Good reply Steve! I'll further add that some of the better-stocked hardware
stores carry a line of lamp repair kits and parts, including adapters and so
forth. It would be good if Michael made a complete job of it, including
rewiring the old lamp from the plug to the socket.
Joe Arnold


"Steve Smith" wrote in message
.. .

Breakers have to be pushed all the way off and then on again, but it
sounds like you've already tried this.

You almost certainly have a dead short in your lamp, in either the
wiring or the new module. Is it possible you may have inadvertantly
connected the wrong wires?

A short circuit will very often destroy a circuit breaker, especially
if
they're old. The excessive heat and arcing causes parts inside to burn
out.
Certain brands are more succeptible to this than others. Age is also a
factor. I had a recepticle fall apart and short out at my old home, it
ruined the ancient breaker that fed it. At my house now the refrigerator
cable got sawed thru while doing some plumbing, the 3mo old SquareD
breaker
tripped but was not damaged.

New breakers are desgined to handle up to a 10,000A (IIRC) fault and
still be usable afterwards, older breakers wern't or may have worn to a
point where they can no longer do so. Even though your breaker is a
"15amp
breaker", in a short-circuit fault situation the actual current will
exceed
this, by a lot. Since the breaker still has to mechanically open the
circuit the current will still flow for a very brief moment while the
contacts get moving, all the while the bi-metal inside is still getting
hotter. This all may happen in a mere 10th of a second. The net result
however is that the conductive parts inside your breaker had enough
current
flowing through them for that 10th of a second to cause damage.

You should be thankfull the breakers failed safe (ie: won't re-close
yet
no longer offer protection).

-- Steve