Rewiring two old table lamps
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- čas přidán 14. 11. 2020
- Replacing the flex and plugs on two table lamps.
The existing flex was single insulated, and the plugs had unsleeved pins.
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“Hopefully it’s not asbestos “ 😂. Brilliant!!
I had to laugh at "Hopefully that's not asbestos"!
Well done JW - another excellent tutorial! You are the Bob Ross of the electrical world!
I thought that was BigClive. He's always telling us not to worry if stuff goes wrong.
JW getting into practice for his new job at Blue Peter. Next week he's making Tracy Island, the electric version. 😁😁
Putting that drill bit through the plaster made my blood run cold.
So who's getting a pair of antique style table lamps for Christmas,??
🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲
Enjoying the E5 podcasts John with your colleagues. Some great content there for all electricians.
9:03 JW proving that rewiring lamp switches is a game of two halves.
The wire probably has a higher copper content than so cald modern approved wire
I have tested some "Flex cables" from China and the "Cooper" would burn and easily melt. And somehow that gets a Safety approval. (Political pay offs in big business in North America)
@@Solocat1 Yeah, copper plated aluminium. ie crap. For the cost of plating the copper on, they probably could have used copper throughout.
Amazing work mate
Thanks John
Great vid wish you showed the inline switch wire stripping
me too
I've come across several old lamps and aquarium pumps fitted with this type of flex, in a multitude of colours. Seems it was pretty standard back in the day.
Interestingly, Castelco still manufacture a very similar torpedo switch to those seen here. The design of theirs has remained unchanged since the 1950s. I find them simpler to fit, and easier to operate when fumbling around in the dark.
Come on John, give us a smile!
Being old enough to remember, that is 240v cable that we used to have for table lamps in the 70s, (usually a bottle covered in little mosaic tiles).
Personally, I would have gone with a brown flex or.non-whiite flex. The white stuff sticks out like a sore thumb on traditional furniture.
It looks ok, not a big deal.🙄
They still manufacture cloth covered cables,great for this purpose.
I would of chucked the whole lot in the bin. Not to my taste at all! 😀
@@mc_cpu They are alright for bedside lamps. 🙄
A significant other might have dictate on décor. I'm with the brown flex too, but white might prevent the wire being hooked unawares and the lamp and coffee cup being repositioned onto the floor or worse onto pooch or kitty loyally dozing on your slipper tops.
I collect old sodium Street lights, sox lanterns mainly. I have 25 different designs, all need cleaning, rewireing, some need new lamp holders. Once completed they make a good museum peice.
That type of wire used to be very, very common in the Netherlands too, at least up to the 80s.
Seen on many a alarm clock, table lamp, radio, you name it. About 15 years ago it was even still sold as "lamp wire" in DIY sheds. Now they've put a sticker "42 volts max" on the packaging :)
In Finland such a lamp would have come with a round plug that does not go to a schuko socket and changing it would be illegal for a non-professional. You have to have double insulation in order to mix with grounded equipment.
Still in use today in Canada. We do not have fuses on "Flex cords" as they say in the UK. The only change was polarized plugs came in during the 60s otherwise still the same today.
Ah JW with another bright idea. And in league terms, he's gone top of the table lamp with this one
Hi John,
That 2 core flat flex you replaced, is still quite a common thing over here in New Zealand, it has the names of Figure-8 cable or Tru-rip flex.
It's pretty much only used for door-bell wiring or other extra-low voltage applications these days.
We did have the bell wire like mains leads on some of the older stuff from the 50's & 60's... mainly table lamps but easily replaces... I'd replace the switches as well if I was doing this though the last table lamps I rewired had switched lampholders which the switches were a bit crackly on so replaces the lot.
In the USA we use Edison type lamp holders rather than bayonets. The Edison lamps use a screw thread system instead of push and twist
Thank you
that type of wire is what we use in north America. its used for almost every thing including toasters and extension cables!
We had the exact same lamp from my dad's mothers during the 70's and 80's.
JW got it from your bin! 😉
That twin-conductor "weird flex" is the same wire thats typically used here in the US even for modern appliances. I like it a lot better since the Chinese cant hide 30AWG wire in a 15A line cord with a bunch of cheap rubber insulation. The single-layer insulation means you can at least get some idea of how much copper is there by how it feels.
JohnW, it would be interesting to find out the Fuse rating of those two(2) unsleeved BS1363 PlugTop used in conjunction with those filmsy twin-flat wires...🤔
Current rating is around 3A, fusing current is around 15A when the wire bursts into flames. you see thgat wire a lot in informal settlements used for illegal connections, doing double duty as power line and alleyway lighting, as it has melted the sheath off and the bare wire is glowing. Sadly hundreds of children a year are killed by illegal power connections.
