wiring a light bulb directly to an extension cord
 

If I wanted to cut off the end of a 3 prong extension cord and solder it direct to a light bulb, which color wire would I solder to the bottom of the bulb and which to the screw-threaded portion of the base ?

Depends on what color wires you have. The one that connects to the middle prong (ground) doesn't connect. The other two wires can connect either way.

Edit: go here http://www.peavey.com/support/techno...hockhazard.cfm

And remember, the wires can be connected wrong, so be careful.

Also, this is a bad idea. If you want a light bulb on a cord, connect a socket on the end. Don't solder it right to the bulb.

Yes, ignore the green, and connect the black and white to whichever. This is a terrible idea, however. Just buy an old lamp at a garage sale for 50 cents, or a drop light at walmart for $2 and use the socket from it. Then you can replace the bulb and not start fires or electrecute things.

Where's the fun in that?

I agree with the others. It is insane to have open electrical connections, especially ones that are not secured in some way. You will either shock the shit out of yourself, or set the rug on fire. Or both.

unless you are TRYING yo make one of these:
http://www.gearfuse.com/wp-content/u...7/suicide1.jpg

http://www.gearfuse.com/wp-content/u...7/suicide2.jpg

Red one to your left testicle, yellow one to the tip of your penis, ground wire inserted delicately into your rectum, hold the lightbulb in your left hand. Make sure to wear safety goggles.

Honestly it likely won't matter. As long as the element has power running through it it will light up. Try it on a bench vise. You can switch them around touching the white wire to the side and black to the bottom and it will light up without any noticeable difference. But if I remember correctly the bottom should be hot, ie black.

All that said I agree with everyone else, go buy a socket. Open elec. connections are a bad idea.

Edit:

Here's a diagram:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...t_bulb.svg.png

8- Neg.
11- Pos.

But like I said in a basic incandescent bulb it doesn't matter which way the power flows within the bulb itself. As long as 110 goes through that element (#3) it will light.

The big question is why on earth would you want to do something like that? Even more, you want to do that and don't even understand which wires do what.

wtf? seriously?

You know you can go down to the Ace Hardware or Home Depot and buy exactly the interface you want, right?

I have one in my toolbox for illuminating dark hallways and closets.

It's just a bulb socket with a plug. It's cheap as hell.

... I... uh... damn.

Well, I came home tonight very tired only to find my electric meter gone and the power out in my house. My friend warned me as the town filled up with summer tourists people would move into town and take anything not bolted down, though he told me to lock up my water meter since it's brass. Took me a while to trouble shoot, in the dark, exactly what or why I didn't have power. All the other houses on my street had power. So much for my advice regarding no open electrical connections. I'm not going to detail exactly how I resolved this issue. But standing on a plastic five gallon bucket (doesn't create a ground) I manged to hook myself back up with some #10 wire I had left over from installing my A/C. I'm not sleeping in the July heat down here without A/C.

What a pain. Hooking up 220 in the dark, standing on bucket with make shift leads isn't my idea of fun. I need a beer... and ice. All my ice melted all over my kitchen floor.

I have a feeling I know what you did. Must have been fun, especially standing on a bucket!

Yeah, not exactly a mystery of the universe or anything. Hardest part was keeping my flashlight on the project. I couldn't find my mini mag. Ended up using the pen light from my trauma bag, its switch doubles as a pocket clip. I had it in my mouth trying to keep it lit up while standing on a bucket. Just as I finished it start raining again, glad that waited.

Good news is I now have a a pair of needle nose pilers and a Phillip and flat head screwdriver (I didn't look at the lugs and assumed flat) covered in enough duct tape to work on anything live.

I went out this morning and covered the front with a small piece of thin plywood. Wouldn't want some kid to climb up there and investigate what's in that hole.

Now that just made me really LMAO!!

That's only so you don't accidentally zap yourself by touching the threaded part and the grounded lamp body at the same time, whereas the individual in question here seems to be quite intent on electrocuting himself.

Well, then maybe he could wet his finger, put one foot in the toilet...

In all Seriousness- messing around with live connections is a bad idea.

Regardless of how dangerous and unnecessary the lightbulb soldering idea is, if you have a two wire cord, the smooth insulated side of the cord would connect to the bottom tip of the lamp, and the ridged insulation side of the cord would solder to the screwshell part. If you have a three wire cord, connect the black wire to the bottom contact of the bulb, and the white wire to the screw shell part - and the ground wire (bare copper or green insulated) doesn't connect to anything at the lamp. The color coding, or the identification scheme on the insulation, only matters when you connect to a lamp socket. The idea was to keep the white wire connected to the screwshell - which has almost no voltage on it during normal installations - and the "hot" wire connects to the center tab down deep in the socket, where people wouldn't normally be likely to be sticking their fingers into it.

