Electrical help - No ground wire?

[Julie C]

I purchased a new porch light and it seemed pretty straightforward. From the new light there's a white wire, black wire, and ground wire. Coming out of the building is a white wire, orange wire, and there was a broken/rusted ground wire on the crossbar that wasn't attached to anything before. After attaching white to white, black to orange, and attaching the ground wire from the fixture to the green ground screw, nothing happens. I purchased a second light assuming it was a faulty light and nothing. Tried 3 bulbs. I don't own a voltmeter (one's ordered). It seemed like it'd be a pretty simple replacement but we're getting nothing from it. Assuming the power coming out is okay (the really old light before worked) what else could it be? Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[James]

The ground wire has no effect on wether the light will illuminate or not.
It is a safety device to prevent a potentially fatal shock from the light it it were to develop a fault.

If the point you are attaching the ground wire to is rusty it may well be making such a poor connection that it is not going to do its job if it ever needs to.
Similar to a seat belt that has a cut half way through it, seems to work ok but is likely to fail when needed.

Can you post a couple of pictures?

 

[Julie C]

The ground wire has no effect on wether the light will illuminate or not.
It is a safety device to prevent a potentially fatal shock from the light it it were to develop a fault.

If the point you are attaching the ground wire to is rusty it may well be making such a poor connection that it is not going to do its job if it ever needs to.
Similar to a seat belt that has a cut half way through it, seems to work ok but is likely to fail when needed.

Can you post a couple of pictures?

I had to use the old rusty bracket because the siding made the screws not long enough. This set it out from the house just far enough that it would attach. Of course, we'll straighten the most outside bracket. Could the rusty middle be messing things up? I mean, two wires... this shouldn't be so difficult. Amazon lamp could be defective? I did purchase a multimeter that arrived today, but I don't know how to use it so I'm reading those directions as well. Thanks for any help!

 

[Julie C]

Ok, I used the meter, set as shown, and touched red prong to white wire (from the house) and black to orange and... nothing. Could we really have ruined the power from the wires while unscrewing the old light? (The old light worked) Man, I wish I were handy...

 

[Julie C]

Turns out, it was the light. Once I removed the "extra" wires from the night sensor and connected just 2 wires from the light to 2 wires from our home, it lit right up. i

 

[Marvo]

Somethink's still hinkey. You should have seen the voltage on your tester even with the daylight sesor in circuit.....