How do I fit a homemade chandelier with lights?

I want to fit a chandelier, I made at home, with either LEDS, if they can produce enough light to fill a small room, or Compact fluorescent bulbs. How do connect various bulbs to one cord that can be wired into the ceiling and plugged into an outlet.

As a side question are lights that are wired into the wall just electrical cord plugs with the head stripped off?

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puregoldner (author) 4 years ago
Thank you for to everyone who answered back. Your advice is probably the reason I'm still here to respond to your posts. If I shouldnt hard wire It my self, is there a way to attach 28 bulbs (non christmas lights) that I can attach to a cord that plugs into a wall? I am thinking of getting length of wire and extending pig tail sockets in the arms, then twisting them together. Is this possible?

One other thing the bulbs will need to be cast in resin, I am thinking LEDs are best because they don't give off heat. The resin will have to be nonconductive

Look forward to hearing back
Considering how little you know about AC you may not want to do anything till you pick up a book that covers the electrical building codes for your area.

If you don't use the right wire you could start a fire if too much current is being drawn though it. If you try to wire in too many lights or just or just a few high power lights you could overload the wires in the fixture or the breaker in your house.

You will notice all light fixtures have a sticker on them telling you how big of a bulb it can handle. That is based on what the materials of the fixtures are made of. Since the lights give off heat and could melt or burn the materials of the fixture. Its also based on what the light socket and internal wire of the fixture is rated to handle. If you put too big of a light or wire too many lights together you could have too much current being drawn through the wires then what can be handled. All a good recipe for a fire. You will notice that the more lights a fixture has the small the bulb that fixture uses.

All of this is for safety. AC power is nothing to take lightly.
Absolutely right. If you understand as little as you appear to do, I would get a professional electrician to wire it for you.

+1 Education doesn't hurt anyone, but improper wiring can!
Small tip. Once you feel comfortable wiring the lights, look for old lamps that you can gut the light sockets out of instead of buying brand new ones. Keep a look out on the side of the road, or at garage sales.
-1 Oh, definitely NOT for hardwiring the chandelier...
To you side question - no. You need higher grade line for in wall wiring or you risk an electrical fire. Especially if you mean you are going to just splice the wire in. You need to consider the load on your fuse cox also. Just looking at the question makes me worry for your safety.
lemonie4 years ago
The lights need to be part of the design & build, can you show us a picture of the chandelier?