Yard post light/outlet

[BlueMR2]

So, the house I bought has one of those lights on a post, with an extra power outlet, out in the yard.

The electrical outlet on it (which my wife uses to plug in the vacuum for cleaning out her car) is in disrepair.  I suspect at one time it had something to hold it in place, but now when you try to remove your plug, the entire socket pulls out of the post instead.  The socket appears to be plastic and I suspect it used to have tabs to hold it in place.  Wiring is still serviceable, just need the socket to stay in the post when we unplug cords.

Is there a standard for this type of thing?  Am I going to be able to walk into Home Depot and find one, or do I need to take measurements and start looking online for a specific size/model?

[paddedhat]

First step is to turn the power off at the breaker. Now test the outlet and light to make double sure that it's dead. Remove everything that's busted and pay attention to what wire went where. Now you can take a pic. of it, and post it here, or drag the broken bit and pieces off the a hardware store, or big box electrical department and get some help. Should be a cheap, easy fix. Good luck.

EDIT: forgot to add that, unless there is evidence that this outlet is protected by a GFCI breaker or receptacle on the circuit, it needs to be once you repair everything. A few pictures of the outlet, cover and box would help.

[BlueMR2]

OK, off to the big box I'll go when I get a chance.  :-)

It's not a GFCI.  This is an older house (60's), there's only one GFCI in the entire place (the outside circuit on the addition on the back of the garage).  I'm aware that you can only have one GFCI per circuit, so I'll have to verify they're not sharing of course.  However, can I "upgrade" to GFCI if I'm uncertain of the grounding?  The original wiring in this house is grounded the old box way, not directly on the sockets and switches (they don't even have ground lugs).

[sokoloff]

You can use a GFCI on a two-wire system. If you do, you're supposed to label downstream outlets with "no equipment ground" stickers (and "GFCI protected" as well). For a lamp outlet, I wouldn't worry about the stickers. You can also buy GFCI circuit breakers.

GFCI is a significant safety issue for the bathrooms and kitchen, IMO. Significant enough that I'd go do the retrofit at some point. You do not need to rewire to do it, so it's a relatively straightforward and easy DIY.

[CptCool]

I would definitely make it a GFCI plug if there isn't one upstream in the circuit since it's outside. It would be extremely easy to get it wet and do some damage, even if the post itself is made of plastic.