I have a couple lamps that turn off/on and dim by just touching the base. After having to change the light bulb, they no longer repond to touching and now have no other way to turn them off/on except by using the electrical plug. Is it an easy repair?... thanks, Janet

 

"Touch lamps" operate (on/off) by capacitance from your body. It is this capacitance used in conjunction with capactively coupled field effect transistors (FETs) that operate the transistors as a tiny relay. The lamp has a certain amount of capacitance by itself, and your personal touch produces the remaining capacitance the lamp needs to fill-in what is required to operate the relay circuit.

It could very well be that your body's temperature or it's moisture content doesn't offer quite enough capacitance that the lamp's circuit requires. Try touching the lamp with a slightly damp hand to see if that might offer the additional capacitance needed. Also, you might want to try another light bulb. If you are using a lower wattage [replacement] light bulb the current draw through the capacitive transistor circuit may be too low to create the required capacitive difference (or potential) it needs.

If those tests (dampened hand and slightly higher wattage light bulb) doesn't work my quess is that the transistor circuit has failed. And if you find the circuit has failed there is really nothing you can reasonably do to repair it.

Kooter

 

a guy i know had a similar problem, and found this site on the net w/ replacement components for these lamps and also parts you can hook up to almost any lamp to be a touch lamp. still trying to get in touch with him to get the address. youcould try a google or dogpile search for touch lamps though.

 

Replace the touch module. You somehow zapped the module changing a lightbulb with the lamp plugged in.

 

the web address is touchnglow.com hope you find what you need.