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Chris Lewis Chris Lewis is offline
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Default Need advice on changing socket in light on ceiling fan

According to Greg Bailey :
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.