conductive -touch switch- on a lamp

[Sam]

hi folks,

my wife bought a tiffany lamp which has what she said was a touch
switch. the lamp has a chrome base. to turn lamp on you touch the lamp
base with your bare finger.even the lightest of touches will turn it
on. if you touch it again it will get brighter. another touch and it
will turn off.

however if you try to turn it on using your finger nail or if you
cover your finger in plastic wrap and try, it wont turn on no matter
how hard you press.

how does this switch work? i have a feeling that this is a pretty bad
idea for a house voltage electrical device.

Sam

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

Sam wrote:

hi folks,

my wife bought a tiffany lamp which has what she said was a touch
switch. the lamp has a chrome base. to turn lamp on you touch the lamp
base with your bare finger.even the lightest of touches will turn it
on. if you touch it again it will get brighter. another touch and it
will turn off.

however if you try to turn it on using your finger nail or if you
cover your finger in plastic wrap and try, it wont turn on no matter
how hard you press.

how does this switch work? i have a feeling that this is a pretty bad
idea for a house voltage electrical device.

Sam

It uses a simple touch switch that is isolated from the AC line. These
have been around for at least 20 years, with UL approval, in the United
States. It is also called a Capacitive switch. Use Google to look for
mor information, or check with a place that sells lamp parts.
--


Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida