Which shade carrier should I use?

Some lampshades use a duplex ring fitter - that's a big ring near the top of the shade with an internal diameter of 11cm. These shades are installed onto table and floor lights using a shade carrier.

Lampshade carrier

Lampshade with a duplex ring fitter, installed on the shade carrier

The shade carrier is a metal frame that secures to the light's shade ring. The shade simply sits on top of the carrier, with gravity holding it in place.

Simple! Except...

Shade carriers are available in various heights. So which one should you choose?

Taller shade carriers position the shade higher, and shorter carriers lower the shade towards the lampholder.

Usually, the aim of the game when choosing the shade carrier height is to end up with your light bulb vertically centred in the middle of the shade. On the other hand, you might intentionally want a lower or higher position for your lampshade.

Choosing the appropriate height of shade carrier to position the bulb in the middle is easy with some basic measuring and a bit of simple maths. You'll need three measurements:

a:

The total height of the lampshade

The shade in our pictures is 250mm high

b:

The distance from the shade ring on the light fitting to the middle of the light bulb

For a GLS bulb like the one in our picture, that's probably about 75mm.

Note that we're not measuring to the top of the bulb, but to the centre of the source of light.

c:

The distance from the top of the shade to the duplex ring

For most lampshades, that's probably about 50mm, but larger lampshades often have a lower ring.

Armed with these three measurements, you can calculate the ideal shade carrier height:

Many manufacturers describe lampshades and carriers in inches. In our case, 150mm is roughly 6 inches, so for this table light and shade combination, a 6" shade carrier will position the light bulb in the middle of the shade.

Does the height of the shade carrier matter?

Yes, it does. The height of the shade carrier will determine the final look of your light and shade together. Here's a 410mm (16-inch) diameter shade on the same table light with four different carrier heights:

Bare table light

5-inch carrier

6-inch carrier

7-inch carrier

9-inch carrier

As you can see in these photos, the tallest shade carrier only just covers the lampholder with the shade as it's too tall. We'd suggest the 6-inch option, but 7 inches also works well with the dimensions of this table light and shade.

The final choice of shade carrier height is down to you, but our formula to position the bulb in the middle is a good starting point.

How to measure a shade carrier

Question: How tall is a 6-inch shade carrier? Answer - about 7 inches.

The height of a shade carrier is the height that it lifts the shade from the lampholder. This does not include the tallest parts of the carrier that go through the duplex ring on the shade.

This is a 6-inch shade carrier, despite it being about 7 inches at the tallest point.

Lampshade spider for using a duplex shade with a ceiling pendant

What is a lampshade spider?

A lampshade spider is an adapter to fit a shade with a duplex ring onto a ceiling pendant. The spider fits to the pendant's shade ring, and the duplex ring in the shade sits on the spider's legs.

Need more information?

If you need to know anything else about lampshade carriers, please contact My Green Lighting and we'll be happy to help. Alternatively, visit our showroom.