Hi all. When I was getting ready to put the christmas lights on the tree, and was making sure they were all working, I realized that the outlet we always have used wasn't working properly. DH bought a new socket ( was a "childproof" one). When he had trouble installing that one, he found a (hopefully) unused older one in our electrical stuff in the utility room. But....he discovered that the wires to be connected to it were also smaller than what had previously gone into the socket.

The question we have is: Is this socket different because it's about 53 years old, or is it because of what it is used for? (outside flood lights and door lights). Actually....he could have tried to attach the original thicker wire to the other sockets he tried.....but I felt it might not be good.

He said that the original socket wire has something like 12 gauge wire and the wire needed for the new sockets was about 15 gauge.

I'm sorry if this is confusing. Bottom line: Why is the original socket wiring larger than what a newer socket might need?

Again, please forgive me if I'm not making sense.

Thanks for your help!