? on rewiring lamp.

[J.Lef]

Hello to all. As another weekend project came to mind, the better half and I decided to rewire two lamps we love(circa 1970,s). Plus patch the pottery on them. They are standard type(They look like grecian urns-and made of pottery). They were originally 3 way, but rewired about ten years ago to one way. We decided we now need the 3 way back. So we purchsed the sockets and wire, and rewired, pretty simple, and works great as 3 way. (50,100,150) We then decided we wanted to have an on and off switch on the wire at base of lamp, so we dont have to reach under shade to turn on and off. Hopefully some switch that can do 3 way. So we puchased a switch, that would do on and off, but when connected to wiring, it did its job, but we lose the 3 way. Its just a one way. Can anyone advise, on a type of wiring switch, that can be used to adjust 3 way, plus on and off, or at least keep the 3 way function, and work as and on and off. Hope I didnt confuse anyone. :)

Thanks and much regards

[Terry]

I don't see how you could have affected the switching of the lamp that works as a 3-way by adding an inline switch in the lamp cord.

I could be wrong. It happens regularly. :)

Are you sure you are using a 3 way lamps?

[J.Lef]

Hi Terry: We initially rewired them with 3 way sockets, and worked perfectly. On adding the inline switch(which turns them on and off fine), we lose any adjustability on the socket switch. If we turn the socket switch, we get on and off only. No progression.

Thanks

>

[Ryan Weihl]

well... as far as I know the three-way function is an internal setup of the socket, never heard of a socket where you do it external to the socket. rw

[Edwin Pawlowski]

The three way function takes place at the socket. Base and line switches just break the current at one wire to turn them off and on. I don't know of any switches that will do what you want. Of course, using a line switch you can turn it off and on so as long as the last setting is what you want, there is no reaching under the shade.

You may find a dimmer switch that will give you variable lighting with a

150W bulb.

[J.Lef]

Thanks Edwin. I understand what you are saying, but when I install a line switch, which turns it on and off, I am losing the 3 way options on the the lamp socket as well. Before installing line switch, I had 3 way. After installing line switch, I only have on and off, no matter if I try the lamp socket, or line switch. Can you figure whats going wrong, or are there certain line switches for three way bulbs? Thanks

>

[Terry]

It can't behave as you say.

Look at this drawing.

The inline switch you put in breaks the black wire only. Nothing you do can change the arrangement in the lamp.

[Terry]

The most likely cause is that one of your filaments has burned out in the lamp.

Try another 3 way lamp.

[jJim McLaughlin]

That simply is not physically possible.

As the sec "Are you sure that yoiu are using three way bulbs?"

and

"Are you sure you installed a three way socket?"

Post and provide a link to pictures of the bulb base and the interior of the replacement socket you installed.

[HeyBub]

Understand how a three-way switch and bulb work. The bulb has two filaments, not one: a 50-watt and a 100-watt (or some other combination).

The single power line coming in to the socket is directed, via the switch, to the 50-watt filament, or to the 100-watt filament, or to both. Hence, three different possibilities.

Nothing you can do on the incoming single wire will influcence how the switch is set.

Look at the base of a three-way bulb. It's different.

[J.Lef]

For some reason, it seems that the 3 way bulbs got a bit loosened. They were turning on and off, but not three way. We cut off the inline switch first, and connected the cut wire. The lamp was still one way. I went to look at lamp socket,to make sure everything was tight, and gave the bulb about a half a turn. That did the trick. It seems if the bulb is not completely tightened it would turn on and off, but lost three way. So we had to put the inline switches back on again and everything is fine. Never had 3 ways that were that sensitive, that they would work one way, unless sufficienty tightened. It must have something to do with the new sockets we put on, and they really need a very tight bulb fit to work 3 way.

Thanks for everyone who helped.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

OK, I did not understand that. What type of switch did you use? Any that I'm aware of just break the hot wire and should have no affect on anything else. It may be coincidence that while putting in the switch you banged the bulb and one filament broke or something got loose in the socket. I don't see any physical way the line switch should have any affect at all.

[somedude]

Why would you change them to one way? A 3-way works with ordinary lamps.

[Stormin Mormon]

Replace the bulb. I suspect you blew a filament, and now have two unrelated problems.

1) One filament of bulb is blown 2) switch added

As they are unrelated, there is confusion.

[J.Lef]

So much thanks to all you knowledgable folks. Just to conclude, in a previous post, I found what the problem was, and it was user error, and not the wires. It turns out the bulb, really needs to be screwed in real tight(tighter then normal) for the 3 way to function. The one was functions under normal(tightness) but the 3 was needed really to be set tightly in to function. I supposes when moving lamps to put the line switch in, the bulbs might have not been set in very tightly, and loosesend just a bit(maybee a quarter turn), and that was the problem. A lot of extra work for nothing. LOL

Thanks and much regards

[Joe]

[Stormin Mormon]

How many Usenet posters does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

[jJim McLaughlin]

ROTFL.

That is funny.

[J.Lef]

One to climb the ladder with the bulb, and six to turn the ladder round and round till the bulb is screwed in. Its the same number to remove a bulb, just turn the ladder in the opposite direction. LOL Much regards

[Dave Martindale]

The construction of 3-way bulbs and sockets is that you *always* get contact on one of the base contacts before the other. So you get one-way operation first, then 3-way after you screw the bulb in far enough to make the second connection. But with a bulb and socket that are properly set up, it shouldn't take much rotation (or much force) to go from 1-way to 3-way operation. So it's possible that one of the contact fingers in your socket is too far from its normal height (e.g. one may need bending up so it contacts earlier).

Dave