A Guide to Properly Earthing Your Light Fittings

Installing new light fittings in your home can give you many options for lighting, and can update older, inefficient fixtures. Installing a light is not a difficult project, it is however important to do it right. Anytime you are working with electrical components, you will want to make sure that you follow the directions for installation carefully. This is not something that you will necessarily be able to redo if it is not done properly; by that time there may have already been an electrical fire. Part of this process is earthing your light fixture, more commonly known as grounding the fixture. Grounding the fixture attaches it to the home's ground system, connected to a grounding rod. This rod is made of copper and driven six feet deep outside of your home. Any electrical currents passed to the rod are dissipated by the ground surrounding it. Here you will find the information needed to properly ground a fixture.

Step 1 - Locate the Ground

First, as with any work you may doing involving the electrical system, is to shut off the power supply to the fixture that you are working with. This should be done at the breaker or circuit box. Make sure that the power is off by testing other fixtures or appliances near the junction box or fixture you will be working with. You will want to locate the ground wire on the fixture. Typically this is the wire that is covered in green plastic coating. It may also be a bare wire with no plastic coating. There may or may not be a ground wire in the wires of the junction box that you are connecting the fixture to. You may only have one white covered wire and one black. Either case is fine. You will find information for both scenarios here.

Step 2 - Connect the Ground

If you have both a ground wire in the fixture and in the junction box, all you need to do is twist the two together, and then twist a wire nut on the twisted ends of the wire. Make sure that the wire nut is secure. If you do not have a ground wire in the junction box, you will need to attach the ground wire to the junction box it's self. There should be a small green screw screwed partially into the junction box. With the needle nosed pliers, twist the end of the ground wire to make a small hook or "J" on the end. Hook the "J" around the screw, and tighten the screw down so that the wire is firmly secured and does not slip off the screw.

Step 3 - Install the Fixture

Follow the directions supplied with the new light fixture to finish the installation. This will consist of connecting the "hot" or positive and negative wires with the wire nuts and using screws to secure the fixture. Each fixture will be a little different, so just follow the instructions.