Thursday, June 29, 2017

Older Lamp With 3 Terminal Socket and Safety Concerns

A customer brought in this older Gone With The Wind lamp  with a bottom light the other day and asked for a repair.


Our initial inspection revealed some serious safety concerns with the lamp cord. The plug was not polarized and had some exposed wire near the plug.



The 3 terminal socket was working so we are only needing to replace the lamp cord.

48206i - 3-Terminal Medium Base Turn Knob Socket Interior
46701 - White, 18/2 Plastic Covered Lamp Cord Sets
First, we open the socket shell and unscrew the nickel and brass screw terminals. The old lamp cord pulls out from the base of the lamp.




The new lamp cord goes up the lamp through the same path as the old lamp cord. Tie a UL knot below the socket. Attach the smooth wire from the lamp cord to the brass screw and the ribbed wire to the nickel screw. The nickel screw (common wire) shares the screw terminal with the bottom light wire. The other bottom light wire (hot) connects to the black screw on the socket.




Pull any cord slack from the base of the lamp so the socket shell will easily snap into the socket cap.


Plug in the lamp and test all the lights.




Fixed and ready for the next 30 years.

Total Cost < $5.00 Total Time < 20 minutes

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