How To Repair A Jack Plane Knob

How to Rewire a Lamp

Updated: October. eighteen, 2022

With a handful of parts and near a half-60 minutes you can safely prepare almost any lamp.

how to rewire a lamp Family Handyman

In about xxx minutes you can repair the electrical wiring in about whatever lamp—and make information technology safe every bit well.

Check the bulb first!

When a lamp flickers or doesn't calorie-free upward at all, chances are that one of the parts has gone bad. Here we'll evidence you how to supersede all the key parts and how to rewire a lamp. Simply don't overlook the obvious: no ability or a bad bulb. Try a new bulb and plug the lamp into a different outlet before taking things apart.

If that doesn't piece of work, operate the switch. It should turn on and off without flickering. Next, unplug the lamp and inspect the cord and plug. If you can't find any obvious issues, replace all the electrical parts. It only takes a few more minutes than replacing only i, and the toll is minimal.

Caution!

Pull the plug before working on a lamp.

Replace a faulty socket

Photograph i: Pry out the socket

Pry the socket crush out of its base. Cutting the wires to remove the socket. Then loosen the setscrew so yous can unscrew the socket base of operations.

Photo 2: Unscrew the socket base of operations

Unscrew the socket base from the threaded tube. If the base of operations won't spin off past hand, grab the tube and the base of operations with pliers to spin information technology gratis. Then screw on the new base and tighten the setscrew.

Photo three: Strip off insulation

Strip off ane/2 in. of insulation with a wire stripper and twist the wire strands together. If y'all pull off whatever wire strands while stripping, cut back the cord and start over.

Plug shut-upward

The neutral wire connects to the broad plug blade and is distinguished from the hot wire by ribs, colour, printing or indentations in the plastic insulation.

Photo four: Connect the wires

Tie an underwriter's knot in the cord. Then connect the wires past wrapping them clockwise around the screws and tightening. Connect the neutral wire to the silver screw.

An underwriters knot

An underwriter's knot prevents the wires from pulling out of the screw terminals when the string is tugged.

Photo 5: Reassemble the lamp

Pull the excess cord down through the lamp. Skid the insulation sleeve and socket shell over the socket and snap the shell into the base

A lamp socket itself tin go bad, merely more oft it's the switch inside the socket. Either way, the solution is replacement. A new socket is inexpensive. Regardless of the existing switch type, yous tin choose a push-through switch, a pull chain, a plow knob or a threeway turn knob that provides two brightness levels. Y'all tin can also choose a socket without a switch and install a switched string instead.

The former socket shell is supposed to pop out of its base of operations with a clasp and a tug, only you might have to pry it out with a screwdriver (Photo 1). The socket base can be stubborn too. It'southward screwed onto a threaded tube that runs down through the lamp's body. When you endeavor to unscrew information technology, you might unscrew the nut at the other stop of the tube instead. This will permit the parts of the lamp body to come apart, just that isn't a big problem. Just use pliers to twist the base off the tube (Photo 2), reassemble the lamp trunk and screw on the new socket base to agree it all together.

When you connect the new socket, don't reuse the bare ends of the wires. Some of the tiny strands of wire are probably broken. Cut them off and strip abroad 1/ii in. of insulation with a wire stripper (Photograph 3). Using a wire stripper is almost foolproof, equally long every bit you choose the correct pair of notches to bite through the wire's insulation. Most wire strippers are sized for solid wire, rather than the slightly larger stranded wire used in lamp cords. You can get around this problem by using the side by side larger pair of notches. Since nearly lamp wires are 18 gauge, start with the notches labeled 16. If the stripper won't remove the insulation, use smaller notches. If the stripper removes strands of wire, cut off an inch of cord and start over using larger notches.

When you connect the wires to the new socket for this how to rewire a lamp project, the neutral wire must connect to the silverish screw (Photo 4). To place the neutral wire, starting time at the plug. The wider plug blade is connected to the neutral wire, and yous'll observe that the neutral wire is distinguished from the "hot" wire. The two wires may exist different colors, there may be printing on one or the other, or there may be tiny ribs or indentations in the plastic covering the neutral wire. If your old plug blades are of equal width, replace the plug and cord along with the socket for this how to rewire a lamp projection.

