Adding a second garage light and no ground wire.

[giveingitashot]

Hi -
I have a light on the front of my garage and would like to add a matching one on the other side of the garage door. Do I just connect the two wires from the light that is wired to the switch to a length of electircal wire, run the new wire over to where I want the second light, and connect the balck and white wires to the new fixture? Will that then turn on both lights from the same switch?

Also, I haven't taken this one off yet, but the overhead floodlight that is hanging over the garage does not have a ground wire at all. I put up a new motion detecting light there, but no ground wire coming from the house - is there something I should do about that? And what if the light fixture on the garage front has the same issue??

Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks!
Theresa

[John Nelson]

There are a number of possible ways to do this, but the one you mentioned is probably the best. Just run a cable from the existing light to the new light. At the existing light, connect the new cable to the same two wires that the existing light is connected to.

If you've never done any electrical work, please pick up a home wiring book. There are many rules and techniques to learn. It's not all about connecting wires.

Grounding is better than no grounding, but we all play the hand we are dealt. If you're going to have some place without grounding, a light on the ceiling that you can't reach is the best place to be without it.

You are allowed to live without grounding, but theoretically you are not allowed to extend a circuit without grounding. It's the code's way of forcing you to live with what you've got or to upgrade to modern safety standards.

[giveingitashot]

Thanks for the info -

can I add a ground wire either to the overhead flood light or if needed to the new light fixture? And how does one add that?

I do have a basic book on electrical lighting, that's where I learned about just extending the line to the second fixture, but it doesn't answer these odd questions! I love this forum for all of this!

Thanks again!
Theresa

[John Nelson]

Grounding is an astoundingly complex subject. It's usually better to do without grounding than to try to innovate. The best advice for grounding a circuit is to replace all the cable in the circuit with modern grounded cable. This is not really a feasible novice project.