When shopping around for a couple of table lamps a few years ago I couldn't find any with the switch next to the lamp (like one of the two holders shown here), which I find more convenient than having to fish out the inline switch when it's gone behind the furniture. I suspect most retailers stopped selling them due to potential liability from someone feeling around when there might be a broken bulb, or none at all.
My wife bought a brushed chrome table lamp from The Range last year which had a bar switch on the lampholder and takes a BC lamp. Virtually all the other lamps she looked at had an ES lampholder and in line switch about 30cm from the fitting.
I was about to comment on the horrid white flex - and then read that Lee below mentions the same issue. In my view older electric lamps should be 'aesthetically rewired' with weave-covered flex.
Lamp cord like that is still common in the US, on brand new ones as well.
Traditional 🙄
Same in Canada has not changed in a century. ( I am an election)
@@Solocat1 Actually a century eralier you didn't have PVC zip cord but cloth and rubber insulated wires.
I bet Boom box deluxe would love to have those old plugs.
I had a lamp with that wire and an identical switch back in the late 70's....
Thought I'd say this
If you stay on line, your not always fine
But of you go ground, you COULD get downed ..
Resistance is not futile
The old made in the UK 13 amp plugs where far superior quality than the new 13amp plugs that are sold and supplied with appliances today. I still have a stock of MK plugs
i actually broke the earth pin off one just by accidentally standing on it I'd never seen anything like it
Some of those old type mk plugs seem to have been around forever, I think they still sell the one type which is a slightly newer version but the old type do seem more sturdy. The old 70s ones with sleeved pins would still comply today.
J W you need also to advise the correct fuse sizes as new plug tops come with 13 amp fuses. I am assuming that you used 0.75 mm flex for this task.
Looks like it came from New Zealand, very common to use that flex right up until the 1990's
That looks like 18 or 16 AWG zip cord. Commonly used in the US for lamps, usually with a tiny 2 pin molded plug. Newer ones have a polarized plug to ensure the switch is on the hot.
By newer, you mean in the past 40 years.
I often wonder how table lamps are PAT compliant when it's so easy to remove bulb ie without any tools and then you have exposed metal parts
Come to Canada you would be "Shocked" :-)
Modern table lamp fittings often have BC holders where the prongs are not energised until a light bulb is inserted
That both bayonet and Edison screw holders are still allowed is a failure by the regulatory authorities. They should have been outlawed for new fittings decades ago for the reason you outline. That is it's possible to touch live conductors without access to tools. That's not possible with newer fittings like gu10. However, regulators seem to have not been brave enough to take this on as it would surely be possible to phase them out over time.
In any event, the bayonet and Edison screw fittings are simply allowed by the regulations.
nb. if anything the Edison screw fitting is even worse than bayonet as the outer screw fitting is part of the circuit, and on a non-polarised outlet, such as you find in Germany, it can even be on the line/live side.
when I were a lad that bell wire was used all the time
My Dad rewired one of his table lamps about 15 years ago and really did use bell wire. I only found out after I helped clear out his maisonette..
They still use 1920s cable like that in the US for lamps ....... savages .
Dam straight mate! No fuses in plugs as well. RCD who needs them.
In the 1920s they didnt use 2 core flat zip cord PVC cable but 2 cloth wires twisted around each other.
@@mernok2001 Yes, that cordage is a bit of a more recent innovation than the 1920's but still around in that faithful ex colony of Canada too. I have a couple old radios and a sewing machine still with cloth covered wires but those are offline and this has now reminded me to go downstairs and dust them off.
No real reason to have a fuse in the plug when the branch circuit is only 120VAC@15A. The US plug for the 240VAC@32A that a UK circuit provides would be a NEMA 14-30, which is a huge chunky thing usually only seen on electric clothes dryers.
photos.app.goo.gl/5XSZFqnvTSSCeQcS9
@@PaulSteMarie It really is something that the folks in the UK brag about their plugs, but for the same service here in the US we have a plug thats even better then the UK standard...
Hi,
I am trying to make a hanging pendant light with a switch in the cable.
The cable is that twisted fabric kind. It has 3 wires - so has an earth wire.
The switch and pendant fitting only have room for 2 wires. What do I do with the earth?
Thanks!
