Which Wire is Hot on a Lamp Cord

On a lamp cord, you have one wire with smooth insulation and one with ribbed insulation. The hot wire connected to the narrow plug blade is hot and it has smooth insulation. The neutral wire connected to the wide plug blade has ribbed insulation.

#hotwire #lampwire #lampcord

[nancymobley]

Answered my question without having a bunch of other stuff that I didn't want to hear! To the point! Thank you!

[furndog]

Awesome! Not any more and not any less information. You are a perfect example of what ALL You tube tutorials should be.
Thanks, my friend!!

[squablow]

Found out exactly what I needed to know in less than a minute. Excellent video.

[klee]

Thank you SO VERY MUCH for a clear, succinct, and accurate instructional video.   


I successfully rewired a Tiffany style hanging ceiling lamp today following your guidance.  The ceramic socket is an extremely strange one and it was quite difficult to figure out as it came with no instructions and the wires not appropriately marked.  The "manufacturer" had a disconnected phone number on the packaging.  I found their REAL phone number and the person answering told me they don't know anything about wiring...they just buy in bulk from China and send it to Amazon to sell and to call Amazon to figure out how to install THIER product!  I called Amazon and they called the "manufacturer" and got the same runaround so Amazon did a returnless refund for me.  I was then tasked with trying to figure out what to do with it and utilizing your video was able to successfully install it with some modifications.   Because of the dumb as a box of rocks "manufacturer" it took far longer than it should have but with the help of your easy to follow video I got it done.  YAY!


I came up with a mental cheat sheet of acronyms to make it easier for me to remember:


NRFS (NeRFS, as a word to remember) = Neutral / Ribbed / Fat Plug / Silver Connector

HSTBW (HotSTraBWritten to remember) = Hot Wire / Smooth / Thin Plug / Brass Connector / Writing on wire

Of course my comment is probably far more confusing than your video but I wanted to share my little acronym mental cheat sheet and express my extreme appreciation for your video. 👍😎

[kdcraft]

Thanks for the short and sweet video. I know how to wire a lamp but always forget which is hot and which is not!

[TheOriginalFreak]

This must be as close to a perfect YouTube topic specific video as I have every found. Bravo!!!

[eblanco]

Thank you so much! I watched several other videos before yours and didn't get my answer.
Your video was short, clear and to the point. Exactly what i needed. Perfect!

[dragchute]

Socket .. three screws. New plug wire .. two wires. Any idea how many trips I made to the breaker panel? None! I watched your video and now my wife loves us both. Great lesson and thank you very much. I won't have to stack the dishwasher tonight.

[SirDiesAlot]

Thank you for getting to the point quickly

[joshmason]

The thinner one is the hot one…not very hard to remember!!
Quick and to the point, thanks man, great video!!

[tracycampbell]

Short and to the point, thank you. It's been quite a while since I've replaced a lamp socket. They used to be black and red.

[scroungehounds]

as per E Blanco - Short, precise, to the point

[anthonyjones]

this helped me install my light fixure .. thanks .. hope you continue to make video's

[TXHemi]

Wow! Quick and to the point, I like that.

[kellyredman]

Great video. Thank you. I am replacing a plug on a lamp.

[Tony-otym]

Perfect and exactly what I needed thank you for the quick explanation

[klee]

@Hjerte_Verke

Thank you so much for taking the time to write! That is very good information to have 🙂🌻

[ChrisCarpenter-de]

Also the common wire has the voltage rating written on it as the neutral does not.

[weekdys]

Also, the wire with lettering listing specifications, will also be the hit wire

[davehardy]

Can't help but wonder how in the world I managed to get through 62 years of life without knowing that? But I needed it today and there it was. Thank you so much for putting this out here for us electrical dummies.