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Posted by Greg Bailey on March 4, 2008, 2:21 pm
Got a small ceiling fan with light in our kitchen ... socket has gone kaput,
you can visibly see scorching inside, fan still works though ... it's a
small socket with pull cord, not one of those real tiny 2-watters, it takes
full-size bulbs, we use 60-watt bulbs in it ... we've checked at Lowe's and
they have a similar socket ... however, our socket has three wires running
to it; the socket at Lowe's has places for only two wires to connect ... guy
at Lowe's said "it's probably a ground wire, just connect the hot wires up
and see what happens" and I said, "Uh, no thank you" ... what do we need to
do here, can a socket with two connections work, if so how do we make it
work ... is one with three connections available or do we just need to get
an entire new unit? Thanks in advance for any help.
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Posted by DerbyDad03 on March 4, 2008, 2:27 pm
> Got a small ceiling fan with light in our kitchen ... socket has gone kapu=
t,
> you can visibly see scorching inside, fan still works though ... it's a
> small socket with pull cord, not one of those real tiny 2-watters, it take=
s
> full-size bulbs, we use 60-watt bulbs in it ... we've checked at Lowe's an=
d
> they have a similar socket ... however, our socket has three wires running=
> to it; the socket at Lowe's has places for only two wires to connect ... g=
uy
> at Lowe's said "it's probably a ground wire, just connect the hot wires up=
> and see what happens" and I said, "Uh, no thank you" ... what do we need t=
o
> do here, can a socket with two connections work, if so how do we make it
> work ... is one with three connections available or do we just need to get=
> an entire new unit? Thanks in advance for any help.
Take the socket to a lighting store with parts counter - not a Home
Depot or Lowes - a parts counter that contractors use. Most decent
lighting stores will have one. They'll not only give you an extremely
close match if they have one, they'll explain the situation in a
little more detail than "hook it up and see what happens"
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Posted by Chris Lewis on March 4, 2008, 2:31 pm
> Got a small ceiling fan with light in our kitchen ... socket has gone kaput,
> you can visibly see scorching inside, fan still works though ... it's a
> small socket with pull cord, not one of those real tiny 2-watters, it takes
> full-size bulbs, we use 60-watt bulbs in it ... we've checked at Lowe's and
> they have a similar socket ... however, our socket has three wires running
> to it; the socket at Lowe's has places for only two wires to connect ... guy
> at Lowe's said "it's probably a ground wire, just connect the hot wires up
> and see what happens" and I said, "Uh, no thank you" ... what do we need to
> do here, can a socket with two connections work, if so how do we make it
> work ... is one with three connections available or do we just need to get
> an entire new unit? Thanks in advance for any help.
A lightbulb is a two wire device. There is _no_ ground on a lightbulb
to connect to.
A two wire socket _will_ work just fine. The one thing you want
to try is ensure that the fixture hot wire connects to the center pin
of the socket, not the threaded shell.
If the new socket is all plastic or ceramic, a ground wire to the
_socket_ is pretty much pointless.
Many replacement sockets have metal mounting brackets. If it does,
just connect the ground wire to it - under the attachment screw.
--
Chris Lewis,
Age and Treachery will Triumph over Youth and Skill
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.
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Posted by Ken on March 4, 2008, 5:05 pm
> A lightbulb is a two wire device. =A0There is _no_ ground on a lightbulb
> to connect to.
>
Unless its a socket for a three-way bulb.
Check the bottom of your old socket, if there is a center contact and
then another contact ring (in addition to the shell, obviously), then
its a three-way. If so, then you can either get a replacement three-
way socket, or else just wire up a new two-wire socket using on the
fixture neutral (to the shell) and one of the fixture's switched hot
wires to the center contact.
Ken
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Posted by Chris Lewis on March 4, 2008, 5:25 pm
> > A lightbulb is a two wire device. There is _no_ ground on a lightbulb
> > to connect to.
> Unless its a socket for a three-way bulb.
It's not a ground, and you're rather unlikely to see a threeway
socket on a direct-connected ceiling fixture.
I've certainly not.
But yeah, threeways bulbs are three wire devices. But it won't be the case
at hand.
--
Chris Lewis,
Age and Treachery will Triumph over Youth and Skill
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.
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