Lamp Wiring Instructions

Lamp wiring can be an easy, yet tricky process. Since you're going to be dealing with an appliance that has something to do with electrical currents, it's best to be careful and cautious while working with it. But before going into that, one must first know why lamp wiring is important, not only to have a properly functioning lamp, but also to have a safe environment in the home.

Safety Considerations

Ideally, all lighting, wring and electronic equipment around the house which we come in contact with should be shielded in order to prevent exposure to hazardous electric fields. For example, when you turn off the bedside lamp the light may go out, but it doesn't mean that the entire electrical functions have dissipated. The current flow to that lamp might have been stopped by the switch, but the connected supply, lamp base and extension cord is still live and still emanating an alternating current or AC electric field that can certainly race across the bed while you're deep in slumber. And generally, still energized with120 volts, this may pose as a health hazard because an AC current can be lethal to humans from 100 to 250 volts.

Subsequently, here's how one can go about fixing the problem. From a technical standpoint, it is rather simple to inhibit those AC electric fields through shielded cables and appliances. Now, to effectively shield a lamp through lamp wiring, one must substitute the usual two-wire cord with a three-wire cord. It's possible to get three-wire cords at hardware stores by either buying them as replacement cords, or as a three-wire extension cord and then removing the receptacle end. Also, it is important to note that the lamp base must be made out of metal, as bases made out of plastic and wood cannot effectively protect from electric fields.

Steps in Wiring a Lamp:

• Detach the bottom plate from the lamp base.
• Make a hole on the side of the lamp close to the bottom plate. Be advised that the size of this hole must correspond to the size of the bolt and nut you will use later to connect the wire.
• Sever the wires that go into the lamp, but be sure to cut them near the bottom plate of the base.
• Take out the two-wire cord from the base and insert the three-wire cord via the hole you just made.
• Make use of a continuity tester to find out the neutral wire in the previous two-wire cord that attaches to the threaded section of the socket.
• Again, using a continuity tester, find out the neutral wire in the three-wire cord that attaches to the big spade of the plug.
• Affix the neutral wire of the lamp to the neutral wire of the three-wire cord, and then the hot wire of the lamp to the hot wire of the three-wire cord by means of a wire nut.
• Attach the ground wire of the three-wire cord to the base of the lamp by using a machine-threaded bolt and nut through the hole you bored earlier. 
• Put the bottom plate back on the lamp.