Lights over Island

[K&Gs3400RL]

We have two pendent lights over the sink, One goes out about every 8 months or so. This time when I replaced it, the other bulb blew along with the 15 amp fuse. Now everytime I replace the fuse it pops. Any help would be appreciated.

[1retired06]

I would check wiring and socket , sounds like something is shorting out.

[jcurtis934]

With only one of the lights causing the issue, that narrows issue down to that pendant since both lights are on the same wiring. My vote is bad socket and if your pendants use the same crappy wedge bulb, 912 or 921 bulb, it will be the socket. I changed my lights over to using the much better socket that takes 1141 or similar bulbs. John

[Capt Kidd]

Our pendant lights also only lasted a short time so replaced them with LEDs. So far no problems and better light.

[K&Gs3400RL]

Do you have a model number for your lights? can you send a pic, and tell me where you got them? Thanks

quote:Originally posted by jcurtis934

With only one of the lights causing the issue, that narrows issue down to that pendant since both lights are on the same wiring. My vote is bad socket and if your pendants use the same crappy wedge bulb, 912 or 921 bulb, it will be the socket. I changed my lights over to using the much better socket that takes 1141 or similar bulbs. John

[K&Gs3400RL]

Pretty sure its the socket, But if its not, I know very little about wireing and wouldn't know where to begin????????

quote:Originally posted by 1retired06

I would check wiring and socket , sounds like something is shorting out.

[jcurtis934]

There is a post in the history section of improvements where I detailed my change over. What I did is take down the pendants, take the apart, throw away the wedge base sockets, order new sockets off the internet, get a connector from hardware store to connect threaded rod of pendant to threaded rod on back of new socket, and connect new socket wiring to wire feed in ceiling making sure positive 12vdc went to center contact of socket so that I could use an led bulb if I wanted to. I did all this work becase the wedge sockets are crap and one of mine swiveled in the pedant making it very hard to replace bulbs that went out far too often. And any new fixture I looked at had the same crappy socket. John

[jcurtis934]

Ok, I went poking to find the post and couldn't. So, you have to remove the two screws that hold the pendant to the ceiling and expose the wiring going to it. Easiest way to troubleshoot is to take a meter set to dc volts and higher than 12vdc so you can understand reading. One of the wires is positive and one is ground. If you take a straight pin and pierce one of the wires you can touch the red meter probe to that and the black probe to the metal of the pendant. With the light switch one, you should see twelve volts on the meter. If not, take the pin out of the wire and use it to pierce the other wire and repeat the probe with the meter. Now all that is a lot of work and you still have a pendant with a crappy wedge socket, so I cut the two wires going to each pendant and set to taking the fixture apart. The socket I used was from Bulbworks inc. The socket is BW.SCB-30-2 and is a 15mm SC Bayonet socket complete with new wires attached. The back of the new socket has hollow threaded rod to accept speed nut. This rod is the same stuff you see used in lamps. The connector used to screw onto this and onto the threaded rod in the pendant is found in hardware stores. If you look in the ceiling fan section at home depot, etc you will see a display of replacement parts and one such part will be the connector that will allow sections of threaded rod to join together. I did put thread lock on the rod parts to make sure they stayed together when putting a bulb in the socket. You should find bulbworks on the internet and can call them at 800-334-2852 or 973-584-7171. They carry lots of specialty bulbs and sockets. John

[WhatExit?]

Originally Posted by jcurtis934

Ok, I went poking to find the post and couldn't. So, you have to remove the two screws that hold the pendant to the ceiling and expose the wiring going to it. Easiest way to troubleshoot is to take a meter set to dc volts and higher than 12vdc so you can understand reading. One of the wires is positive and one is ground. If you take a straight pin and pierce one of the wires you can touch the red meter probe to that and the black probe to the metal of the pendant. With the light switch one, you should see twelve volts on the meter. If not, take the pin out of the wire and use it to pierce the other wire and repeat the probe with the meter. Now all that is a lot of work and you still have a pendant with a crappy wedge socket, so I cut the two wires going to each pendant and set to taking the fixture apart. The socket I used was from Bulbworks inc. The socket is BW.SCB-30-2 and is a 15mm SC Bayonet socket complete with new wires attached. The back of the new socket has hollow threaded rod to accept speed nut. This rod is the same stuff you see used in lamps. The connector used to screw onto this and onto the threaded rod in the pendant is found in hardware stores. If you look in the ceiling fan section at home depot, etc you will see a display of replacement parts and one such part will be the connector that will allow sections of threaded rod to join together. I did put thread lock on the rod parts to make sure they stayed together when putting a bulb in the socket. You should find bulbworks on the internet and can call them at 800-334-2852 or 973-584-7171. They carry lots of specialty bulbs and sockets. John

Is there a more recent thread about replacing the two pendant lights over the island with the 3 watt Edison bulbs (since I can’t find frosted bulbs)? Or is there a dimmer switch I can use instead of the on/odd switch (though I’d rather change the fixtures to get different bulbs)?

[Pocketlake1]

I can’t remove the bulbs from the sockets, just spins. Thoughts on just breaking the glass bulb and using needle nose pliers to hold onto the socket and bulb to remove the bulb? Realize alternative is to rewire the assembly to a better socket but your thoughts on my shortcut, ie break the bulb? Seems impossible to simply remove the globe from the extension rod to make it a bit more manageable
Thanks. Ken

[rohrmann]

If your bulbs are like on our lights, they don't turn to remove but pull straight out. We had #921 wedge style bulbs in those lights and I replaced them with the equivalent LED bulbs. Amazon has pliers for these bulbs: https://www.amazon.com/CTA-Tools-101...72757614&psc=1