I feel like every house has at least one old lamp like this, with very questionable wiring. I have one. I'm not sure where it came from or how old it is, but the cable's very discolored from age. It's also got a strange plug with a worryingly small amount of insulation and stand-off, even by our laxer 120-volt American standards. It won't be getting the rewire treatment, though, because it's fairly ugly and it's prone to tipping over.
That old flex looks like cheap speaker cable. I've seen similar stuff used on old valve radio sets as well as on lamps.
How do doorbell momentary switches light up without a neutral?
The light is connected across the switch, but the light is very high resistance so only a tiny current flows through the doorbell and the light - enough to power the light but not enough to operate the bell. That's also why the light goes out when you press the button - full current goes through the switch so the bell will work, no current through the light.
4:54 7/10 for the cable installation into the back of the bulb holder. Only 1 real error and that's the direction of twist - possibly done by a left-handed person. The idea of a right-handed twist being that as you screw the back cover on, it is 'with twist' and not against it.
Hi JW, Stupid question lol,( I am not electric savy) but what do I do if the switch on the lead has no screws to remove please? I'm going to attempt to just shorten the lead and shorten the switch too but have no screws to remove it and re-use. Will a new one be easy to fit? I'm scared I will ruin it
Probably need to buy a new switch and cut the old one off - no screws is probably because it's either glued or clipped together, not intended to be removed or repaired.
Did you keep old plug?
Ooooh JW ...don’t like “cutting off” old plug...
I agree with you.
Do you have a video that shows how to attach the flex to the terminals at the top of the light fitting?
Sorry! I am probably not using the correct language
Thank you
Hi John. If the lamp fitting is ceramic and double insulated with 2 terminals for live and neutral but the screw fixing that goes into the lamp base is metal, do you need to earth? If so, would you run the earth to the screw fitting somehow? Many thanks.
Only needs earthing if the metal parts are exposed and could be touched by someone. Not required if they are fully covered or inside the lamp
@@jwflame Many thanks for your reply and all your videos.
I would use new switch's for those lamps not the old ones
Problem is getting good new ones, the most common types available are often very poor quality. The old wire is still sold, though to get by with selling it the sellers sell it as "speaker wire", though I would hesitate wiring up a speaker with a lot of it, it may contain wire, and it might actually conduct electricity. I see CCA wire in a lot, and others a few strands of what best could be mystery wire, often the poorest quality "copper like" material that is actually ferrous, and often only a strand or two actually working through the entire length. When I found a good supplier I bought his entire stock of a dozen switches, just so I could get some good ones.
for desk lamps i prefer the flat cord, not the round, as that fits the switches much better, and at lest is double insulated. Only thing is that often you need to buy a roll of it from the suppliers, so I still have around 30m left of a 100m roll.
The flex was known as ( true rip ) and was made only for single lamp wiring and pendant wiring where there was a chain.
John- why do we sleeve CPC. People say you must and the reason is doesn't come insulated out the box is due to cost. Given CPC is for protection surely leaving it unsleeved is safer. If a live wire were to come undone in a back box then it could be potentially touched by someone removing the box. A sleeved earth wouldn't short whilst an unsleeved would and therefore trip am rcd. Surely then it's a safer position to leave CPC unsleeved
Question: If the body of the lamp was metal, would it of needed to be earthed ? Likewise if the lamp holder was brass ?
Yes
Yes, there's a side terminal on the base of the new lampholder, to which the earth wire is fastened to. Often thinner 0.5mm 3 core flex has to be used together with further grommet bushes at either end of any metal tube of the lamp base. Slipping the parts together can be hard in that the grommet bushes can bind causing the flex to twist when screwing the parts together. New lamps might have ferrules crimped onto the stripped ends of the flex otherwise double back the stripped end of the individual wires if the terminals are large enough to accommodate (often in the wall plug).
Where did you get the threaded screw entry lamp holder? I can’t seem to find them anywhere!
1/2 inch thread (most common on older ones) cpc.farnell.com/click/prc004/t2-bc-1-2-th-entry-c-grip-l-h/dp/PL14877
10mm thread (newer) cpc.farnell.com/click/prc011/t2-bc-10mm-th-entry-c-grip-l-h/dp/PL14878
Other sizes exist, but are rarely used.
@@jwflame Thank you so much!
Love your videos John. But are you Clark Kent, Superman, or both? ;o)
What type of wire is used, you said 2 core but are you using 1.5? Cheers!
It’s probably 1mm
@@JK-ck5gg 0.5 flex
I recently rewired a lamp that has same type of wire, it was in a charity shop
Do PAT testing at a furniture reuse charity. To avoid liability the practice is to remove the wiring and bulbholder on non - CE marked lamps then sell the base on. On lamps with Edison Screw lampholders a switch polarity check is also carried out.
