How To Make A Solar Light Chandelier
Matt and I received this outdoor candelabra chandelier as an engagement present (so, that makes it about 8 1/2 years old). We used it a couple of times, but after having to scrape melted candle off our back deck, I pulled it down and stashed it in the garage. Fast forward eight or so years to last Wednesday when Klunkers and I passed our neighbor’s front porch down the street.
Talk about a light bulb moment! Or, rather, a solar light moment. From this distance, I immediately knew that I was going to upcycle my loyal and trusty candle chandelier into a solar one. Thank goodness I held on to it. 1: after liberating our stored chandelier, I dusted and hung it up to be painted. Here, I used a cardboard box for a paint shelter, but there are also reusable shelter tents for DIY enthusiasts. The before, before painting.
2: because it would be out in the elements, I wanted the new paint to really hang on, so I primed it with white spray primer. 3: using my new best DIY bud, the HomeRight Finish Max Sprayer, I easily covered the primed chandelier, giving it a wonderful sheen and even coat.
Note: we used Gliddon’s “Lagoon” paint color. Painted with HomeRight Fiinish Max Sprayer. 4: I removed the stakes from eight solar path lights, then hot glued the tops to the candle holders. Place hot glue around the base of the solar light. UPDATE: instead of hot glue, it’s recommended to use Gorilla Glue or marine sealant. These are weather-resistant adhesives that will yield long-lasting results. Hot glue solar lights onto candle holders. What do you think, Solar lights charging by day. Solar chandelier day picnic. Romantic solar lit picnic. If you’d like, check out our refurbished heirloom wicker chair using the Finish Max Sprayer. Have you used solar path lights in a fun and unusual way, Tell us about it!
Then attach the bottom 12” tube to the bottom of the lamp tee and the top 12” pipe to the top of the lamp tee. Attach the third lamp tee to the top 12” pipe and screw on the nut cap on top of the tee. You’ve now got a fully wired lamp structure - except for the light sockets, of course. Now that your lamp is fully wired, you just need to attach your light sockets to the strands of wire sticking out of each lamp arm. Your light sockets should have silver and bronze-colored terminals on the bottom.
The silver terminal is for the NEUTRAL strand of wire and the bronze terminal is for the POSITIVE strand of wire. Start with the first lamp arm. Unscrew the silver screw on the socket until it’s just barely attached. Then feed the NEUTRAL strand up through that little safety arm ring thing at the bottom of the light socket and to the silver terminal.
Depending on what type of socket you have, you’ve got two choices here. If your socket has a gap under each terminal, you can shove the wire into that and then tighten the screw to mash the terminal plate down onto the wire. If you don’t have a “hole” to stick the wire, you can just place your wire on top of the terminal and then tighten the screw on top of it to hold the connection that way.
Just make sure that as much of the wire is touching the terminal as possible when you do this, otherwise your lights may flicker. When that’s done, repeat this process for the bronze terminal and POSITIVE strand of wire. Congratulations, your socket is now wired! Now all you need to do is wrap electrical tape around the bottom of the socket to keep the connection secure and any exposed wire insulated against the metal of the lamp arm.
Then place the socket in the lamp arm and fasten it into place by using Loctite super glue to attach the socket to the metal and then wrapping electrical tape around the socket and the top of the metal coupler. I know what you’re thinking and no, this isn’t the prettiest way to execute the assembly. Since I can’t afford to have custom parts made, though, it’s the best I could come up with and it looks pretty neat with the raw black pipe - plus it’s very safe.
