Omega D5500 Lamp Socket Replacement

[ic-racer]

One quirk of the D5500 voltage regulator circuit is that when the lamp socket gets oxidized and makes poor contact, the triac goes full on. This places the full 120v line voltage on the socket. Then it arks through the oxidation and fries the bulb before the regulator circuit can cut it back to 82v.

The good thing is that the lamp socket is still available and inexpensive. I don't recall but I think I got these from "Bulb Direct" or "Interlight" along with some new bulbs.

 

[ic-racer]

The socket is pretty easy to service. You can take off the back plate of the D5500 head. Some of the screws are sheet metal and some are machine screws. You can tell when one of these heads has been butchered when the threads are stripped when someone mixed up the screws. There are some cable ties that hold the inner wires away from the fan. I cut these then replaced them when I was finished. That gave a little more room to work.

 

[ic-racer]

In this case I cut the old wires and spliced the new ones in-line. I used heat shrink tubing to cover the solder joint.

 

[ic-racer]

Two easy to reach screws hold the socket in place.

 

[ic-racer]