The ground wire will be either green or bare copper wire. If the wire is covered with green insulation you will need to strip 12 inch of the green insulation off of the tip of the wire.
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How to ground a light switch. If you dont have a grounding wire running to your light switches theres not much you can do about it because you probably live in a home that didnt require grounding wires to be connected to. If your electrical cables have metal sheathing that runs all the way to the panel the sheathing can serve as a ground path. A neutral wire a hot wire and a neutral wire. The black hot wire goes to the brass screw or into the hole in the back of the device on the same side as the brass screw. To achieve this i cut two pigtails which are simply short lengths of conductors six inches that connect one thing to another inside a junction box. This wire is sometimes red.
Alternatively you might consider connecting the ground terminal to a water pipe by means of an exposed ground wire. How to add a ground wire to a light switch. We also need a ground wire connecting the light switch to the other ground wires. Do this to the ground wire bef. In many cases especially in older houses with metal boxes the metal box may be grounded even if you dont have a ground wire. Locate the ground wire coming from your homes electrical box where the light fixture is to be installed.
Splice the white wires together by twisting the ends together clockwise using pliers. Dont rely on metal sheathing or an exposed ground wire. Crimp the bare ground wires together with a. Screw on a wire cap to hold them together and insulate the ends. The green or bare copper ground wire if the device has one attaches to the green screw terminal on the switch or to the electrical box. When i took apart the light switch i notice i only had a neutral wire and a hot wire.
If the light switch has a screw for a bare ground wire but your electrical box doesnt have one youre ok just leaving that screw empty and connecting your other wires to the hot screws. I need to install an automatic light switch that requires three wires.
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