this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2026
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Because of some sad reasons I do need a 12V electric circuit at home. I use it mostly for a light. So I have a UPS with battery and 12V DC output. To make things not extremely ugly I got 12V led lamp with E27 base, so overall structure looked rather civil.
But at some moment the lamp started to illuminate too dim. It took a year or something I suppose, so it wasn't noticeable until some day I thought "Hey, I can't read anymore under this lamp".
So I took a multimeter and start investigation (I know nothing about electrics besides those cramps they told me in school 30 years ago). I have DC12V 10W 900 lumen lamp which is supposed to "eat" around 800mA. Measurement showed 90mA. Then I started to experiment and measure UPS, battery, different combinations of different modes...

And yes, the last thing I checked (out of frustration, really) was the resistance of the lampstand. 120 fucking Ohm. Oh...

Just disassemble, clean and assemble it back? Nah, cords were wielded in sockets and half-burned and screws are made of cheese. Completely unrepairable garbage.

And I am poor as fuck. The last problem I needed in my life is a new lampstand.

The dullest adventure ever...

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[–] RiderExMachina@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Right, Ohm’s Law says that Voltage / Resistance = Current. 12/120 = 100mA (thus your 90mA).

How hard would it be to cut the cord and socket out and replace them with standard off the shelf parts from the hardware store? You can generally get light cord and a bulb socket for relatively cheap (~$10), provided they fit your existing lamp

[–] username_1@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 week ago

How hard would it be to...

The ceramic socket for bulb is unrepairable in a normal way because of "cheese" screws. Of course I can solder it there...
Switch is just some crazy steel ribbon contraption that doesn't have any right to exist.

But overall this thing is so cheap and flimsy that it can't be repaired. Temporarily assembled? Yes. Fixed? No way.

Yeah the old cheese screw. Bastards.