This may be the dumbest question ever asked on here, but I haven't had any experience with AC stuff and am stumped. My wife has an old lamp that belonged to her grandmother, and is probably more than 70 years old. She cherishes it. Yesterday, the on-off switch in the socket broke, so I stopped by Home Depot and picked up a new socket. This morning I took the lamp apart and replaced the socket. The electric cord has two wires, as do most lamps. The socket has three terminals at the bottom. Two of them are connected through the switch. Turn the switch on and these two are connected. Turn the switch off and these two are not connected. The third terminal goes to the side of the socket -- the part that has the threads on it for the light bulb to screw into. The third terminal doesn't look like it is meant to have a wire connected to it, although there is a screw there. It seems to me that the two wires of the electrical cord should go to the two terminals that are connected through the switch. But when I wire it this way, the bulb does not come on. I don't really like fooling around with 110 volts AC stuff. I like 5 volts DC stuff a lot better. So figured that maybe I had better ask someone, even if it is considered a stupid question. I may get an answer out of pity. :-) Bill -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist