Y adaptor for 2 bulbs in celing pendant lampholder?

[Alex]

I am in the UK.

I have got a lampsocket hanging from the ceiling in the middle of a room
like this: http://www.toolstation.com/messages.html?closeUp=27046

A single CFL is not bright enough so I want to hang two CFL lamps from
one lampsocket.

Is it possible to get a "Y" adapter which plugs into the existing
lampsocket and then allows me to plug in two CFLs?

 

[John]

I am in the UK.

I have got a lampsocket hanging from the ceiling in the middle of a room
like this: http://www.toolstation.com/messages.html?closeUp=27046

A single CFL is not bright enough so I want to hang two CFL lamps from
one lampsocket.

Is it possible to get a "Y" adapter which plugs into the existing
lampsocket and then allows me to plug in two CFLs?

Never seen anything like that. Why not just change the fitting to a multiple
lamp holder that you like?

HTH

John

 

[Andrew Gabriel]

Certainly used to be, I particularly remember lighting on market stalls
making use of them (often in scary looking ways) this was 20+ years ago
mind.

They all vanished in the early 1970's when it became illegal
to sell electrical accessories which don't conform to the
relevant British Standard. It would appear that manufacturers
didn't think it worth the effort to get all the less common
electrical accessories included in the standards. You might
still find them at car boot and junk sales, but check them
over for any faults. Most accessories of that area were quite
well made and providing they haven't been badly handled, will
still be in good condition. They may not incorporate all the
safety features currently used though.

You could always make your own:
http://www.emanator.demon.co.uk/bigclive/hamster.htm

 

[Lobster]

Is it possible to get a "Y" adapter which plugs into the existing
lampsocket and then allows me to plug in two CFLs?

I've got one in my 'useful box' but sorry you're not having it! ;-) As
others have said, I'm pretty sure you can't buy them any more.

David

 

[Dave Liquorice]

Yes, and here it is in all it's bakelite glory:

Yep those are the devices, not seen any on retail sale for donkeys years.
Not sure if I still have a couple kicking about and the matching BC plugs
so you could power, say your electric iron, from the lighting circuit.

I wouldn't advise using such a device though, much better to fit extra
fittings in the right place(s) or up the wattage of your CFL.

 

[Owain]

Maybe thats why iron beds declined in popularity, darwin effect....

No, that was after a nasty incident involving an incontinent grandmere
and two English airmen with a valve radio transmitter.

Owain

 

[Owain]

To do that you need the full set, 2-way bulb adaptor & BC plug.

You really need a boiling ring plugged in - one of those made from a
spiral of bare resistance wire in a ceramic former, that came with a
little rack for making toast with.

Owain

 

[David Lee]

the_constructor wrote...

Scary !!

I remember the old double lighting adaptors from the 1950's / 60's when
people used to use them and plug electric irons into them.

I still have a very useful Morphy-Richards 3A bayonet to two-pin shaver
socket adapter that came with my fathers old electric razor.

David

 

[Dave Liquorice]

To do that you need the full set, 2-way bulb adaptor & BC plug. Pvc
flex should not be used in the BC plug, only rubber, since the flex
sits directly on the hot bulb.

Twin twisted pair cotton covered rubber flex of course.

 

[Alex]

Not any more, but its not hard to wire 2 pendants into 1 rose. Or to
buy a CFL, the come in powers over over 100w from a few suppliers, eg
http://www.eurobatteries.com/sitepages/fluorescentcompact.asp

NT

Jeeze. Didn't think the bayonet fitting CFL's went to such high powers.

But at £15 (about $29) they're not cheap. I imagine they are quite
heavy.

 

[Alex]

To do that you need the full set, 2-way bulb adaptor & BC plug. Pvc
flex should not be used in the BC plug, only rubber, since the flex
sits directly on the hot bulb. The worst part of these things wasnt
the adaptor/plug/cable, which was dodgy enough, but the fact that
users would handle the top end of the fitted bulb holder, which in
the later years of round pin wiring had frequently lost some if its
(single) insulation, so you were fumbling with bare uninsulated
mains wires that you couldnt see too much from below, with the bulb
in your face, while standing on a chair or bed.

Maybe thats why iron beds declined in popularity, darwin effect....


NT

I have never understood how it is still permitted to have a
lampholder like in the OP
http://www.toolstation.com/messages.html?closeUp=27046

The way the lampholder is suspended depends on the grip of the actual
screw-fittings on the bare wires.

If a moderately heavy lampshade is used then the whole thing seems to
be asking for trouble.