Thanks for all the encouragement ! I have yet to electrocute myself... but I'll keep trying.

I've heard of people getting killed messing with 110 so don't try too hard. I've been zapped with 110 too many times to count. I've even got the hell zapped out of me working on a 220 dryer outlet one day. I had turned the breaker off, the ex- Mrs. Tully noticed the breaker box door open and the breaker off- so she turned it back on. I touched a screw driver to the live wire and the power traveled up my arm down my side and leg then exited through my knee which was next to the hot water pipe. Blew a hole in my knee about the size of a silver dollar. I'm still breathing. Had I been standing in water barefoot not sure I'd be typing this, so I don't work on anything without "tagging it out" even at home, even alone.

Bottom line- be careful. Live/hot wires are not toys.

Just an FYI....Most duct tape does conduct electricity....not very well, but it is conductive, so please don't rely on it to insulate your tools or you may end up looking like this ---> :eek:

this thread is almost as good as the "refilling the BIC lighter" thread

:cringe::cringe::cringe::cringe:

I'd have a few choice words...

The key point in that entire post was "Ex" Mrs. Tully.

I once spent four hours in the driving rain sitting on the second story of my house because she and her girlfriend went shopping. The ladder leaning against the front of the house seemed out of place, so they laid it down in the front yard. Imagine my surprise when I finished cleaning the gutters on the back side of the house.
-----Added 14/8/2008 at 01 : 48 : 05-----

Good duct tape does, the cheap stuff usually doesn't, IMHO. But you're right given a choice I would have used a ton on electrical tape instead. I'm limited as to what available at the local Mexican Wal-Mart.

tully.. she almost killed you, she left you out on a roof in the rain..and she couldnt cook for shit... no wonder shes ex-mrs tully

What can I say- somethings seem more obvious over time. Though to be fair you're only hearing one side of things, I'm certainly not perfect... but yeah from my perspective she's the "ex" for many, many reasons.

The question is yet to be answered, why do this in the first place?
-----Added 18/8/2008 at 10 : 20 : 01-----
LOL that's funny there, she was practicing good ladder safety while you weren't. To clean gutters I'll never leave the ladder and get on the roof. Transitioning from the ladder to the roof is one of the most dangerous parts of using a ladder. And I couldn't work at the edge of the roof cleaning out the gutter. May sound like I'm one of those people scared of heights and ladders but I regularly use an extension ladder in my line of work and I do some things with a ladder that new trainees that roll with me call crazy or insane.

Good ladder safety? Good ladder safety in this case was leaving it where it was so the guy on the roof had a way off the fucking roof. In this particular case the drop off on the back side of the house would either require a 120ft ladder or a safety harness. Since I didn't have a 120 ft ladder I opted for the harness. I cleaned chimneys to pay off my student loans. Heights don't bother me, getting done with a job and being stuck on roof because someone removed my way down does.

As far as 110 voltage goes, the white wire is considered "neutral" or ground in this case. The black wire should go to the center of the bulb, and the white one to the threaded area. However as has been said MANY times, I would highly suggest against this.

i think the point is to save the inevitable the live wire is connected to the left hand and the neutral wire to the right. sockets are very cheap, no soldering required and most ppl survive the experience of dealing with them. are you also the person that uses hair dryers in the bath?

In the bath? No only in the shower.

You shouldn't connect the wires directly at the bulb. You need to connect a socket on the end of the cord. The standard color is white and black and the ground is either green or brown.

Now why didn't someone suggest that before?

By the way, this is pretty easy to do with a flathead from a jeweler's screwdriver set

Don't fuck with Aussie electrics - the colours are different! red=active, black=neutral, green=earth. It seems you even mixed terms as neutral here isn't the same as ground...

I really would've thought these terms and colours would be standard worldwide - go figure.

oh - I'm with everyone else that thinks the OP is just a really bad idea.

Easy solution --probably a year and a half too late-- but my Dad sells these at his hardware store. One with a regular plug, one with pigtails. You won't find these at Home Depot but a good hardware store should have them.

Lindy

Colors are standardized for different systems, you guys are on 220/50, we're 110/60

If I remember the chart right an example for what we called Romex would be:
14-2 black wire =hot, white =neutral, potential =120 volts
14-2 W/G as above + bare copper ground wire

14-3 black wire =hot, red wire =hot, white wire =neutral
current red to white, potential =120 volts
current black to white, potential = 120 volts
current black to red, potential =240 volts
Is that right?:confused::confused:

Lindy

Lindy has the safe and correct solution.

I used to work lights in a theater, and I built three of these to test which dimmer was connected to which plug after each lighting designer changed everything, then left without any idea of what connected where.