This is typical lamp cord as used in the United States. They still use this type of flex today.
Yes shite American wiring
We call it bell wire
I've noticed a lot of metal lamps without an earth, the the wiring is loose in the bottom of the lamp. Seems weird that lamps are like this but other appliances would never be allowed to be wired like that without an earth.
Alright with the required insulation grommet bushes on the metal base and the double layer of insulation of the sheathed flex itself. As long as the bulbholder is plastic its okay. If the bulbholder was brass or gunmetal matt grey an earth core wire would be required fastened to the side terminal in the bulbholder's base.
what do you do with the earth? these isn't a terminal for it
Doing up some old lamps of my mum's. Maybe going to sound stupid but why does lighting flex not come with an earth anymore? All the 'plug re fitting I used to do flex always had an earth!?
Most lampholders are plastic, so no earth connection required.
However 3 core flex and brass lampholders are still available.
Would have been nice to see both lamps working with decorated shades. Funny part when you say after drilling hole in plaster you hope it wasnt asbestos.
They do have shades - shades were left at the customer's home to avoid damage.
Brown to brown, black to black.
Cross them together and stand well back
Though it does look thin that would be considered lamp wire or zip code in the US. So maybe that was an import lamp?
I doubt it. The US doesn't really use bayonet ends like the UK does.
Shouldn't that be rewiring two table luminaires?
2.34 He does seem to be aware of the correct terminology.
Hello. Are you going to be Testing these lamps in the next video ? Just so you know Enjoy watching your videos.
No, already tested and returned to the customer, so no video on that.
@@jwflame alright. Nice vintage lamps tho. Ive just spend £20 pound on a Orignal Vintage light bulb carbon filament on ebay. Ive got a few others the same and all working. These all Real Orignal from around the 1920's to 1940's Era...
That hole in the second socket looks like it may have been once intended for a photo sensor.
I think it’s from a bottle lamp kit. The lampholder had a flexible plastic base which you pushed into the top of a favourite decorative empty bottle and the flex came out of that side hole as it couldn’t go through the base and into the bottle to be plugged in. www.ebay.co.uk/itm/264336592354
9:03 just to rectify the situation one more time..... If you want to bust out the -bass- base... Make sure you have good speakers in your sound system
NOW I'M DONE! and thanks for reading. 👍
Your old wire is lamp or zip cord -- still very common on my side of the pond.
You can still get them here as well, called speaker wire ;)
Standard U.S. lamp cord. I have several rolls of it laying around. Every lamp in my house is wired with it.
I guarantee that that stuff is much thinner than lamp cord. Standard lamp cord here is 16 gauge, or about 1.25mm^2. That's probably more like 20 gauge. Also, double insulation is a bit more important with 240v than with our 120v.
Who else was rather hoping the new holder wouldn't thread onto the old lamp?
Rumour as it Arthur Negus referred to the original wiring as antique…and he’s been dead goodness knows how long.
There is no reason for that thick insulation on the cable.
I think I'd have put longer thinner flex on the lamps and perhaps moved the switch further away - maybe on one only then for that pair, you have some choice of where the switch is relative to the lamp.
Why they are hidious
Ashley Peel ...
Is that a question or a statement of opinion?
I notice that the manufacturer's instructions for the 3M Spray Mount should be completely ignored!
It's not really any different from rewiring lamps in America other than we use Edison sockets, zip cable, and non-sheathed plugs because we like to live dangerously.
The Dark Side video ...
Those bar switches up on the lamp holder always annoyed me. Particularly in bedside lights.
Wake up in the wee small hours, pitch black, go to turn on the light. Have to blindly snake a hand up under the bottom of the shade and tentatively feel for the switch. Already a 75% rate of failure, more likely to sleepily crash a hand into the usually over heavy shade, tipping the entire thing onto the floor.
In the unlikely event of successfully locating the switch while contorted under the shade - now comes the next challenge - activate the switch. Typically they seemed to require about 500lbs of force via one thumb tip to snap on, while simultaneously requiring one to grasp the neck of the lamp to stop it careening off the beside table. At this point 95% chance the lamp has fallen to the floor in the most noisy fashion possible.
In the rare event of success the ridiculously loud "CLACK" that the switch emits when activated resounds throughout the entire house, everyone wakes up thinking there is a burglary in progress or an earthquake, the dog starts barking, the police are summoned and the hapless switch activator is unpopular for at least a month.
