how to connect hot wire, common, and ground to AC power?

[hello again 10+ year member]

Hello friends,

I have a security light I would like to use at work. It is
THIS
one to be exact. It does not come with a plug and the manual says to have the light installed by a "professional" but im a hands-on guy that likes to save money and get the job done himself. And i don't need a super-neat and clean job. It has three wires coming out of it: a
BLACK-shielded
wire, a
WHITE
-shielded wire, and a
copper
wire which doesnt have any kind of shielding on it. The installation manual identifies the
black
wire as the 120V or 277V wire, which I am assuming is the hot wire. The
white
wire is said to be the "common" and this is what confuses me as I do not know what this is. The last
copper
wire, which does not have any kind of shielding on it, is said to be the GROUND. Can I buy an extension cord, cut off the female end and splice the wires together and plug it in for the light to work?? If so, which wires will I be connecting to each other??

Click to read more...

 

[hello again 10+ year member]

Hello friends,
I have a security light I would like to use at work. It is
THIS
one to be exact. It does not come with a plug and the manual says to have the light installed by a "professional" but im a hands-on guy that likes to save money and get the job done himself. And i don't need a super-neat and clean job. It has three wires coming out of it: a
BLACK-shielded
wire, a
WHITE
-shielded wire, and a
copper
wire which doesnt have any kind of shielding on it. The installation manual identifies the
black
wire as the 120V or 277V wire, which I am assuming is the hot wire. The
white
wire is said to be the "common" and this is what confuses me as I do not know what this is. The last
copper
wire, which does not have any kind of shielding on it, is said to be the GROUND. Can I buy an extension cord, cut off the female end and splice the wires together and plug it in for the light to work?? If so, which wires will I be connecting to each other??

buy a heavy duty extension cord from home depot and just cut the female end off. black to black white to white and that bare wire goes to the green or bare wire inside the enxtension cord. make sre everything is wired correctly and no wire is exposed before you plug it in. have fun