Great video! Very informative and straightforward. I just have one question: I could only find two wires in the ceiling, one white and one pink (they were connected to a conventional lamp holder). However, there is a black wire at the back, but it was not connected to this lamp holder. Should I replace the green wire with the pink one? By the way, I'm in a basement. Thank you in advance!
@@marianaolono348 hmmm - this is the problem with household wiring. It’s not consistent. If there was a dimmer on this previously, that’s probably what they use the pink for. If your new light isn’t metal, the green wire doesn’t matter (in my video the light was plastic and the shade was ceramic, so the green wire isn’t actually needed). Because you have some things outside of ordinary, you need an electrician or a voltmeter. Or maybe if you know how it was hooked to the old light you could see which screws were gold/brass vs silver to know which ones are hot. FWIW - the light WILL work if you get it backwards. However, the problem with wiring lights backwards is the thin metal base that the bulb screws into will be energized as opposed to the very inside pin on the tip of the bulb. This means you could get shocked by simply changing the bulb.
It was a long search, but I was finally able to buy two matching flush mount ceiling lights to fit my small spaces. When hanging them the ground wires snapped off. One lamp hit the floor. I can see that the ground wire was bent into a clip surrounding the long brass (threaded spindle thing) at the centre of the light. Is there a way to re-attach the ground wire to another spot inside the lamp? The lamps I took down did not have ground wire. I changed out the ceiling mounting bar and replaced it with a Universal Mount, and added the green screw so I could hang the lamps while installing. Whew! Thank you so much Tall Family Films!
What material are the lamps themselves? If they are not metal, ground them does nothing. If your wiring in the house provides a ground, attach it to the mounting bracket and just hang the light. Look at this video (his box is grounded - yours might be too but if not, attaching the ground wire to the bracket will do the same thing. th-cam.com/video/RViN6BmK7J4/w-d-xo.html
@@TallFamilyFilms Thank you so much for this response, especially on a Sunday!!! The ceiling plate on the light is brass. My apartment building is only about 35 years old, and I can see the ground wire up in the ceiling box. I could piggy-back the ground wire to the ceiling mount, but this new Universal Mount is only made of thin Aluminum. Will that still make a safe ground attachment? Again, thank you so much! Signed, Really missing my husband at times like this!
Great video. I'm using a metal socket (saw your comment below) for a pendant with a 2 1/4 shade fitter for a lip edge glass open bell shade; so need the uno threaded socket to screw into the shade fitter. It's a small fixture obviously. Here's the question, there is no ground wire screw in the socket, but there is on my plate in the junction box. Do I connect the ground wire from my cable to the green screw on the plate or not? Hope I got on the lingo correct. I may chicken out and hire a pro to connect this but I still need all the parts. Thank you.
I have viewed several videos and searched for an answer to my dilemma. Your video provided more info than others, for which I am grateful. However, I am still at a loss as to how to correctly wire my 3-way table lamp. I have 3 wires: one black cord with copper wiring, one white cord with copper wiring, one red cord with silver or nickel-colored wiring. My socket has a turn knob and has a brass screw, a silver or nickel-colored screw, and a black screw. Am I correct in thinking the black cord is hot and should be connected to the brass screw, the white cord is neutral and should be connected to the nickel-colored screw, and the red cord is the ground and should be connected to the black screw?
@@TH-cam4MounTain colors and wiring are often times inconsistent. That being said, Black is almost always the wire that would go to the brass screw. And the white wire almost always would go to the nickel or silver plated screw. That third screw is usually not black, it’s green in lamps - usually. And that’s ground. The “3 way” is controlled by the socket itself. But you could solve this really easy with a voltmeter that you could pick up for literally five dollars if there’s a harbor freight near you. You might even be able to borrow one from an auto parts store if you leave a deposit. You would safely separate each of the bare wires and plug the wire into the wall and then begin testing with the voltmeter starting with the black and white wires. The red lead from the voltmeter should go to black and the black lead would go to the white wire. If you get 120 V, you know you’re correct. If you get -120 V then the black and white are reversed.
My problem is I have four pendant lights with two much cord to close flush in the mount. I want to shorten it from the individual pendent and not where they combine.
I think I understand. A few thoughts. 1. With that many lights, Make sure you have good support in the ceiling. The junction box needs to be attached to a joist. 2. For shortening the cord, it depends on what bulb sockets they have used. Some plastic units aren’t meant to come back apart. They will, but they’re never quite the same. You can buy replacement sockets pretty cheap from colorcord.com. If they’re ceramic, you should be able to disassemble them.
