I have a swag style pendant lamp that I want to hard wire into the ceiling. I cut the plug off the lamp cord and wired it directly to the neutral and hot wires in the ceiling recess. I made sure the neutral and hot wires went to the corresponding terminals in the lamp socket. There is a ground wire in the ceiling recess, I have not touched this as my wiring does not have a ground and I am not sure what to do with it.
Anyway, when I turn the light on nothing happens. I can confirm the hot wire is energized as my live wire detector beeps when it is next to it. It beeps all the way down to the lamp holder.
The lamp holder appears to be wired correctly, it has power to it and a fresh bulb but nothing happens.
I've never wired anything like this before so it's entirely possible I've messed something up or misunderstood something fundamental.
Edit: I should mention when I first wired this up I had live and neutral reversed in the lamp socket and got a short when I turned it on. I don't think the fuse is blown because I get power and I changed the bulb to make sure the bulb was not blown either.
Best Answer
This is assumes we're talking a screw in bulb socket like a medium base A26. You can adapt the below for other socket types.
The first thing to do is test the socket itself. Best way to do this is to use a multi-meter set to AC and an appropriate voltage setting for your supply voltage. Using the test leads, touch the bottom pin and the metal of the base exterior (the part the bulb screws into). It should read your supply voltage. If it does not then there is an issue with the socket itself. If it reads the correct voltage, either your bulbs are bad or they are not making contact with the socket. With the power off, try using a screw driver to gently lift the bottom pin up a bit and then try your bulb again.