hanging lamp kit that screws into lightbulb socket?
June 17, 2018 5:47 AM Subscribe
Does this exist? A cable that will let me screw in a light bulb a foot below the ceiling bulb socket, and put a paper lantern / other hanging light attachment on it? Not sure the right words to use to search for such a thing.
Response by poster: Thank you for the search term! I would have never guessed...
I don't need any of the extra stuff, lampshades etc., all I need is a cable with a screw on one end and a socket on the other.
posted by rebent at 6:08 AM on June 17, 2018
I don't need any of the extra stuff, lampshades etc., all I need is a cable with a screw on one end and a socket on the other.
posted by rebent at 6:08 AM on June 17, 2018
Right? I had a similar problem to solve and was so happy to discover one of these kits. I never found a kit without the “extra stuff,” as you said, so I ended up buying the cheapest, most basic kit and then set aside the shade it came with and attaching my own fixture. Maybe someone else can get you even closer. Good luck!
posted by kittydelsol at 6:12 AM on June 17, 2018
posted by kittydelsol at 6:12 AM on June 17, 2018
You're looking for an "E27 extension".
posted by jgreco at 6:14 AM on June 17, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by jgreco at 6:14 AM on June 17, 2018 [7 favorites]
Also I suggest a Google image search as the easiest way to find a compatible style for your application. You can get them corded (flexible), piped (straight), goosenecked (bendable but will hold position), etc.
posted by jgreco at 6:21 AM on June 17, 2018
posted by jgreco at 6:21 AM on June 17, 2018
If you get something like this hanging socket and fit an E27 plug to the bare wires that emerge inside the cup at the top (check the picture of the yellow one), you should be able to slide up the cup up to cover the existing ceiling socket after screwing in the plug and it would look like the pendant fitting had always been there.
posted by flabdablet at 8:53 AM on June 17, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by flabdablet at 8:53 AM on June 17, 2018 [3 favorites]
You can buy the part that screws in to the existing socket to make it a plug, a very short extension cord, a socket on the end of it.
Or, get this cable flabdablet recommends, shorten it from the top, turn off the power, and connect it directly or to that E27 plug. Not a fitting I've encountered, so I favorited.
posted by theora55 at 9:07 AM on June 17, 2018
Or, get this cable flabdablet recommends, shorten it from the top, turn off the power, and connect it directly or to that E27 plug. Not a fitting I've encountered, so I favorited.
posted by theora55 at 9:07 AM on June 17, 2018
Not a fitting I've encountered
In Australia you can just walk into Bunnings and buy almost exactly what was asked for off the shelf for about five bucks, but that fitting has the common Australian B22d-2 bayonet plug and socket rather than the E27 screw fittings that are standard in North America. Having recently done that very thing, I was quite surprised at how difficult it is to track down an E27 equivalent online.
posted by flabdablet at 11:50 AM on June 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
In Australia you can just walk into Bunnings and buy almost exactly what was asked for off the shelf for about five bucks, but that fitting has the common Australian B22d-2 bayonet plug and socket rather than the E27 screw fittings that are standard in North America. Having recently done that very thing, I was quite surprised at how difficult it is to track down an E27 equivalent online.
posted by flabdablet at 11:50 AM on June 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
One thought on that E27 plug: if I were wiring that, I'd pull a couple of zip ties in a 69 configuration tight over the cable jacket before screwing the cover over the terminals, spaced far enough away from the terminals that the cover would have to push on the ties and compress the internal wiring just a little bit in order to be screwed all the way home.
That way, any strain on the cable caused by monkeys swinging from the chandeliers would be taken by the zip ties and the plastic cover, rather than trying to pull the wiring off the internal connection screws and causing the arcing and the burning and the killing and hurting.
posted by flabdablet at 1:09 PM on June 17, 2018 [5 favorites]
That way, any strain on the cable caused by monkeys swinging from the chandeliers would be taken by the zip ties and the plastic cover, rather than trying to pull the wiring off the internal connection screws and causing the arcing and the burning and the killing and hurting.
posted by flabdablet at 1:09 PM on June 17, 2018 [5 favorites]
Another thought on that plug: if you have a multimeter or continuity tester, it would be a good idea to make sure you're attaching the wires in such a way that your final product connects the tip of the E27 plug to the centre contact of the hanging socket, and the shell of the plug to the outer contact of the socket. That way you won't end up reversing the hot and neutral sides of the hanging socket with respect to the ceiling socket.
I don't know whether wiring codes in places where E27 fittings are standard makes a point of ensuring that the centre contact of any E27 socket is the hot side, but given that part of an E27 bulb's metal base ends up both connected to a supply wire and somewhat accessible to fingers as the bulb is being screwed in and out, I would assume that they would; and assuming that your existing ceiling sockets are compliant with that hypothetical code, it would be a shame for your pendant extensions to mess it up.
This is not important for the B22d-2 fittings, which are non-polarized by design and in which the metal shell of the bulb's base does not form part of the electrical circuit.
posted by flabdablet at 4:48 AM on June 18, 2018
I don't know whether wiring codes in places where E27 fittings are standard makes a point of ensuring that the centre contact of any E27 socket is the hot side, but given that part of an E27 bulb's metal base ends up both connected to a supply wire and somewhat accessible to fingers as the bulb is being screwed in and out, I would assume that they would; and assuming that your existing ceiling sockets are compliant with that hypothetical code, it would be a shame for your pendant extensions to mess it up.
This is not important for the B22d-2 fittings, which are non-polarized by design and in which the metal shell of the bulb's base does not form part of the electrical circuit.
posted by flabdablet at 4:48 AM on June 18, 2018
« Older Back to the Eighties, picnic style | "Librarian" in as many geek languages as possible? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by kittydelsol at 6:03 AM on June 17, 2018 [2 favorites]