So, I need to do same for a swag pendant gourd lamp. Several questions: Are cloth cords safe? Are ceramic sockets better/safer than metal? For heat? Do metal sockets wire the same way as ceramic? Ty
Good questions. Cloth cords are 100% safe. I would look at colorcord.com under the lamp parts section. If the shade is more than 10lbs, consider tying a know in the cord both in the canopy and inside the socket (you’ll need a plastic socket for this as ceramic leaves you no room). I don’t use metal sockets. Ceramic are more of a pain to work with. Colorcord’s plastic ones work great. Wiring is the regardless - black wire always goes to gold screw. If your lampshade is metal, you’ll need the ground wire attached inside the socket. If it’s not conductive, just leave the ground wire available in case someone ever swaps the shade - you’ll help them out. There’s no harm in attaching the ground wire even if your shade is non-conductive.
Not a problem. If you look inside the bulb socket, there is an outer metal ring that the blink screws into. The very bottom of the socket has a gold pin that the bulb suppresses as it screws down. That pin is where the black/hot wire goes. You can use a multimeter set to continuity to trace the cables. Mark both ends black with a marker or something. Then attach that cable to the screw that goes to that pin of the socket. It’s usually easy to tell which screw that is and it’s usually copper/gold but the multimeter will tell you as well. Lastly, the light will still work fine if you get it wrong. The risk is that someone could get a shock if they change the bulb and touch the ring of the socket.
I want all my videos to be a conversation with the viewers. If you need to ask something about anything I did, please do below and include the timestamp of where in the video you are asking about. I respond to all comments. Also - I am not an electrician! If you know better ways to do something, please tell me. I won't be offended. I actually did a follow up video earlier about automotive wiring based on viewer comments.
Great video! Very informative and straightforward. I just have one question: I could only find two wires in the ceiling, one white and one pink (they were connected to a conventional lamp holder). However, there is a black wire at the back, but it was not connected to this lamp holder. Should I replace the green wire with the pink one? By the way, I'm in a basement. Thank you in advance!
@@marianaolono348 hmmm - this is the problem with household wiring. It’s not consistent. If there was a dimmer on this previously, that’s probably what they use the pink for. If your new light isn’t metal, the green wire doesn’t matter (in my video the light was plastic and the shade was ceramic, so the green wire isn’t actually needed).
Because you have some things outside of ordinary, you need an electrician or a voltmeter. Or maybe if you know how it was hooked to the old light you could see which screws were gold/brass vs silver to know which ones are hot. FWIW - the light WILL work if you get it backwards. However, the problem with wiring lights backwards is the thin metal base that the bulb screws into will be energized as opposed to the very inside pin on the tip of the bulb. This means you could get shocked by simply changing the bulb.
It was a long search, but I was finally able to buy two matching flush mount ceiling lights to fit my small spaces.
When hanging them the ground wires snapped off. One lamp hit the floor.
I can see that the ground wire was bent into a clip surrounding the long brass (threaded spindle thing) at the centre of the light.
Is there a way to re-attach the ground wire to another spot inside the lamp?
The lamps I took down did not have ground wire. I changed out the ceiling mounting bar and replaced it with
a Universal Mount, and added the green screw so I could hang the lamps while installing.
Whew!
Thank you so much Tall Family Films!
What material are the lamps themselves? If they are not metal, ground them does nothing. If your wiring in the house provides a ground, attach it to the mounting bracket and just hang the light. Look at this video (his box is grounded - yours might be too but if not, attaching the ground wire to the bracket will do the same thing. th-cam.com/video/RViN6BmK7J4/w-d-xo.html
@@TallFamilyFilms Thank you so much for this response, especially on a Sunday!!!
The ceiling plate on the light is brass.
My apartment building is only about 35 years old, and I can see the ground wire up in the ceiling box.
I could piggy-back the ground wire to the ceiling mount, but this new Universal Mount is only made of thin Aluminum. Will that still make a safe ground attachment?
Again, thank you so much!
Signed,
Really missing my husband at times like this!
