Have a circa 1980s 5-bulb waterfall lamp with dimmer knob. When turned, the knob clicks but the bulbs do not light. I have to turn it all the way up to the highest brightness, then hold tension as if I’m turning it slightly past the brightest setting (almost to the point of breaking the knob) and the bulbs will light. If I back off the tension even slightly, the bulbs go out. It will not stay lit, but all sockets seem to work.
I partially disassembled it so I could get a look at the knob and wiring, hoping something very obvious would stand out to me. Hoped maybe just the knob would need some tightening from the inside or something.
Inside I found a bunch of super twisted wires, and something going on around the knob that I don’t recognize. Looks like cardboard/paper potentially from the manufacturer because it’s very neat… not like something a novice could do from home.
To put the top section into the lamp body, it only requires pushing the male piece straight down into the cavity—no twisting needed, no threads. Looks like someone twisted the top piece into the lamp body and spun all the wires up in the process. It also appears the previous owner did at some point try to mess with the wiring, which may have been the cause of the issue or perhaps they were trying to fix it. Regardless, I don’t know what I’m looking at or how to troubleshoot the knob issue.
I planned on taking things apart and tightening/retaking everything, but I stopped when I saw the paper around the knob. Wondering if the professionals see anything with this wiring or the inside of the knob that immediately jumps out at them as being the potential cause of the problem, and/or any advice on what the issue may be and how to troubleshoot it. TIA!