I have some X10 cheapo WS467 wall switches that I want to use with Hawkeyes for some low usage closet lights. My question regards the existing ground wire. I have plastic junction boxes, and the X10 instructions are silent about where to connect the ground wire. I searched this forum and didn't find anything exactly on point.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

David

Hi David,

I asked the same question a while back. Search for "ground", it's the one with "How Do I Install a Switch".
Below is the link, but I don't know how to do the link.
The answer was that I didn't need the ground.

[Link: remotecentral.com]

Rob

Thanks Rob,

I did see that original reply, but is this the right thing to do? I later saw a recommendation to wrap the ground wire around one of the switch mounting screws and trap it between the switch and the box, but what good would that do?

David

David,

I'm pretty sure I didn't connect mine to anything
and it works fine. My boxes are plastic also.

Rob

The type of box (plastic or metal) has nothing to do with a ground. Either you have one or you don't. All new wiring since sometime (I don't know exactly) after the Second World War, is required to have a ground. This most likely will be a bare ground wire along with the black (hot) and white (neutral) as part of a wire cable. In most boxes, plastic or metal there is a screw to attach the ground wires to. Some areas allow a metalic sheathed cable to carry the ground on the metalic sheath (BX or armored cable) or the conduit on metal conduits. These are normally attached to metal boxes and this will provide the ground. Currently even these methods often are now required to have an additional ground wire.

So: no bare or green ground wire showing will mean no ground is present (unless provided by a metalic sheathed cable or metalic conduit.

This can be checked with a multimeter to see if there is electrical potential between the hot wire and the cable clamp, if so the clamp is connected to a grounded metalic cable sheath or conduit. DO THIS CAREFULLY, risk of shock is present.

Thanks Eric,

I have a bare copper ground wire in the plastic box. My question was what to do with it with a WS467 X10 switch. This switch has 2 wires coming out of it that you use wire nuts to attach to the house wiring. I just built this house so all switches have a neutral wire.

The mechanical toggle switch I'm replacing had an attachment point for the ground: the WS467 does not.

So, back to my original question...do I just tuck the ground up in the box, or is there something else I should do with it?

Thanks,

David

I misunderstood the situation as well. I thought you were trying to install a switch WITH a ground lead in a box that had no ground.

If your X10 switch doesn't have a lead for the ground wire then there's no need to ground it. It's been UL approved without the ground connection.

Thanks folks,

I'll just tuck it out of the way and sleep better.

David

The metal plate on the front of the switch should be grounded. It is the heatsink for the triac, if the triac fails, this plate may become live, therefore it should be grounded, for safety.
Trap the ground wire in between the switch and the box.

I have been following this with great interest as I have installed three X10 switches. At each location the original switch was wired differently.

#1 was in a box with another switch. Each switch controlled a different light. The original switch had two wires connected. I hooked up the X10 with no trouble and the light works fine.

#2 was in a box with two other switches, each controlling a seperate light. The replaced switch had one black wire to the top post of the original remote-I put the blue wire of the X10 to this wire.

There was a black wire plugged into the bottom of the original switch, and another black wire with about 1/2 inch stripped away and the bare portion looped around the bottom screw, which I assume connects to the same place in the switch as the bottom plug in receptecle. one of these connected to the bottom screw of the next switch in the box.

I tied both of these together and attached the black wire of the X10 to these wires.

#3 was just as #2, but as it was in a box with three other switches, so it had three black wires attached to the bottom of the original switch. I hooked up the X10 the same as in #2.

All work fine, but do I have a shock hazard? I think they are hooked up just as the originals.

There are so many different versions of the electrical standards, and have been many changes, that there is an example of every possible method out there.

Here in Canada, electrical regulations tend to be basicaly the same as in the USA, leaning to a little stricter in some instances.

Here we can use metal or plastic boxes. However, plastic boxes have a metal anchor point for the ground wire, this metal strip continues up to the anchor screw that you attach the receptical or switch to. This continues the ground up to the metal parts of the receptical or switch or the heat sink in the case of dimmers. I assume there should be something similar to the boxes used in most houses in the USA. If not, the advise given above sounds suitable to ground the device.

If the device has a ground wire or ground screw terminal, by all means attach it to the ground wire in the box. If there is no neutral (which can happen to "switch legs" where a two wire cable branches down to a switch to interrupt the hot line feeding the light fixture) you should not use a ground for a neutral. This is contrary to all regulation that I know of, and can cause ground loops and other electrical problems (I cannot explain it, but there is lengthy discussions on grounding problems on other electrical forums on the internet).