Lighting, Light Fixtures, Ceiling and Exhaust Fans - Fluorescent lamp causes gremlins in touch lamps
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sbarnhar
03-16-06, 09:38 AM
Hi,
My daughter's room has 3 touch lamps in it - two that are 3-way lamps that you touch to turn on/off/dim, and one that is a string of Christmas lights in a tree that plugs into a touch on/off switch (which plugs into the wall). All of these lamps are on the same circuit in the house. They have all acted normally - turning them on/off and/or dimming them works as expected, and they don't interfere with each other.
Now I have tried to add a normal fluorescent desk lamp. It has just a normal on/off switch, and the lamp is made of metal. When turning the fluorescent on/off, it causes the touch lamps to go crazy - either turning them on/off, or cycling to the next position for the 3-way lamps. Also, at least a couple of times, just touching the metal base of the fluorescent lamp (while it was on) has caused the 3-way touch lamps to cycle to their next position.
I have also tried replacing the bulb in the fluorescent, and that didn't make any difference.
Does anybody know what is happening here? Also, is there any way to fix this so they can all co-exist? I don't have the option of moving any of them to another circuit, w/o getting a new circuit added to the house.
I apologize if this is "Lighting 101" - I have googled and searched this forum, and haven't seen anything about this.
Thanks for any help!
Scott
My daughter's room has 3 touch lamps in it - two that are 3-way lamps that you touch to turn on/off/dim, and one that is a string of Christmas lights in a tree that plugs into a touch on/off switch (which plugs into the wall). All of these lamps are on the same circuit in the house. They have all acted normally - turning them on/off and/or dimming them works as expected, and they don't interfere with each other.
Now I have tried to add a normal fluorescent desk lamp. It has just a normal on/off switch, and the lamp is made of metal. When turning the fluorescent on/off, it causes the touch lamps to go crazy - either turning them on/off, or cycling to the next position for the 3-way lamps. Also, at least a couple of times, just touching the metal base of the fluorescent lamp (while it was on) has caused the 3-way touch lamps to cycle to their next position.
I have also tried replacing the bulb in the fluorescent, and that didn't make any difference.
Does anybody know what is happening here? Also, is there any way to fix this so they can all co-exist? I don't have the option of moving any of them to another circuit, w/o getting a new circuit added to the house.
I apologize if this is "Lighting 101" - I have googled and searched this forum, and haven't seen anything about this.
Thanks for any help!
Scott
classicsat
03-16-06, 04:44 PM
EMI/RFI from the flourescent fixture is interfering with the touch devices.