JWelectric
Electrical Contractor/Instructor
You don’t have to run a wire all the way out to the ground rod to take a measurement. All you need to do if read the continuity of the green or bare and the white in the fixture.
In the service equipment the neutral (white), the equipment grounding (green or bare), the metal enclosure, and the ground rod will bond together so there is no need for the zip cord all the way back to the rod.
The path that you were reading was from the meter through the zip cord to the rod up the grounding electrode conductor to the neutral in the service back down the neutral to the meter.
All the rod does is the following;
250.4(A) Grounded Systems.
(1) Electrical System Grounding. Electrical systems that are grounded shall be connected to earth in a manner that will limit the voltage imposed by lightning, line surges, or unintentional contact with higher-voltage lines and that will stabilize the voltage to earth during normal operation.
As you can see the only purpose of the rod is incase lightning strikes or should there be a surge of voltage due to the switching of grids, should the conductors on top of the pole break due to ice or wind and fall down on the ones underneath and to keep the voltage of earth’s magnetic field and the voltage on the neutral conductors the same (stabilize).
In the service equipment the neutral (white), the equipment grounding (green or bare), the metal enclosure, and the ground rod will bond together so there is no need for the zip cord all the way back to the rod.
The path that you were reading was from the meter through the zip cord to the rod up the grounding electrode conductor to the neutral in the service back down the neutral to the meter.
All the rod does is the following;
250.4(A) Grounded Systems.
(1) Electrical System Grounding. Electrical systems that are grounded shall be connected to earth in a manner that will limit the voltage imposed by lightning, line surges, or unintentional contact with higher-voltage lines and that will stabilize the voltage to earth during normal operation.
As you can see the only purpose of the rod is incase lightning strikes or should there be a surge of voltage due to the switching of grids, should the conductors on top of the pole break due to ice or wind and fall down on the ones underneath and to keep the voltage of earth’s magnetic field and the voltage on the neutral conductors the same (stabilize).