Bayonet light fitting 90° out of line?!

[hellopaul2]

Hello.
I recently replaced a light that was being very unreliable; it would only occasionally work at all, and sometimes I'd have to wobble the bulb a little to make it work. Anyway, I now have the light down, and I disassembled then reassembled it to make site all the connections were good... they are (I checked for continuity with a multi meter).
So I wired a plug to the cable, put a bulb in, plugged it in, and... nothing. Then I checked the bayonet contacts, and lo and behold, they do not make contact with the bulb. They are 90° out of whack. But the lamp unit has a couple of dimples to align the ceramic part that holds the spring-loaded pins, and the ceramic part has dimples to align a couple of bumps on the lamp holder part. So there is no way the thing can go together any other way.
So, basically, has anyone else come across anything like this before? What the hell is going on? Am I suddenly in a parallel universe where everything is rotated 90° apart from lightbulbs?!

I will upload some photos to show what I'm on about.

 

[hellopaul2]

 

[ban-all-sheds]

So, basically, has anyone else come across anything like this before?

Yes, I have, when I've been trying to assemble complete BC lamp holders from a box of random ceramic, bakelite and brass bits and pieces, and found that some combinations go together but the pins are 90° out of whack.

What the hell is going on?

It could be that someone made that lampholder from a selection of ceramic and brass parts that didn't match.

Am I suddenly in a parallel universe where everything is rotated 90° apart from lightbulbs?!

No - you're in a world where you just go and buy a new lamp holder, (and wonder why you didn't just do that in the first place ).

 

[hellopaul2]

Thanks, @ban-all-sheds. I suspected I'd need to get a new fitting. Unfortunately the usual suspects (Screwfix, Electric Center) only do the plastic jobs, but I suspect I know where I can buy one.

 

[DetlefSchmitz]

I found these people reasonable

www.lampspares.co.uk

 

[JohnW2]

I found these people reasonable www.lampspares.co.uk

I didn't know one could get spares for lamps (aka light bubs)

Kind Regards, John

 

[EFLImpudence]

D'oh. Wednesday afternoon again.

 

[JohnW2]

D'oh. Wednesday afternoon again.

Wednesdays are not special, it's the weekends which are - the whole weekend for 'discussions about words', and late on Friday and Saturday nights for some of the more 'unhelpful' posts by one person!

Kind Regards, John

 

[hellopaul2]

Oooh yes, lampspares has just what I need, thanks @DetlefSchmitz !

Not relevant to bulbs/lamps/electrics, but 'discussions about words': http://www.dictionary.com/e/basics-missing-from-english/

 

[EFLImpudence]

I would just like the present words used correctly - too late for the ones already corrupted.

In most languages, as here, "gender nuetral" (stupid phrase) would be an enormous undertaking.
E.g. referring to my daughter - she feeds his cat - because the cat is male, so you can't tell whose cat it is.