But I am sure they made and broke the circuit cleanly as designed, so there is that I suppose. Still hate the things.
Haha throw the cable away into the landfill its no use to anybody
Could strip it and recycle the copper. 🙄
10:15 THe cover should act as a cord grip - tightening against the cable or wires but we didn't see that you'd checked it did do.
I'd also replace the bulb holders with earthed ones as you have no control over the type of bulb fitter and therefore how much bare metal cap is exposed - which should be earthed for obvious reasons (bulb is not stamped as double insulated.)
that flex isn't that old, I remember Woolworths selling it in short hanks as table lamp flex in the 70's. Definitely 240V rated before the EU got their hands on it
Yes,those cables usually have 300 or 500V insulation. Maybe even 600.
It’s nothing to do with the EU.
@CowsRus - and I suppose you also think that the Earth is flat and that 5G can cause you headaches and give you cancer. Unfortunately the right wing newspapers and some right wing politicians like to blame the EU for anything that they can. Back in the real world, a lot of problems in the U.K. are actually caused by our own government. And before we left the EU we (as in the U.K.) were often very involved in a lot of the EU regulations. Further, in various areas, U.K. regulations or standards (a lot standards are not actually laws and are therefore not actually determined by the U.K. parliament, government or the EU, but are written by members of the relevant industry bodies on standards boards). So please show me the relevant EU legislation that you are complaining about, otherwise don’t be a sheep and believe all the rubbish that other people like to peddle.
Oh, and it’s interesting that similar ‘figure of eight’ cable is still available, see www.farnell.com/datasheets/3050184.pdf, uk.farnell.com/pro-power/2812x-0-5-whi/fig-8-cable-2core-0-5mm2-wht-per/dp/2425433, and www.ledburncables.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Multicore-Cables2812X-Twin-Core-Cable-1.pdf
Also Christmas / party / fairy lights (the traditional miniature filament lamp type) always was supplied with similar figure of eight’ cable or single core cable, and ASDA as well as other shops were selling sets as little as eight years ago.
The most important part to see was skipped over!
Flat twin flex would have looked better, rather than round, also apart from the pins not being sleeved, those old 13A plugs would be better quality than the new ones, (which are most probably made in China!) I've got quite a collection of 13A plugs, (about 40), many of the older ones, pre mid 80's are very well made & solid, compared to newer ones. Still got some in use but as I'm the only one using them, the lack of sleeved pins is not an issue.
Wow. Never saw anyone wire a lamp totally backwards!
9:46 You've put the wires in the wrong end of the terminal holes and wrapped the wires the wrong way around the 'cord grip' bar.
At least the new one at 12:35 is designed so you can't get the wiring wrong but would appear to allow you to fit it incorrectly !
Wow, single pole in line switches, Pommies are strange cattle
Well how many poles do you need?
@@chocolate_squiggle, two, always switch both conductors, in case someone wired the plug barseakwards..
That switched lamp holder has a double pole switch in it for exactly that reason.
@@chocolate_squiggle They usually come in threes. An older one to drive the van and two youngsters to do the heavy lifting.
@@calmeilles lazy boomer detected
@@calmeilles There are two poles, south pole, Antarctica and nouth pole, Arctic. 😳
I'm a bit worried about your taste in table lamps. I take it you either got them from a car boot for a project or its a favour for a very elderly neighbour!
Seriously what are your thoughts on the retro cotton wire you can get for lighting? You can buy it new on eBay.
Those lamps belong in the bin, they are seriously ugly. Waste of money putting new flex etc on them.
12:55 You didn't show you fitting the cable at 12:55 so we don't know whether you'v done it correctly - or more importantly, shown how to do it correctly.
Also stop badmouthing CFLs.. They have a certain nostalgia value for those of us who got into saving energy early on..
Awful things! 😳😁
I still have some CFL adaptors, where you could replace the lamp with a new PL lamp when it failed. I used to repair them as well, as the original ones cost a lot of money, and had some well known failure modes, and were worth repairing.
Still have some in use, though mostly have moved to LED, but even so incandescent lamps are still a thing with useful niches.
@@ollieb9875 Why? I always liked them and still use them
@@mernok2001 I never liked the look or size of them, those bended tubes wrapped up, but most of all feel like at night they would give me a headache. Similar to poor quality badly rectified LEDs. The filament LED bulbs nowadays are really nice, warm white if you like and very similar looking to the incandescents of yesteryear.
I'm only 43 and I feel the same way. One of my lights has had the same CFL for 23 years!
I think your felt cutting needs some practice!!!!!!!