Here is what I have...a wire that looks like a regular cord for a plug in and a copper looking wire I assume is the ground. In the drop ceiling I have two wires that seem to have been been cut from electric cord and hard wired into another track lighting. I have had a light up here before but have not ever previously hooked electric up. I know it can handle the electric current. There are caps at the end of the wires so I am assuming (love assuming) that I can attach the wires from the light to these wires and recap. Then I need to ground the cooper wire, but what is a good ground? It is a drop ceiling so can I attach to the grid or wires holding the drop ceiling? Of course the electric will be off! I am wondering is it possible to cross the two wires and have a big boo boo happen? I appreciate the input. I am really needing to get this completed shortly so please anyone with some expertise respond!
with common lighting you cant go wrong.black wire is Hot or + or supply.white is neutral.neutral is the same as a ground.people will try to explain it differently but the ground and neutral are married in the fuse box.if the wires are crossed the lite wont know it.just attach ground to the mounting box it's incidental to your purpose
Ignore Andrew. He has dangerous misinformation. First off, the hot and neutral are not interchangeable. If you don't have white and black, there are other ways of identifying them. The white is neutral, which can also be indicated by ridges on that side (for lamp cord style wire). There are also less common ways, but the bottom line is they are not interchangeable. For the ground, no the ceiling grid is not a ground. If you are in an older house, you may not have a ground available. The best thing then would be to use a fixture that doesn't need one, if you can find one.