Great video. I'm using a metal socket (saw your comment below) for a pendant with a 2 1/4 shade fitter for a lip edge glass open bell shade; so need the uno threaded socket to screw into the shade fitter. It's a small fixture obviously. Here's the question, there is no ground wire screw in the socket, but there is on my plate in the junction box. Do I connect the ground wire from my cable to the green screw on the plate or not? Hope I got on the lingo correct. I may chicken out and hire a pro to connect this but I still need all the parts. Thank you.
If your shade/socket is metal(conductive) you should attach the ground wire to it in whatever fashion you can.
@@TallFamilyFilms Thank you.
I have viewed several videos and searched for an answer to my dilemma. Your video provided more info than others, for which I am grateful. However, I am still at a loss as to how to correctly wire my 3-way table lamp. I have 3 wires: one black cord with copper wiring, one white cord with copper wiring, one red cord with silver or nickel-colored wiring. My socket has a turn knob and has a brass screw, a silver or nickel-colored screw, and a black screw. Am I correct in thinking the black cord is hot and should be connected to the brass screw, the white cord is neutral and should be connected to the nickel-colored screw, and the red cord is the ground and should be connected to the black screw?
@@TH-cam4MounTain colors and wiring are often times inconsistent. That being said, Black is almost always the wire that would go to the brass screw. And the white wire almost always would go to the nickel or silver plated screw. That third screw is usually not black, it’s green in lamps - usually. And that’s ground. The “3 way” is controlled by the socket itself.
But you could solve this really easy with a voltmeter that you could pick up for literally five dollars if there’s a harbor freight near you. You might even be able to borrow one from an auto parts store if you leave a deposit.
You would safely separate each of the bare wires and plug the wire into the wall and then begin testing with the voltmeter starting with the black and white wires. The red lead from the voltmeter should go to black and the black lead would go to the white wire. If you get 120 V, you know you’re correct. If you get -120 V then the black and white are reversed.
My problem is I have four pendant lights with two much cord to close flush in the mount. I want to shorten it from the individual pendent and not where they combine.
I think I understand. A few thoughts.
1. With that many lights, Make sure you have good support in the ceiling. The junction box needs to be attached to a joist.
2. For shortening the cord, it depends on what bulb sockets they have used. Some plastic units aren’t meant to come back apart. They will, but they’re never quite the same. You can buy replacement sockets pretty cheap from colorcord.com. If they’re ceramic, you should be able to disassemble them.
So, I need to do same for a swag pendant gourd lamp. Several questions:
Are cloth cords safe?
Are ceramic sockets better/safer than metal? For heat?
Do metal sockets wire the same way as ceramic? Ty
Good questions. Cloth cords are 100% safe. I would look at colorcord.com under the lamp parts section.
If the shade is more than 10lbs, consider tying a know in the cord both in the canopy and inside the socket (you’ll need a plastic socket for this as ceramic leaves you no room).
I don’t use metal sockets. Ceramic are more of a pain to work with. Colorcord’s plastic ones work great. Wiring is the regardless - black wire always goes to gold screw.
If your lampshade is metal, you’ll need the ground wire attached inside the socket. If it’s not conductive, just leave the ground wire available in case someone ever swaps the shade - you’ll help them out. There’s no harm in attaching the ground wire even if your shade is non-conductive.
What if the cord isn’t color coded? This is a lamp kit I have had stored for years- it’s just a yellow outer jacket on both cords?
Not a problem. If you look inside the bulb socket, there is an outer metal ring that the blink screws into. The very bottom of the socket has a gold pin that the bulb suppresses as it screws down. That pin is where the black/hot wire goes. You can use a multimeter set to continuity to trace the cables. Mark both ends black with a marker or something. Then attach that cable to the screw that goes to that pin of the socket. It’s usually easy to tell which screw that is and it’s usually copper/gold but the multimeter will tell you as well.
Lastly, the light will still work fine if you get it wrong. The risk is that someone could get a shock if they change the bulb and touch the ring of the socket.
@@TallFamilyFilms thank you, your video was very helpful. All these years I had no idea the screws were color coded!
I want all my videos to be a conversation with the viewers. If you need to ask something about anything I did, please do below and include the timestamp of where in the video you are asking about. I respond to all comments.
Also - I am not an electrician! If you know better ways to do something, please tell me. I won't be offended. I actually did a follow up video earlier about automotive wiring based on viewer comments.
Very helpful video. Thank you!
So, if you wire them all by yourself, then they're inde-pendant lights!
@@FromSagansStardust 😝
Thanks Dad