Saving an Ikea Solbo Lamp

Trouble Made In Sweden

You know Ikea, of course. And how do you like them?

I have been an Ikea customer almost since they started in my country, and most of the time I've been rather satisfied with their price/performance ratio and their design. But it also happens from time to time that I'm not amused.

They sell a table lamp called Solbo (1st picture above) that is available, at the time of writing, since about four years at least. It is equipped with a low-voltage, 24 V DC LED bulb and a matching wall wart (which means it is safer than if it were operated directly from the mains, and therefor it is recommended for kids).

So, what do you expect me to do when a lightbulb burns out and stops working? Right: I open the lamp, remove the bulb, and go shopping for a replacement.

Hm. Unfortunately, wherever I asked, I was told this strange kind of LED bulb is not in stock (I apologize for not having a picture of this bulb available), and I got the same answer from Ikea's after sales service desk (!). Then I checked for the bulb type in Ikea's assembly instructions and found the 6-digit part number for this bulb (157314), as well as the identifier of its somewhat unusual, strange base (GUZ5.3 - the 2nd picture above shows the corresponding socket). An online search for this bulb resulted in - nothing at all. I then called up the Ikea homepage, searched for (and, with a lot of luck, found) the 'spare parts' section, and entered the part number there. The answer I got was: 'out of stock', followed by a different, 8-digit part number for the replacement's replacement (10068193). It said there that this replacement is guaranteed to work exactly like the original bulb. With a happy smile on my face I proceeded by entering this new part number. But the answer I got - surprise, surprise! - was: 'out of stock', followed by 'no replacement spare part found'. Smile gone.

I scratched my head - and proceeded to the online customer service chat. There I first talked to a chat bot that, of course, didn't have the vaguest notion of what I wanted. At least it forwarded me to a human chat partner. I asked them my question, was asked to enter my name and my email address, only to be thrown out of the chat - not only once, but twice!

While doing a somewhat deeper Google search some time later, I stumbled upon a two-year old Reddit thread mentioning exactly the same old problem - and even during this long time Ikea has not been able to find a solution, obviously!

I was, understandably, still less amused. Strangely enough, Ikea currently sells the Solbo lamp complete with a matching LED bulb. So I'm sure that somewhere out there bulbs for this lamp might be found, some goodwill assumed. Alas, it seems that Ikea cannot spare the required goodwill but point-blank refuse to sell replacement bulbs instead. It is, for obvious reasons, easier (and more profitable) for them to have the customer buy a complete, new lamp - which, btw, is exactly what a friendly lady at the Ikea service telephone recommended! When I asked her whether she was kidding, she said no, she was dead serious indeed!

For my part, however, it is completely out of the question to throw out a complete lamp, only because nobody is willing and able to supply a replacement bulb. Recycling is ok, but repairing, reusing or repurposing is much better - and preferred by us ecology-minded people.

So what does the tinkerer do? You guessed it - he tries to find a reasonable, not too complicated, and not too expensive solution (that also might be thought of as a 'workaround').

Solution Made In Switzerland

Before you start, some thoughts are required:

• First - You want to use an LED bulb that can be found easily and without a lengthy search. Fortunately, this isn't difficult. On the other hand, LED bulbs for a 24 V DC supply are rather unusual indeed and difficult to find, as our example shows. What you can find, however, are LED bulbs for 12 V AC (for 230 or 115 V AC as well, but these are not recommended for an application involving kids). Some of the 12 V LED bulbs can even be used with both an AC or DC supply. In my stock (aka junk box) there are several small 12 V AC LED bulbs and spotlight lamps, with a power consumption of e.g. 1.2, 1.8 or 3 W (3rd picture above); the original bulb had 3 W. The replacements may be a little less bright than the original bulb, but the somewhat reduced brightness is not a real problem for my application. Some experimentation might be necessary because the radiation pattern of the replacement bulb will be different from the one of the original bulb. The only condition that has to be met by the replacement bulb: it must have a power consumption of no more than 3 W. Even if it is true that LED bulbs produce much less heat than incandescent bulbs, they radiate some heat, and you don't want to damage (aka melt) the plastic lamp cover due to overheating.
• Second - Using a 12 V AC LED bulb means that it must not be operated with the original wall wart supplying 24 V, and DC, at that. Uhm, ok, yes, it might work - but only for a very short time, and then never again. Fortunately there are some old wall warts with a 12 V AC output in my junk box that go together well with the new LED bulb. It is important that the wall wart must be specified for your local mains voltage (either 230 or 115 V AC) - but you knew that already.
• And third - Since the new bulb has a different base, it doesn't fit into the lamp's original socket. Again, this is no real problem. Matching sockets for (in my case) a GU4 lamp base can be found at your friendly neigbourhood hardware store for little money (4th picture above).

To cut a long story short, here come the steps for converting ('saving') an Ikea Solbo lamp, using a standard LED bulb for which you will find replacements during the next 20 years at least - without having to deal with Ikea and their less-than-helpful or even non-existent after-sales service.

