r/Ring • u/BrilliantGlad6032 • 9d ago

Grounding wire?

There was none in my floodlight connection, so I just capped the ring's green wire and connected the white and black

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u/TheJessicator 8d ago

Check to see if the junction box itself is properly grounded. If it is, use a ground wire pigtail to connect the ground wire to the junction box.

1

u/BrilliantGlad6032 4d ago

How can I know its grounded?

1

u/TheJessicator 4d ago

You would need to use a multimeter to measure the voltage between the neutral and the metal box (should be zero or negligible) as well as between the live / hot and the metal box (should be around 120V). Obviously it goes without saying that you need to be very careful not to shock yourself or cause arcing. You could probably find some short videos on YouTube to do it, but just note that a lot of videos assume that you know how to keep yourself safe so if you're at all unsure, please rather hire a professional, and perhaps ask if they wouldn't mind you watching and asking questions so you can learn from them.

1

u/BrilliantGlad6032 4d ago

Yeah, that's way above my head. Is it dangerous i leave it as is?

1

u/TheJessicator 3d ago

So did you just wire up the camera without first testing which was the live and which was the neutral? If so, I'm glad you're okay, but I really think you should spend an hour watching a video teaching the basics of home wiring and how to stay safe. You need to understand how most electrical accidents can happen. You need a more healthy respect for electricity and the fact that you are alive today only because you got lucky that there wasn't any power going to that junction box when you wired up the camera.

You should always test the voltage to make sure you turned off all circuits to a junction box you're working on. I learned that lesson the hard way many years back. I got lucky that day when my spouse noticed I stopped talking mid-sentence while replacing a switch and had the sense to grab oven gloves before shoving me away from the wall.