I was installing a new light fixture in my kitchen and everything was going great until I noticed that I did not pass the wires thru the crossbar and therefore I couldn't attach the canopy (to hide the wires) properly. I unscrewed the crossbar and placed the pendant light fixture on the table. The pendant light fixture has chain links attached to it and the wires were linked thru them. As I was re-attaching the crossbar, I noticed that the ground wires had snapped and broken. It is now too short to attached to the grounding screw. Can the grounding wire be re-attached? Or is the light fixture now broken for good? By the way, before the grounding wire had broken, my connections were good and the light came on properly.

 

I'm guessing that the ground on the fixture was permanently attached {at the factory}. You can either go & get a new fixturestrap {crossbar} with a ground wire or at the very least a ground screw & attach your own wire. Or make certain the ground from the feed is properly secured to the ceiling box.

 

Hi there,
Thank you for your response. Now the grounding wire was permanntly attached to the light fixture by the factory. And the crossbar that I have has the green grounding screw on it. How do I go about attaching my own graounding wire? And How do I remove the old, broken grounding wire? And what is the purpose of the grounding wire? Can I get rid of it without replacing it??

Confused

 

Please see my last post with reguard to other options you have.As long as the ceilingbox is grounded from the feed you are O.K. But if yu like you can attach a new ground wire to the crossbar using a peice of scrap wire {if you have any} under the green screw.Without going into a long dicussion,the ground is there to send current back in the event of a short.

 

Ampz,
Excuse my ignorance, but if I have a scrap piece of ground wire, I can connect it to the green screw on the crossbar. But that does the other end connect to if the ground wire is attached to the light fixture by the factory? Do I just sodder it or twist it back together??

 

You can extend the ground wire by using a solderles connector such as a wire nut or by using a crimp on splice that is commonly called a butt connector. The latter would make a better job but you will need a plier that has the crimp die for that connector.
--
Tom H

 

Toms right since you would need crimping pliers for a butt splice just use a wirenut to connect the grounds

 

It is also possible to buy grounding pigtails; usually comes with a green screw to make the attachment to the box.

One such part number is Steel City / Thomas & Betts GSC12SMM2; two pieces, and you can modify the loose end as your situation demands.

The bar-coded SKU number is 85991 17746, can't recall which big box store I purchased from, either Lowes or Home Depot.