• A replacement 12 V AC LED bulb with no more than 3 W power consumption (e.g. with a GU4 base)
• A recycled/reused wall wart with a 12 V AC output - e.g. from an old Xmas decoration (a 12 V DC output might be ok, too, provided your LED bulb is specified for DC operation), able to supply a current of at least 250 mA (= 0.25 A)
• A replacement bulb socket matching the base of your new LED bulb (e.g. GU4)
• Some mounting hardware (M2.5 screws/washers/nuts) with a matching screwdriver
• A 2-pole terminal block
• Perhaps some heat shrink tube or electrical tape
• Perhaps some self-adhesive aluminum foil
• A DIN-standard loudspeaker plug (if the replacement wall wart has a matching socket)
• An awl
• A hand (or power) drill with a 2.5 mm or 3 mm drill bit
• A size 1 Phillips screwdriver
• A small flat-head screwdriver
• A wire cutter
• A soldering iron and some solder
• A permanent marker pen

• Unplug the original wall wart (1st picture above) from the wall outlet. Unplug the lamp cable at the original wall wart.
• Separate the top (the owl-shaped part) from the lamp's bottom by unscrewing the 3 Phillips screws below. Put the top part aside, together with the 3 screws.
• The lamp's bottom carries a cylindrical support (2nd picture above) onto which the bulb socket is mounted. This cylindrical support is attached with three latches to the lamp's bottom. Pry the latches open and pull the cylindrical support upwards, away from the bottom. (The original wall wart is also shown in this picture).
• Within the cylindrical support, the cable coming from the wall wart is connected to the two wires going to the bulb socket, using two crimp connectors (3rd picture above). Cut these wires.
• The bulb socket (4th picture above) is fixed to the cylindrical part with two Phillips screws. Unscrew them, pull the bulb socket upwards, out of the cylindrical support, and put the lamp's bottom, the bulb socket and the screws aside.

• The new bulb socket (1st picture above) has two holes for fixing it. You may want to fix the new bulb socket to the cylindrical support with two M2.5-size screws (or similar), mating nuts and washers for increased stability, rather than re-using the old screws.
• The mounting holes in the new bulb socket won't have the same distance as the ones in the old socket for sure. Therefor you have to drill two new, matching holes in the cylindrical support of the lamp; mark the desired hole positions with an awl before drilling. This way the drill bit can find its way easily rather than drifting off.
• Feed the two wires from the new bulb socket through the hole in the cylindrical support and use the two new screws to attach the bulb socket to the cylindrical support (2nd picture above).
• Connect the two wires from the new bulb socket to the cable coming from your (not exactly new, but re-purposed) 12 V AC wall wart - e.g. by soldering and insulating with heat shrink tube (or electrical tape), or by using a two-pole terminal block. Make sure that the terminal block fits into the rather narrow space below the cylindrical part (3rd picture above). You might even fix the terminal block with an additional M2.5 screw/washer/nut to the cylindrical support. Since we are dealing with AC now, there is no polarity to be observed.
• Make sure that the cable is guided through the labyrinth-like strain relief gadget inside the cylindrical support, as shown in the 3rd picture above. Otherwise, the cable might be pulled out of the terminal block should the lamp e.g. drop to the floor - and possibly produce a short circuit.

• The new bulb radiates its light sideways rather than axially. Therefor you may want to stick some self-adhesive aluminum foil to the lamp base and the cylindrical support, in order to get some more reflection in the upwards direction. I admit that it looks rather ugly the way I did it (using up some snippets I had), but it will be hidden within the lamp once it is assembled - and I don't know whether it is really necessary, but I like the idea.
• Double-check your wiring.
• Click the cylindrical support/bulb socket assembly into its place on the lamp base with the three latches (1st picture above).
• If your wall wart should have a DIN speaker socket, solder a matching plug (2nd picture above) to the connecting cable. The suggested wall wart has an AC output, so there is no polarity to be observed. Make sure that the cable has some kind of strain relief (such as a knot) within the plug's shell so that the solder joints are not under stress should someone pull the cable.

• Double-check your wiring again.
• If everyting looks fine it possibly is. So it's time for a first test.
• Insert the new LED bulb into the new socket. Connect the 'new' wall wart to the lamp and plug it into a wall outlet. Switch the cord switch on - the new bulb should illuminate now.
• If it remains dark, quickly switch everything off, unplug the wall wart, troubleshoot your wiring for mistakes, and correct them, if any.
• Next try :-)
• If everything is ok, you can attach the top of the lamp to your refurbished bottom part.
• Turn the lamp upside down and correct the identification label from '24 V DC' to '12 V AC' using a permanent marker, as shown above.
• Done!

• I found that - in my case and for my application - the new 3 W LED bulb was much too bright, so I stepped down to the 1.2 W LED bulb (that also is much cheaper and consumes less energy).
• I also realized too late that I should have kept the defective, original bulb, because its base might have been adapted to one of the replacement bulbs, rendering the installation of a new socket unnecessary.
• On a little side note here, I found out a bit later that Ikea was presented a design award for their Solbo lamp - which I fail to understand, considering the fact that no replacement LED bulbs have been available for several years now.