Hillman Light Socket Wiring

[Fix Until Broke]

I'm replacing the porcelain socked in an old yard light - found a new one from Hillman that more/less fits, but I'm struggling with how do I connect the wires or a terminal to it?

The silver screw is swaged so doesn't come out. If you try to tighten it up, the brass "C" shaped terminal folds down very easy and at quite an angle so it would only contact a wire on the outer tip which doesn't seem right. Are you supposed to use solid wire and somehow fish it around the silver screw.

I'm using 14AWG stranded wire so was looking to use a ring terminal. For that to work, you'd need to push past the swage on the end of the screw and still put a stack of small washers in to take up the 1/8" gap.

I'll figure out a way to make it work but I'm really curious as to how it is supposed to work?
Why does the other screw protrude up through the C shaped terminal?

 

[Citation]

I can't say for certain but I suspect the idea is the silver screw simply crushes the two halves together to pinch the wire. It's probably sized just about perfectly for a 14g wire. The gold screw would be the connector from the other side to the terminal. It likely runs through for ease of mfg. That would also explain why the terminal is folded over vs made from two parts. It's just easier to have only one piece to deal with. Even if the part is new I wouldn't be surprised if this is based on an old design... or maybe they figured out how to make an old design even cheaper!

 

[Citation]

BTW, a nice thing about that setup is it looks like you could just run a straight section of wire in from the right (in your second picture) in the gap between the two screw posts. Then you wrap the wire around counter clockwise to create a nice J. No need to create the hook before attaching to the terminals.

 

[American Locomotive]

You put the wire inside the gap, between the two screws, and then tighten down.

 

[Fix Until Broke]

I was thinking that may be how it was supposed to go. The below picture is the screw tightened down pretty good and that's all the farther it goes. Maybe another 1/4 turn before it strips the threads. It's bound up on the upper hole as it bends and becomes non-parallel. A stranded wire is not going to make good reliable contact here. I don't even think a solid wire will with it only pinching on the outside - don't wiggle it as you're re-assembling the fixture! Maybe the little tabs will start to bend and it will become more parallel if a solid wire is used?

I ended up going a different route and re-using the terminals from the old socket so this is largely just for discussion at this point. I'm hoping someone can say "you do it like this..." and it all makes sense, but I'm fearing that it's a poor design.

 

[cybrdyke]

The wire goes under the screw head, best with a spade terminal. The screw goes through both the top and bottom holes. The bottom hole is what really pulls the screw down tight. The longer screw holds the whole bracket in place and provides an electrical path to the socket.
CD

 

[Fix Until Broke]

Like this? Understood on the longer screw - no questions there.

There's only one side of the screw touching the terminal, the other side is not touching the bracket or the screw.
If you put the terminal between the two parts of the bracket, it'll be the same thing, just on the outside instead of the inside
Surely this can't be how it's supposed to go?

 

[Citation]

Like this? Understood on the longer screw - no questions there.

There's only one side of the screw touching the terminal, the other side is not touching the bracket or the screw.
If you put the terminal between the two parts of the bracket, it'll be the same thing, just on the outside instead of the inside
Surely this can't be how it's supposed to go?

My guess is no. The solid conductor 14 or 12 gauge wire would go between the two sides of the folded brass plate and clamped between them. If you want to use it as you have done I would suggest cutting the tabs that hold the top and bottom of the folded brass tab. That will make it act like two separate parts.

 

[cybrdyke]

Hillman's phone number: 800-800-4900
email: [email protected]

 

[rawen2]

Looks like that terminal would work 100% better if the top part of the "U" shaped piece were to be cut completely off - as long as the screw doesn't bottom out on the porcelain. But the screw could be shortened.

Let us know what the manufacturer says if you contact them. Really curious what they were thinking.

Kudos on the great close-up photos too.

 

[Fix Until Broke]

I'll reach out to them and see what they say.

Just for fun, I tried 12 and 14 AWG solid copper shown below.
The 12AWG looks "better" than it would be since the lower part of the U-shaped plate is getting deformed/bent from repeated use

Thanks for the comment on the pictures. They are nothing special - just my old Pixel 3 cell phone camera

 

[iadr]

B/c it'a a yard light pehaps they sized/engineered for a thicker conductor, due to recommendation/code to use such for long distances (eg 150 to 250+ft). Still, for *any* bulb, 12ga seems way overkill, but it's the only reason I can think. In fact looks like 10ga would be still better, in fit. ha.
Curious if Hillman ever got back to you?

 

[grounded-b]

I would remove the U shaped piece from the porcelain by removing the longer brass screw. Then squeezing the U shaped piece in a vise, to crush the "hinge". Re-install.

 

[yatg]

Use a dremel and cut the top bar between the screw and the stud.