Electrical wiring without ground

[atgcpaul]

Not really a home improvement question but bear with me.

My sister wants me to make some portable displays for some night light
thingies she sells. I have a 2 prong, polarized plug lamp cord that I plan on
connecting to a 15A dual plug outlet inside a blue remodel box mounted to a
wooden display. What about the ground screw on the outlet? Just leave it
empty? The lights don't have a ground prong. 'Lectricity is a little confusing.
Is this safe to do?

Paul

[LCHIEN]

some advice off the top of my head:
If you are going to be selling things then you risk liability if someone gets hurt or their house catches fire d.t. these devices.

A outlet should not have three prong socket if the socket's ground is not connected because that is FALSE ADVERTISING in a way. It says "I have a ground safety feature" when it really doesn't and someong plugging a ground-requiring device into the socket thinking somehow it is grounded will be committing an electrical no-no.

If you have no ground then you can only put 2-prong outlets on the box. Then the user can only plug non-grounded equipment into it (unless they circumvent safety on their own by using a 3-wire to 2-wire ground adapter which really requires external grounding), such as christmas lights, lamps, or double-insulated equipment.

the old 2-prong outlets are known as NEMA type 1-15 and are still around but prohibited from new house construction.

this is just common sense advice from an electrical standpoint, you really need to consult NEMA and UL standards for what to do here for a product to be sold.

[crokett]

Wait, is she selling the displays or just the night lights? If she is selling just the night lights and the display is just for display, it is probably ok since the night lights aren't grounded either, at least the ones in my daughters' rooms aren't. However, ideally you want to find an old 2-prong outlet like Loring says. Either that or make a proper grounded cord.

[Tom Slick]

Just to make sure I understand you correctly:

The night lights for sale are 2 prong and I'm guessing the lamp portion is pre-fab and she decorates it.

The display you want to make is not for sale. You'd like to use a standard 15a grounded receptacle with 2 wire/prong lamp cord.

is this correct?

You could do it with lamp cord and it would work fine electrically for your/its intended purpose but if for whatever reason somebody plugged something else in that malfunctioned and needed the ground it would not be safe.

I recommend you buy some power tool repair cords from HD for $6 each. They'll have the ground and you'll be 100% safe.

[eccentrictinkerer]

FWIW, you can use GFI outlet on a circuit without a ground. It meets code in all jurisdictions.

I live in a 95 year old house with a couple of circuits I can't easily replace with new wiring. The GFI's are spendy but do the trick.

[Uncle Cracker]

Even if the displays are not for sale, you don't want anybody to plug into your outlets, even for a minute, with a 3-wire device and falsely assume it's grounded. Any internal short to the enclosure or chassis of the 3-wire device could turn the user into the ground. Bad idea... Definitely would go for the 2-wire outlets here.

[RAV2]

In any application such as this, you are better off using commerciallly off the shelf (COTS) items that have inherent UL listings.

Use a power strip and don't mess with wiring anything yourself.

This way, the original manufacturer's certification holds and you are not liable for anything you create.

Often times, you will also find this is a cheaper avenue then purchasing all of the various electrical connectors to complete your job.

[LCHIEN]

oh. i misread the post. I guess the display is not to be sold. Still, like the others say,

1 you should get a three conductor cord and a three prong outlet (so the ground will be functional)
or
2. geta two prong plug for your 2 wire cord (so only items intended not to be grounded can be plugged in)
or
3. get a GFI three prong socket to use with your 2 wire cord... (which will trip and disconnect if there's any current flowing to an alternate ground (i.e. thru a user)

I am never in favor of doing something in an unsafe manner if there's a small chance anyone else will be using it when you're not around. And things tend to hang around for a long time.