Does the US have ceiling pendant lampholders as dodgy as this?

There is so much safety in electrical products these days that I just
wonder how this sort of lampholder is not obliged to have a decent
flex grip in it.

 

[Clive Mitchell]

so you were fumbling with bare uninsulated mains wires that you
couldnt see too much from below, with the bulb in your face, while
standing on a chair or bed.

Yeah, but velvet cushions and duvets have a high resistance value.
(Unless soaked in urine.)

 

[Clive Mitchell]

I have never understood how it is still permitted to have a lampholder
like in the OP http://www.toolstation.com/messages.html?closeUp=27046

The way the lampholder is suspended depends on the grip of the actual
screw-fittings on the bare wires.

It's not just relying on the wire being clamped. When assembled
correctly the wires are looped over strain relief hooks which remove a
lot of the pull force.

If a moderately heavy lampshade is used then the whole thing seems to
be asking for trouble.

Some excessive glass lampshades are just asking for trouble in any
scenario.

Does the US have ceiling pendant lampholders as dodgy as this?

No. ALL their wiring accessories are dodgy.

 

[Chris J Dixon]

You really need a boiling ring plugged in - one of those made from a
spiral of bare resistance wire in a ceramic former, that came with a
little rack for making toast with.

It was once possible to buy replacement coiled elements for
radiant fires. You simply removed the failed one, used a piece
of string to get the length and stretched the new one to suit.
My dad told me that in his college days (1930s) they heated a
room by suspending such an element from the mantelpiece.

Mind you, his mains electric soil sterilisation kit was a bit of
an eye opener - wooden box, metal plate at each end, fill with
soil, add water until ammeter reaches desired level, leave to
simmer. I can smell it now.

Chris

 

[Clive Mitchell]

Never seen anything like that. Why not just change the fitting to a
multiple lamp holder that you like?

Look! I just made my own and you can plug kettles and washing machines
in too. I didn't know what to do with the green wire so I stuck it up
the hole and it went bang so I pulled it out again. I don't think it's
needed because everything works OK but the kettle makes me feel all
tingly when I pick it up.

http://www.emanator.demon.co.uk/sockets.jpg

 

[Clive Mitchell]

Mind you, his mains electric soil sterilisation kit was a bit of an eye
opener - wooden box, metal plate at each end, fill with soil, add water
until ammeter reaches desired level, leave to simmer. I can smell it
now.

EYE OPENER! Not half!!!!!! They only just "rediscovered" not long
ago that passing electric current through blood would sterilise it by
killing the bacteria and viruses without causing apparent damage to the
blood. Subsequent experiments have been carried out involving in situ
sterilisation of human blood by passing low DC currents through a human
body. If claims are to be believed, it deactivated the AIDs virus
giving "low T-cell counts" whatever they are.

I wonder where he discovered the soil sterilisation technique.

 

[Clive Mitchell]

Lampholders are the only electrical accessories where access to live
terminals without using tools is considered safe. Anybody know why?

It's just been Grandfathered through because it would have been too hard
to change every single lampholder in the world to comply. The newer
GU10 style lampholder is good though. It would be nice if they started
phasing the older BC and ES holders out.

Here in the UK we can get safety lamp holders which only connect the
power once the lamp is inserted and locked in position.

OK. Put your hand up if you ever stuck your finger in a lamp holder!


(Did it on a fairground ride when I was a kid! DC apparently.)

 

[Dave Liquorice]

You really need a boiling ring plugged in - one of those made from a
spiral of bare resistance wire in a ceramic former, that came with a
little rack for making toast with.

Oh yeah. I took one of those and several similar electric fires to the
dump when clearing out my fathers loft. Can you still get electric fires
with exposed resistance wire wound around a ceramic former? Can't say I
seen any recently, they all seem to be "ceramic", fan, convector or oil
filled these days.

 

[Clive Mitchell]

Oh yeah. I took one of those and several similar electric fires to the
dump when clearing out my fathers loft. Can you still get electric
fires with exposed resistance wire wound around a ceramic former? Can't
say I seen any recently, they all seem to be "ceramic", fan, convector
or oil filled these days.

Nah, you need to poke a key or screwdriver through a plastic grill to
get a decent shock these days.

 

[Andrew Gabriel]

Lampholders are the only electrical accessories where access to live
terminals without using tools is considered safe. Anybody know why?

B22d (bayonet cap) lampholders are grandfathered and exempt from
IP2X requirements because there are no recorded deaths from them
(at least, not due to touching the live pins).