Replace a cracked lamp cord

Photograph 1: A grommet protects the new cord

Cut the former cord at the socket and pull it out. Button a grommet into the cord hole and spiral a bushing onto the tube, if they're missing.

Grommet close-upwardly

Grommets for lamps are bachelor at hardware stores.

Photo 2: Connect the new string

Feed the new cord through the threaded tube and socket base of operations. Connect the cord to the socket.

The insulation on cords becomes stiff and brittle as it ages. Eventually, it cracks and might fifty-fifty flake off the wire, creating a shock and burn run a risk. Don't try to solve this problem of how to rewire a lamp with electric tape. Replace the cord. Cord replacement is as well the best fix for a bad cord-mounted switch. You can buy a cord that has a switch fastened.

Save yourself some time by buying a string that'southward already connected to a plug. Lamp cord sold at home centers and hardware stores is normally eighteen estimate. That's large enough to handle 840 watts of lighting. If you have ane of those rare lamps that uses bulbs totaling more than 840 watts, accept it fixed at a lamp repair shop instead of trying to figure out how to rewire a lamp. Make certain the cord is protected past a screw-on bushing where information technology enters the threaded tube and by a plastic or rubber grommet through the lamp body (Photograph i). Without a bushing or grommet, sharp edges can cut into the cord's insulation. If you can't notice a bushing or grommet the right size at a home heart or hardware shop, you'll notice multiple sources online.

To supersede the string, you'll have most of the socket replacement steps shown higher up. Remove the socket from its base, cut the old cord and pull it out. Feed the cord up through the threaded tube in the lamp'due south trunk (Photo 2). Then connect the new cord to the socket. About cords come with the ends already stripped, so you won't even need a wire stripper for this how to rewire a lamp projection.

Supplant a trouble plug

Photo 1: Cut and split the cord

Cut the cord a couple of inches from the plug. Then split up nigh an inch of cord with a knife and strip off three/4 in. of insulation.

Photograph 2: Attach the new prongs

Wrap the wires clockwise around the terminal screws of the new plug and tighten. The neutral wire must connect to the wider prong equally yous consummate this how to rewire a lamp project.

Photo 3: New plug is complete

Slip the blades into the housing and push button the blade holder into place.

Plugs on lamp cords oft have a weak bespeak where the cord enters the plug. Pulling and flexing can pause the wires at this point, leaving you with a lamp that flickers when yous jiggle the cord. The cure is to replace the plug. To practice this safely, cull a polarized plug. A polarized plug has ane blade that's wider than the other so it fits into an outlet only one fashion. Before you buy a plug, take a close look at the string. Along with other labeling, you should find "SPT-1" or "SPT-ii." This refers to the thickness of the cord's sheathing, and the plug you buy must have the same listing and so it will fit over the sheathing. If yous can't notice the SPT listing, replace the entire string as shown above.

The plug you buy may non look exactly similar the ane shown here, but installing it will be like. Be sure to read the manufacturer'south instructions. When you split the ii halves of the cord (Photo 1), be conscientious not to expose any wire. If y'all do, cut back the cord and start over. Strip the wire ends and brand connections (Photo two). The neutral wire must connect to the wider blade. If you're not able to identify the neutral wire, supercede the entire cord.

Effigy A: Anatomy of a Lamp

Figure A shows the parts and assembly of a typical lamp.

Required Tools for this Project

Accept the necessary tools for this how to rewire a lamp DIY project lined up earlier you start—y'all'll relieve fourth dimension and frustration.

Required Materials for this Projection

Avert concluding-minute shopping trips past having all your materials ready ahead of fourth dimension. Here'south a list.

Dwelling centers and hardware stores carry basic lamp parts like sockets, cords and plugs. For hard-to-find parts and a wider selection of basic parts, visit a lamp repair shop or online.

Originally Published: Oct xviii, 2022

Source: https://www.familyhandyman.com/project/how-to-repair-a-table-lamp/

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