Converting Ceiling Fan light from Intermediate(E17) to Medium base so you can use CFLs
by Tony Primerano on Jan.07, 2008, under green, Life, tech
Up until a few months ago, all of my bedroom ceiling fans used Compact Florescent bulbs (CFLs). Back in October I bought a Hampton Bay Ceiling fan for Dani’s room and when I installed the light fixture I noticed it had a different socket type. It used Intermediate base bulbs (also known as E17). These bulbs are rare and there is no CFL option. So I went back to Home Depot and sure enough all the manufacturers were starting to use these things. The Home Depot guy suspected it was a conspiracy between the ceiling fan companies and the bulb manufacturer. There is only a single brand of intermediate base bulbs at Home Depot so this made a little sense. They also cost as much as a CFL!
I had no desire to use these bulbs so I started looking into converting my base to use the standard medium base socket. I saw a medium base for a ceiling fan display model at Home Depot but they wouldn’t sell it to me and it was no longer going to be carried. The plot thickened. So I looked on the Lowes website and I found a medium base socket that I figured I could retrofit onto my base. While I was looking for the item at Lowes, I asked a representative of one of the lighting companies (who was restocking) about the intermediate bases and he said it was all part of the 2007 Energy Bill. Huh? How can using a base that doesn’t support CFLs be part of an energy bill? I googled around and it appears this was a loophole to get around the Bill. The bill required ceiling fan manufacturers to ship with CFLs, UNLESS they used candelabra or intermediate base bulbs.
Bastards.
Here is the conversion that I did tonight in about 15 minutes.
DISCLAIMER: Please do no do this unless you are experienced with electrical wiring. Follow these steps at your own risk. There may be typos so use common sense if you do this.
1) Unscrew the existing sockets and cut the wires. Keep track of the original wiring. Save the screws.
2) Remove the mount from the Lowes socket and attach it to the base with the screw from the intermediate base. Twist and bend to get it as close to center.
3) You’ll need to strip the existing wires that were not part of the intermediate bases.
4) Combine your whites and blacks and attach with a twist on electrical wire connector.
5) Reinstall
Since these sockets are bigger I needed to bend the socket a little before the light covers fit but overall the fixture looks great.
Pictures. yeah close ups are out of focus but hopefully helpful. 
This is the bottom of the intermediate bulb base. poor focus. This is where you will find the screw to remove it.
Here is how the medium base (lleft) compares to the intermediate base (right).
The new base had 2 screws. I removed them and used the screw from the intermediate base since I knew it fit the fixture.
Old Wiring.
New Wiring
And now I have CFL joy.
October 21st, 2009 on 5:26 pm
Mission accomplished, I was looking for this by almost 48 hours online & offline and finally found your blog, it took me less than 2 hours get done I change from e17 Intermediate socket base to e26 median base, Thanks Toni, and all who post here on the blog …
Urbano Mendoza
Houston, Tx.
http://mvpvirtual.gogvo.com
PD: I came back to show you my tutorial step by step how I doit.
Thank’s again goog job everyone…
February 16th, 2010 on 4:26 pm
Check out ProLighting.com you can get adapters to change the intermediate to candleobra
February 16th, 2010 on 4:28 pm
Check out ProLighting.com you can get adapters to change the intermediate to candelabra.
March 20th, 2010 on 11:24 pm
lol a number of the commentary bloggers put up are a bit spacey, now and then i think about whether they in actual fact read the subject matter and items before leaving your 2 cents or if perhaps they pretty much read the titles and write the initial thought that drifts into their heads. in any event, it is actually nice to look over keen commentary from time to time rather than the same, outdated blog vomit which i oftentimes see on the web i’m off to take up a few hands of facebook poker hasta la vista
April 17th, 2010 on 10:01 pm
Appreciation for that helpful post! Furthermore have got a web page and i am wanting to know, where can i acquire this kind of amazing theme similar to your own?
April 20th, 2010 on 8:23 pm
IKEA HAS E17 CFL’S
December 17th, 2010 on 10:29 am
Thank you thank you!!! I was almost in tears trying to find CFL replacements for my Hampton Bay, Home Depot-bought ceiling fan. I’m off to IKEA to look at the Sparsam bulbs ($7.99)since I’m intimidated by wiring. Sounds like they might work. If not, I’ll learn about wiring – by cracky!! Thanks again.
December 17th, 2010 on 2:30 pm
I just got back from Ikea after looking for CFL’s (E17) to replace the 60 W incandescents in my ceiling fan – no luck.
The maximum wattage Ikea had for an E17 CFL was 7 W (equivalent to 25 watts incandescent).
So, thanks again Tony for the instructions on conversion – I’ll be giving it a shot.
January 15th, 2011 on 10:01 am
i to bough a remode in lowes hook it up corretly to fan but didnt work. took back to lowes and found out that the battery that goes into the transmiter has a clear
coating on it that must be removed. nothing in the insrutions tell you this.
so make sure you check all batterys for coating
save yourself a lot of work
May 25th, 2011 on 4:10 pm
I love the government and their infinite wisdom, especially dealing with energy savings. One more reason to replace your bases this way instead of a converter: the converters fit between the base and the bulb, sometimes not allowing the original covering to fit over the bulb(s). This is usually found when a glass dome is placed under the bulbs.
March 26th, 2012 on 7:51 am
visit here
I’ll be sharing this with a few buddies who could be considering this. You’d be surprised how many individuals are in search of something like this. Thanks for posting this for us. read more
March 29th, 2012 on 7:21 pm
Going to give this a shot. I have been to every hardware and lighting store in the area and no one could provide as much information as you have.
Thanks.
April 19th, 2012 on 10:18 pm
Thanks for the info on the government regs. I have looked all over for a ceiling fan with standards bulbs and can’t find any. No wonder!! Will have to try your retrofit since I want to use standard bulbs. Thanks
June 2nd, 2012 on 6:06 pm
Great idea, it was an easy upgrade. Thanks.
September 27th, 2012 on 2:02 am
How about these?
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=e17+to+e27+adapter+&_trksid=p5197.c0.m627
September 28th, 2012 on 7:23 am
Hey Hung, Nice to see that the price of adapters has dropped a lot since i wrote this in 2008. That is certainly a safer option.
The only drawback would be that the bulbs would stick out a little more.
March 11th, 2013 on 3:26 pm
Wondering now what you think the best option would be. I have 4 ceiling fans that were already installed in our house that require the intermediate bulb. You can now purchase the CFLs in intermediate, but they are pricey. I could get adapters and medium base CFLs for about the same price (although then I would always be able to replace with the medium bulbs in the future instead of having to do the intermediate). Or I could try your conversion, but I’m not that handy with electrical
April 10th, 2013 on 7:59 am
Hilary, I would just buy the adapters off ebay now. See Hung’s link above. I suspect in 2 years you’ll be able to get LED bulbs for about $2. CFLs have been such a disapointment IMO.