Need advice on changing socket in light on ceiling fan

[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.

[DerbyDad03]

Take the socket to a lighting store with parts counter - not a Home Depot or Lowes - a parts counter that contractors use. Most decent lighting stores will have one. They'll not only give you an extremely close match if they have one, they'll explain the situation in a little more detail than "hook it up and see what happens"

[Chris Lewis]

According to Greg Bailey :

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.

[ransley]

Use a 2 wire socket, its the ground wire you dont need. Gee wee need all the help we can get to keep the Chinese from making unsafe junk, but 3 wire socket is assinine.

[Phisherman]

Two wires will work just fine. First turn OFF the circuit and check to make sure it is off and stays off until the wiring is completed. Connect the black (hot) wire to the brass screw. This contacts the small round contact on the end of the light bulb. Connect the white (neutral) wire to the silver screw. Make sure there are no stray strands sticking out and check for tight connections. If there are no screws but wires from the socket use wire nuts to make your connections. Fold the bare copper (ground) wire up and tuck it out of the way.

[Ken]

Unless its a socket for a three-way bulb.

Check the bottom of your old socket, if there is a center contact and then another contact ring (in addition to the shell, obviously), then its a three-way. If so, then you can either get a replacement three- way socket, or else just wire up a new two-wire socket using on the fixture neutral (to the shell) and one of the fixture's switched hot wires to the center contact.

Ken

[Chris Lewis]

According to Ken :

It's not a ground, and you're rather unlikely to see a threeway socket on a direct-connected ceiling fixture.

I've certainly not.

But yeah, threeways bulbs are three wire devices. But it won't be the case at hand.

[HeyBub]

It's probably just a ground wire, just connect the hot wires up and see what happens.

[Terry]

It probably is a ground.

How about some more clues?

Colors?

Color to color is a safe bet, but not a sure thing.