Electricity - do i need my lights grounded?

Hi,
currently my lights are connected by two wires ,however there is a third grounding wire coming from my light fixture that im not using at this time.
My question is , is it any safer to use grounded cable versus ungrounded? I noticed many home appliances are equipped with just two wires from manufacturer and they are working just fine..
My CFLs are using about 300W.

Thanks for any input on this.

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!! GROUND THAT OUT!!! If it has a ground, USE IT!!! PLAIN AND SIMPLE!!! YOU RUN THE RISK OF SHOCKING THE SHIT OUT OF YOURSELF OR WORSE, BURNING YOUR HOUSE DOWN, OR DYING FROM ELECTROCUTION!! Dont start wiring if you dont know what you are doing unless you want a 120 volt wake up call.. Im not being a dick, but when you have seen someone get knocked 4 feet back from being shocked by a ~115v wire, you will NOT want that to happen to you...

Thank You, Im getting grounded cable first thing tomorrow.

good stuff...

If that ground touched anything metal you would have seen a SPARK/FIRE combo instantly...

thegtiguy said:

If that ground touched anything metal you would have seen a SPARK/FIRE combo instantly...

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I think you meant you don't want the ground wire touching the hot or live wire. I'm pretty sure you attach the ground wire to something metal and the grounding takes place back at the circuit panel. But yes, get those lights grounded!

a ground wire will only ground if it is grounded to something that has a path back to the breaker.. grounding the light to itself, for instance, will not do anything, except possibly cause a fire... but, ground it to the wall socket or a ground wire in the ceiling and it will have a path back...

if you are wiring a light, then you are either wiring it directly to the circuit panel or using a junction box (which goes back to the circuit panel). that means that any ground wire coming from an appliance should either be attached to the ground coming from the circuit panel or junction box. If you are wiring at outlet, you can combine the ground from the circuit panel with the ground attached to the outlets and an additional grounding wire from the receptacle box itself.

sorry if i wasn't clear. the point being ground it. but be aware the actual "grounding" is done at the circuit panel. Meaning the only place where the circuit is stopped by the actual ground is via the circuit panel. The ground at the appliance is there to stop the circuit from making something hot that shouldn't be.

very succinctly put

email468 said:

I think you meant you don't want the ground wire touching the hot or live wire. I'm pretty sure you attach the ground wire to something metal and the grounding takes place back at the circuit panel. But yes, get those lights grounded!

Click to expand...

You sir, are correct