OT: Any Electricians? Vintage Lighting Question

[kbone]

This is way off topic but it seems The Paceline knows all!

I bought a couple of vintage (1960s) pendant lights and a 1950s chandelier off Etsy. All came from Eastern Europe. All have porcelain lamp sockets that are in very good shape. There are also some bakelite parts to the sockets.

I am going to rewire the fixtures, but I am wondering if I need to replace the sockets? Are there any concerns with using the vintage socket parts?

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

[Plum Hill]

Do the sockets accept American lamps?
You should be able to tell the condition of the Bakelite by looking. Discoloration? Cracks?

[Polyglot]

Bakelite becomes brittle with age. I would be somewhat concerned, so if it is not too much of an issue, I would switch out teh sockets. However, if you were to use LED bulbs which emit minimal heat, I would not be worried.

As far as krone's question, the European sockets should accept the US bulbs without issues. My family has moved internationally many times and apart from the wiring, we have never made any adaptations and they work with US bulbs without issues (you obviously cannot use the European bulbs).

[tellyho]

Whenever I have rewired old fixtures, I've always replaced the socket. It's like doing cables and housing while you have the bar tape off - why not?

[Hardlyrob]

Make sure you ground them when you re-wire. I just redid several vintage chandeliers, and none were grounded. If the old sockets don't show cracks - re-use them. As mentioned above, LED lamps give off no heat, so no real worries.

[Monsieur Toast]

I've had a dozen or so repurposed old lamps fitting your description over the years and I always rewired them completely, including replacing sockets that seemed okay at first glance. Reason being all involved somewhat PITA ceiling installation and last thing I wanted to do was pull them down and have to redo them in case of failure in a year or two. Can't say I've regretted spending a little extra time and money upfront for peace of mind.

[Davist]

Re do sockets and wiring, vintage and electricity aren't a good combo! though, as noted, the enemy is heat, and with LEDs there's less likely of damage, though bakelite etc may already be brittle from past use. For me, I'd change it all out..

[martl]

one can still get bakelite and porcellaine sockets/lamp parts new, if you want to keep the full vintage vibe. Are there really different bulb thread norms in the US? thought the Edison screw was pretty much used worldwide

[Hardlyrob]

There are several sizes used in the US - the Edison is by far the norm, but there are chandelier bases (smaller), candelabra bases (much smaller), and a few for high wattage uses that are bigger. You always have to take a good look at a vintage light, to see what you've got.

[kbone]

Looks like the general consensus is to go ahead and replace the sockets as well. I looked at them and they are all nearly unused, but it still makes sense.

As a side note, they are all standard sized sockets.

Thanks for all the feedback folks. I really appreciate it.

[AngryScientist]

i hope you will post a photo. sounds like a very interesting project!