before completing the wiring process, be sure to turn off the main circuit breaker. Also, check the wires with a voltage tester even after turning off the main breaker.
Video reference
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