2 wires?


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Old 01-05-07, 10:56 PM
S
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2 wires?

I'm installing new fixtures in some gate lights on wood posts. They connect to the line at a GFCI, running out of the load terminals. The GFCI is properly grounded. Both light fixtures have two wires, no ground. Is this correct for outdoor lights?
 
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Old 01-06-07, 04:39 AM
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Lights that do not have a metal frame and no metal parts (except the light socket, switch and wires) have nothing to attach a ground wire to, so there is no ground wire.

The box that these lights are attached to needs to be grounded (if it is metal).
 
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Old 01-06-07, 04:59 AM
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Something is holding the light socket in place. If that something or anything else about the light fixture is made of metal, then it DOES need a ground wire.
 
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Old 01-06-07, 06:13 PM
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Jwhite, see 410.18. Bits and pieces of a light fixture are permitted to be ungrounded. If there is metal holding the fixture together and those pieces aren't exposed to a user of the system, then no grounding is required.

Check the instructions that came with the fixture, it may have additional grounding instructions that can't be found in the NEC. At any rate, it should have the grounding instructions detailed if necessary.
 
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Old 01-07-07, 05:45 PM
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Well I'm installing "new fixtures" in the sense that I'm replacing the existing HPS sockets/ballasts with outdoor incandescent sockets. I'm just wiring them in in place of the ballasts, which are 150 watts each, the bulbs cost > $20, the ballast is absurdly expensive to replace, and one of them has gone out so I'm converting both. And I don't need that much light. The floodlight sockets I'll use have a green ground screw, so I'll wire to that. But the second light still never makes it to the ground because of the wood post. Again there are only two wires to the lamps. My original question was whether the ground on the outlet takes care of the two lamps or do I need to upgrade something?
 
 

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