Home Repair (alt.home.repair) For all homeowners and DIYers with many experienced tradesmen. Solve your toughest home fix-it problems.

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,134
Default Touch Sensitive Switch Turning Itself On

About five years ago I built a curio cabinet for my wife with two
internal puck lamps. The lamps are controlled by a small, round, dome
shaped touch switch on the back of the cabinet. The switch adjusts
from low, medium to high intensity with gentle touch. During the past
week or so I have noticed the lamps are turned onto the low intensity
without the switch being touched. We have experienced at least one
brief power interruption during this period.

Has anyone had experience with these types of switches doing this? I
am assuming there are no safety concerns.

RonB
  #2   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 960
Default Touch Sensitive Switch Turning Itself On


"RonB" wrote in message
...
About five years ago I built a curio cabinet for my wife with two
internal puck lamps. The lamps are controlled by a small, round, dome
shaped touch switch on the back of the cabinet. The switch adjusts
from low, medium to high intensity with gentle touch. During the past
week or so I have noticed the lamps are turned onto the low intensity
without the switch being touched. We have experienced at least one
brief power interruption during this period.

Has anyone had experience with these types of switches doing this? I
am assuming there are no safety concerns.

RonB


Power outages will do that. I have a lamp that does that. 1 outage goes to
low. 2 outages goes to medium. 3 outages goes to high. 4th outage will turn
it off. When I return home lamp shows how many outages. If lamp is OFF I had
4 outages OR had NONE. ww


  #3   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6,586
Default Touch Sensitive Switch Turning Itself On



RonB wrote:
About five years ago I built a curio cabinet for my wife with two
internal puck lamps. The lamps are controlled by a small, round, dome
shaped touch switch on the back of the cabinet. The switch adjusts
from low, medium to high intensity with gentle touch. During the past
week or so I have noticed the lamps are turned onto the low intensity
without the switch being touched. We have experienced at least one
brief power interruption during this period.

Has anyone had experience with these types of switches doing this? I
am assuming there are no safety concerns.

RonB

Hi,
Did you unplug the cord from the receptacle wait couple mins. and plug
back in? If not, try it.
  #4   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 679
Default Touch Sensitive Switch Turning Itself On

On May 5, 9:19*pm, RonB wrote:
About five years ago I built a curio cabinet for my wife with two
internal puck lamps. *The lamps are controlled by a small, round, dome
shaped touch switch on the back of the cabinet. The switch adjusts
from low, medium to high intensity with gentle touch. *During the past
week or so I have noticed the lamps are turned onto the low intensity
without the switch being touched. *We have experienced at least one
brief power interruption during this period.

Has anyone had experience with these types of switches doing this? *I
am assuming there are no safety concerns.

RonB


HUMIDITY MAY BE A FACTOR....I LIKE THEM, BUT I'D REMOVE IT...A SHORT
ANYWHERE NEAR THAT CIRCUIT MAY HAVE AFFECTED THE ELECTRONIC SWITCHES
INTERNAL COMPONENTS....A REGULAR DIMMER MAY BE BETTER.

TGITM
  #5   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,761
Default Touch Sensitive Switch Turning Itself On

On 5/5/2011 8:19 PM, RonB wrote:
About five years ago I built a curio cabinet for my wife with two
internal puck lamps. The lamps are controlled by a small, round, dome
shaped touch switch on the back of the cabinet. The switch adjusts
from low, medium to high intensity with gentle touch. During the past
week or so I have noticed the lamps are turned onto the low intensity
without the switch being touched. We have experienced at least one
brief power interruption during this period.

Has anyone had experience with these types of switches doing this? I
am assuming there are no safety concerns.

RonB


I once had a touch lamp that would come on whenever there was a power
burp. I would hear all the backup power supplies beeping their
complaints about the incoming power quality at which time I would
notice the touch lamp come on.

TDD


  #6   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,567
Default Touch Sensitive Switch Turning Itself On

On May 5, 9:19*pm, RonB wrote:
About five years ago I built a curio cabinet for my wife with two
internal puck lamps. *The lamps are controlled by a small, round, dome
shaped touch switch on the back of the cabinet. The switch adjusts
from low, medium to high intensity with gentle touch. *During the past
week or so I have noticed the lamps are turned onto the low intensity
without the switch being touched. *We have experienced at least one
brief power interruption during this period.

Has anyone had experience with these types of switches doing this? *I
am assuming there are no safety concerns.

RonB


The detection has to be pretty sensitive so disruptions in the supply
easily trip them. I'm not a fan myself ans we don't have any but
there's nothing wrong with them other than the occasional false trip.
  #7   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,134
Default Touch Sensitive Switch Turning Itself On

On May 6, 6:47*am, jamesgangnc wrote:
On May 5, 9:19*pm, RonB wrote:

About five years ago I built a curio cabinet for my wife with two
internal puck lamps. *The lamps are controlled by a small, round, dome
shaped touch switch on the back of the cabinet. The switch adjusts
from low, medium to high intensity with gentle touch. *During the past
week or so I have noticed the lamps are turned onto the low intensity
without the switch being touched. *We have experienced at least one
brief power interruption during this period.


