How to connect the ground wiring?


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Old 07-27-15, 06:51 PM
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How to connect the ground wiring?

Hello, When installing lighting such as a sconce or overhead light my family always taught me to take the Ground wire from the home wrap it with the Ground wire from the light fixture and screw both together onto the green ground screw on the mounting bracket.

I've never questioned this until recently when I saw another way to do it and I'd like to know if we've been doing this incorrectly all this time.

The other way has the Ground wire from the house wrapped around the green ground screw of the mounting bracket with excess wire leftover. This excess wire is then wrapped around the Ground wire of the light fixture and closed off with a plastic cap.

So which way is correct?
 
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Old 07-27-15, 07:15 PM
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Welcome to the forums.

I would say either way is acceptable but it's certainly easier to put the solid ground wire under the screw and then wire nut the fixture ground to the tail.

It can be very difficult to get a solid and a stranded wire to stay under a screw head.
 
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Old 07-27-15, 07:36 PM
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I'm not sure what you mean by house wrapped. It sounds like you are using Romex & either way would be OK.
 
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Old 07-27-15, 07:43 PM
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He's talking about connecting the ground from the house cable, probably romex, to the fixture bar. It can be pretty tough to get two wires under the little ground screw that's provided.

 
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Old 07-27-15, 07:50 PM
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As you already know, either way completes the ground. I had never heard the term house wrapped.
 
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Old 07-27-15, 07:55 PM
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Or if the house ground is long enough use a green wire nut.

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Old 07-28-15, 04:14 AM
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As Ray alluded to, your fixture stranded grounding wire may make it all too short to work in the box once it is attached under the screw. Much easier to run the Romex grounding wire under the screw with left over sticking out to attach your fixture wire to with wire nut.
 
 

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