Grounding pole lights

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Gc232018

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Electrician
Can someone explaine the theory on how to properly ground a pole light does it need a ground rod or not and are we suppose to connect all the grounds together
 
The metal pole gets connected to the EGC run with the branch circuit. That's all that's required unless you're also setting up some type of lightning protection.
 
So then I was wrong about needing a ground rod???But wouldn’t it be safer if the equipment ground was separated from the pole heads
 
Also, think about this: Say you bond the pole to an 8 foot ground rod. Calculate the surface area of contact between the rod and the dirt. Now look at your pole base which is a giant chunk of concrete with steel anchor bolts cast in it (probably wired or connected to rebar as well) and bolted to the metal pole. What is that rod doing that the pole base insnt already doing??

Take a look at this picture of a 100 foot transmission tower. Pretty funny once you start thinking about it huh?
 

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Gc232018 said:
So then I was wrong about needing a ground rod???But wouldn’t it be safer if the equipment ground was separated from the pole heads
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Absolutely not. If you're relying on the ground rod to clear a fault on the metal pole it would be very unsafe.

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Cool thanks everybody! Someon that didn’t know the difference must have told me that you had to put a ground rodgot to be careful about where you get your information.
 
Remember, this is a branch circuit, not a feeder, so the pole being a separate structure does not trigger the electrode requirement.
 
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