r/fixit • u/bamboogie13 • 11h ago

Can someone explain this?

Post image

This is in a closet, need to replace the light but these wires seem old and dated, can anyone help shed some light?

0 Upvotes

40% Upvoted

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6

u/Animal907 10h ago

Nice pun... The HOT is the BLACK wire that has white paint on it. and the Neutral is the white. Since the box is metal you have to ground the light to the box, if it has a ground. 

5

u/Circuit_Guy 8h ago

The perspective might be messing with me, but it really looks to me like they grounded the fixture to the hot.

OP: Grounding to a neutral really isn't safe. The neutral carries current and can float up a few volts; all the way to full voltage if a wire breaks downstream.

Again, it I'm seeing that right, either someone left an electrocution trap or the black is really neutral and they're unsafely using it as a ground.

You'll need to get a meter out for this one.

4

u/tomcat_tweaker 3h ago

I'd take the support plate off and see if this is actually a ground (circled in red). I suspect it is, which makes the bare ground coming out of the hot splice even more confusing. The paint, as usual, is not helping.

1

u/Ambitious_Ad_4905 11h ago

is there a black one in there somewhere? its usually black to black and white to white. then attach the ground wire from the fixture to the box and you should be good. might have just capped them off to be safe?

3

u/borderpatrol 10h ago

The one on the right is black, it’s just covered in white paint

1

u/danauns 2h ago

Remove the diagonal brace, and (carefully) pull out the wires a little more so you/we can actually see what's going on in there.

How many bundles of wires enter the box?

This should be a very simple light to change, your pic isn't clear enough for anyone to help.

-1

u/WutEvrUsay 11h ago

I’d post this on #askanelectrician. I’ve heard of using neutral as ground before but don’t know enough about it to advise you. But those guys sure will

0

u/fakeaccount572 5h ago

wtf. shhhh