Has anyone had experience with these types of switches doing this? *I
am assuming there are no safety concerns.


RonB


The detection has to be pretty sensitive so disruptions in the supply
easily trip them. *I'm not a fan myself ans we don't have any but
there's nothing wrong with them other than the occasional false trip.


I'm going to assume it was power interruptions or surge, and keep an
eye on it for a while. We live in a rural area where brief
occurrences happen now and then. The switch really doesn't get used
much unless we are looking at something in the display cabinet.

Thanks to all.

RonB
  #8   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 184
Default Touch Sensitive Switch Turning Itself On

RonB wrote:
About five years ago I built a curio cabinet for my wife with two
internal puck lamps. The lamps are controlled by a small, round, dome
shaped touch switch on the back of the cabinet. The switch adjusts
from low, medium to high intensity with gentle touch. During the past
week or so I have noticed the lamps are turned onto the low intensity
without the switch being touched. We have experienced at least one
brief power interruption during this period.

Has anyone had experience with these types of switches doing this? I
am assuming there are no safety concerns.

RonB


Apologies if I repeat myself but last fall one of the metal bodied end
table lamps I'd installed a touch swich in maybe ten years ago began to
turn off (from its highest intensity) without my touching it.

I noticed a couple of Box Elder bugs had made it inside the house again
and were occasionally seen near that lamp.

I couldn't believe that a bug that small had enough body capacitance to
trip the touch dimmer if it landed on the lamp body. And, I finally saw
one land there without affecting the dimmer.

I finally cought one of those damn bugs affecting the dimmer. It was
crawling up the brass bulb socket shell and when it reached the top one
of its front feet touched the top of the lamp bulb's screw base which
was just barely visible at the top of the socket shell.

So, what was happening was that the bug was creating a resistive path
between the metal lamp body and one side of the ac line. (Which side of
the line depended on which way the non polarized line cord was plugged
into the wall outlet.) And that was more than enough to trip the dimmer.

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.8*10e12 furlongs per fortnight.
  #9   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,149
Default Touch Sensitive Switch Turning Itself On

On 5/7/2011 3:51 PM, jeff_wisnia wrote:
RonB wrote:
About five years ago I built a curio cabinet for my wife with two
internal puck lamps. The lamps are controlled by a small, round, dome
shaped touch switch on the back of the cabinet. The switch adjusts
from low, medium to high intensity with gentle touch. During the past
week or so I have noticed the lamps are turned onto the low intensity
without the switch being touched. We have experienced at least one
brief power interruption during this period.

Has anyone had experience with these types of switches doing this? I
am assuming there are no safety concerns.

RonB


Apologies if I repeat myself but last fall one of the metal bodied end
table lamps I'd installed a touch swich in maybe ten years ago began to
turn off (from its highest intensity) without my touching it.

I noticed a couple of Box Elder bugs had made it inside the house again
and were occasionally seen near that lamp.

I couldn't believe that a bug that small had enough body capacitance to
trip the touch dimmer if it landed on the lamp body. And, I finally saw
one land there without affecting the dimmer.

I finally cought one of those damn bugs affecting the dimmer. It was
crawling up the brass bulb socket shell and when it reached the top one
of its front feet touched the top of the lamp bulb's screw base which
was just barely visible at the top of the socket shell.

So, what was happening was that the bug was creating a resistive path
between the metal lamp body and one side of the ac line. (Which side of
the line depended on which way the non polarized line cord was plugged
into the wall outlet.) And that was more than enough to trip the dimmer.

Jeff
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.8*10e12 furlongs per fortnight.

And nobody without your sig block would have had the patience,
curiosity, and expertise, to figger all that out.....

Good going. It is nice to know some people just can't let a mystery
remain unsolved.

--
aem sends....

  #10   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1
Default Touch Sensitive Switch Turning Itself On

I had the same issue with several touch switches turning on all the time. These were new switches installed for several under cabinet led lights in a remodeled kitchen. Two of the switches in particular seemed to come on nearly every morning, often multiple times after turning them off.

The supply wires leading to these switches ran through a return air chase for the furnace. My suspicion is that the air moving through the chase (which occurred more in the morning when the furnace would first come on) caused a bit of static around the wires.

What solved this problem for me was quite simple. I snapped a couple of ferrite core noise filters over the source wires going to the switches. You can pick these up pretty cheap (bag of 20 for under $10). I put two on each switch, just behind the switch itself, but one may have done it. The switch still functions normally, and now the lights don't come on multiple times every morning.



Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules

Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Cabinet Touch Sensitive Light Switch Activating Itself? RonB[_2_] Woodworking 8 May 7th 11 03:26 PM
Broken touch sensitive lamp Calvin UK diy 3 December 9th 08 09:29 PM
Touch Lights turning themselves on Invisible Man[_2_] UK diy 7 November 16th 08 10:44 AM
Feedback between CFL bulb and Touch Sensitive Lamp? [email protected] Home Repair 6 October 29th 07 02:32 PM
Touch sensitive Light switch for bathroom BigWallop UK diy 9 October 28th 03 07:38 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 03:14 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 DIYbanter.
The comments are property of their posters.
 

About Us

"It's about DIY & home improvement"