On Apr 7, 1:23 pm, "anthony" wrote:
I took down an old fixture in the kitchen that had a globe and was
hanging by a chain. I bought something similiar and was reading the
instructions, although I was just going to do it, until a part in the
instruction that took me for a loop. It has 2 wires and a very thin
copper wire, obviously a ground. It takes a 60w bulb max, but I plan
on getting one of those energy type of bulb that is low in wattage,
but bright as a 100w bulb. Is that okay? The other problem is the old
ceiling fixture does not show a ground, nor does the switch. So how
does one know? It is on other circuit for various part of the house,
( neat eh? ) and naturally has a circuit breaker. When I check the 2
wires that are in the ceiling i get no reaction. ..but when I go to
the switch on the wall that handles this, I do. How does one know when
the ceiling wires are safe to handle?

If it's on a 2-wire circuit, the ground wire on the fixture is
superfluous. Tie it to the box and ignore it. (Do _NOT_ connect it
to the white w/ the neutral).

If you test the leads at the lamp and they're dead, it's safe even if
the switch has power to it. (Of course, that implies it's a one-
location switch and you can control that somebody isn't going to come
into the room while you're hanging on to both wires and standing in
the wet metal kitchen sink in your bare feet to reach it and turn on
the switch ).

Better is to turn the breaker off that controls the switch, but the
switch is ok if you can ensure it stays off while you're working.