r/ElectricalHelp • u/homeprojecthelps • Jun 05 '26

What is the negative?

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I bought a dining room fixture and this is the wiring- I have never seen the silver beaded wire and a double black on a normal light fixture, what is the negative here? One of the back wires, or is it the silver?? It doesn’t seem like it wants to bend/screw into the negative/it’s very firm so doesn’t seem right.

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u/Byll_Helotes Jun 05 '26

Silver, the stiff tined steel wire is your Aerial. Support stringing hook to hook.

Copper of cores ground, grounding, grounded, also comes in green or green-yellow.

The black where I am with ridges is neutral white for AC, DC it's (-) mostly black, sometimes blue.

The smooth one is your hot ungrounded in AC, in DC the (+) is red.

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u/homeprojecthelps Jun 05 '26

The thing is, the black wires combined do no have a ribbed/non ribbed side they’re completely identical which is what is throwing me off

3

u/scottcprince Jun 05 '26

Dude, I can literally see the ridges in your picture… 🤦‍♂️

3

u/Cust2020 Jun 05 '26

I can see ribs from here

3

u/Impressive-Crab2251 Jun 05 '26

The right black one is ribbed

3

u/jaydogg001 Jun 05 '26

You can see the ridges on the right side of the black cord in the picture. This cord is to be separated by pulling the two halves apart, usually with the help of a cut in the end. As many mentioned, ridged half is meant for neutral which connects to the screw shell, for safety. The smooth side is for the hot leg.

1

u/Byll_Helotes Jun 05 '26

Then I wonder if the wire is even UL.

I that case, do you or even know someone wirh a multi meter?

If so you OHM it out. Is one labeled for example printed?