Attaching an earth tag to a vintage lamp holder

Nightmer · Apr 7, 2019

I have several vintage lamp holders and would like to use them because they have a good look. I found these earth tags (Earth Tag For 10mm Allthread Rod [PLU95920] - https://www.lampspares.co.uk/earth-tag-for-10mm-allthread-rod) and wondered how to attach them to my lamps for them to work. Is it safe to place them inside the lamp holder under the fitting with the live and neutral wire - I would need to bend the earth tag a bit - but would this risk crossing wires?

westward10 · Apr 7, 2019

Can show a pic of the lamp holders.

Nightmer · Apr 7, 2019

[ElectriciansForums.net] Attaching an earth tag to a vintage lamp holder

This is the lamp holder I'm working with now - I have a few that are similar - i.e. switched and without an integral earth

Andy78 · Apr 7, 2019

Those earth tags appear to be designed to attach externally, probably to the base fitting, but would need to be secured with the correct size nut to be reliable for earthing purposes.

You can readily buy lampholders with integral earth terminals in all types of finish. An example is pictured.

Charlie_ · Apr 7, 2019

Is it feasible to put a nut and lug onto the threaded bar?

westward10 · Apr 7, 2019

You can get replacement brass lamp holders with earth terminals but you are likely to have thread compatibility issues as new holders will be metric and your studding imperial.

westward10 · Apr 7, 2019

Hard to tell from the pic if the thread is 5/8 or 3/4 but this company do all manner of metric and imperial lamp holders.
Peter Willetts Associates - Period Lighting Specialists - http://peterwilletts.co.uk/lamp%20parts.html

Richard Burns · Apr 7, 2019

You would probably be best to buy a new antique brass lampholder with integral earth connection.
However you could retro fit an earth terminal to the lampholder.

If your parts are original they are likely to not be 10mm and instead 1/2" imperial. As Andy78 says the tags pictured are designed to go below the whole fitting where it attaches to the base.

westward10 · Apr 7, 2019

I have in the past removed the earth terminal from a new holder (they are quite easy to remove) drill the base of the old holder and solder in place. This is a last resort in the OPs case as I had the luxury of bits and pieces of lamp holders.

Nightmer · Apr 8, 2019

Thanks everyone - just to reiterate - the earth tags I showed are really for lamp bases not to be introduced in a lamp holder. I don't really want to always use a new lamp holder because some of the old ones have beautiful switches and are also more nicely made than modern ones frankly. Therefore, my best option is to create a small hole in an old lamp holder and add an earthing nut either from a spare I have floating around or finding one to purchase. Correct? Thanks again!

Nightmer · Apr 8, 2019

Richard Burns said:
You would probably be best to buy a new antique brass lampholder with integral earth connection.
However you could retro fit an earth terminal to the lampholder.
View attachment 48702
If your parts are original they are likely to not be 10mm and instead 1/2" imperial. As Andy78 says the tags pictured are designed to go below the whole fitting where it attaches to the base.

Do you know where I could just get this small earth? I've looked at some spares I have with integral earthing tags and they are not removable...

Richard Burns · Apr 9, 2019

Nightmer said:
Do you know where I could just get this small earth? I've looked at some spares I have with integral earthing tags and they are not removable...

I think you can find them on ebay, possibly CEF, discount electrical, i thought one of the lamp spares websites had them.