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Hi there,

I want to install 3 keyless porcelain lamp holders in my custom monitor cage. My buddy who is helping me with the cage said I can just attach the wires from an extension cord to the light terminals. Is this true?

The instructions on the Leviton lampholder I bought at Home Depot package say I should have black (hot) and white (neutral) wire but the extension cord I was going to attach just has copper wire inside. I am clueless and any suggestions would help.

thanks!

Yes, you can use an extension cord if you like. And yes, follow the directions to wire it correctly to ensure proper polarity. Your real question seems to lie with your cord. You can buy one at home depot or comp. for .99 without a female end on it. The wires inside will be colored (the insulated material around the actual copper wire). Just match up the correct wires to the leads, make a loop and wrap around and then tighten with a screwdriver.

If the wires are not separated by color, then you can figure out which one is hot by the male end. You will notice one end is larger than the other. That end will be your..... omg! I cannot remember which one it is! Oh well, good thing you can google it and find out if it is positive or negative.

Best of Luck!

The positive will go on the gold screw and negative goes on the silver screw. The colors are on the sheathing not the wire itself. If you nare trying to find the /- from the plug, the large prong is neutral. I suggest installing electrical boxes so your wires arent pinched. It also keeps the wire from overheating.

When I hook up my lights I also run a wire to the front so I can have them on a switch (or dimmer or timer)

Thank you so much for your advice!

On regular zip cord, the smooth side is the Hot, and the ribbed side is the neutral.

If you follow the smooth side to the plug, it is the narrow prong. Wide prong is the neutral. Narrow=hot, wide=neutral.

A better approach is to use building wire from the lampholder in the cage out through the back. Then use a small electrical box where you wire on the cord with plug. You can get plastic wire channel to hide the wires in the cage. This way you never have to replace the wires from the lampholder even when replacing the plug or if you decide to wire 2 or more lampholders onto a single plug you can do so at the electrical box. Building wire is rated for much higher temps, and some bulbs can heat the wire quite a bit.
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Mark

Thanks so much Mark,

Chris

I just went to the hardware store to get the building wire and electrical box you suggested and the guy there said not to use the extension cord (unsafe) and that the porcelain fixtures would get too hot with the halogen bulbs I am using! This is getting more and more complicated...

Not too complicated and I agree those little zip cord extensions can overheat. Instead you can pick up an inexpensive 14/3 construction type extension cord and use that. The 14 refers to the gauge of the wire which you will notice is much heavier than the zip type. The 3 refers to 3 wires, black, white, green for ground. These come as short as 15' and that should give you enough to not need the romex (construction type wire) but could use some of the extension cord instead and still have plenty left over for your plug in.
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BigT
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Cool. Any thoughts on the light fixture itself? I bought these 660w/250v porcelain lamp holders that the guy at the store was worried wouldn't be able to deal with the heat of the halogen bulbs.

thx,

C

I don't get his concern (I do for the extension cord, but we already addressed the solution with the building wire or as Jeremy suggested the 14 AWG cord). The porcelain sockets are rated 660W. What wattage bulb are you using?

I've done 50 watt halogens as described above with absolutely no problems.
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Mark

Okay cool. He just was worried because the halogens get hotter. I am only going to use 50 or 75 watters.

I am clueless so I am trying to get as much info as possible before installing this stuff.

thanks much,

C

porcelain lampholders can take a lot of heat. You should be fine. I would liked to point out that what another poster said is a bit misleading. Normaly 14/3 refers to 3 wires plus a ground. So it would have black, red, white, and ground. The lamp cord with a smooth side and a ribbed side is usually without ground but will still work fine as long as you get a proper gauge. 14g lamp cord, extension cord, and romex (house wire) all carry the same amps