As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/
Options
Touch lamp + fluorescent bulb = :( ?
KalTorak
One way or another, they all end up inthe Undercity.Registered User regular
One way or another, they all end up inthe Undercity.Registered User regular
I have a standing touch lamp (the kind made of metal that you just touch anywhere to turn it on) that cycles through three grades of brightness and off as you touch it. A few days ago the three-way (incandescent 50w-100w-150w) bulb blew out when I turned on the lamp, and today I replaced it with an equivalent 3-way fluorescent bulb. Now the lamp doesn't respond to touch at all - it's just on at full brightness when plugged in. Is there something wrong with the lamp, or do these kinds of lamps just not work with fluorescent bulbs?
KalTorak on
0
This discussion has been closed.
Posts
Edit: Totally missed that you used a 3-way CFL. Maybe your touch light works on a really strange 3-way dimmer switch that isn't working with that specific type of bulb. I bet if you bought a regular 3-way tungsten bulb it would probably still work. I know the CFL bulbs, despite having a few years under their belts, are still a bit touchy.
Which has nearly the same name as the one I got - Philips Marathon Energy Saving 3-way. Except mine isn't of the twisty design - it's more of a rectangle, made of three separate loops. It looks like one of the top two here:
Although it does say to not use it with a dimmer on the back (in tiny print). Maybe touch lamps work like dimmers instead of 3-way switch lamps, which seem to have separate circuits? I'm all confused now - not sure whether to buy a new lamp or a different bulb, or which kind. Maybe i'll just get a new bulb like the old one i had. I was all excited to get a snazzy fluorescent one tho
Yeah, the touch lamps are slightly different. They control the dimmer by controlling the flow of electricity. I'm not a hundred percent certain how the 3-way CFLs are different though. I've used a regular bulb in a three-way lamp before, and it turned on at full brightness, but had a sort of high frequency flickering at the lowest setting. The three-way CFLs may simply have some kind of jury-rigging to make them work better. I'm not sure.
It's also possible you could just have a bad bulb. I had a CFL burn out after a couple of days, and it turned out it was just a bad bulb. I replaced it with another, and it's been working ever since.
This. Many (most?) touch lamps like you describe don't actually work in the same way as a typical 3 way lamp. They just work on a gradual dimmer with 3 steps. This is most likely the type of lamp that you have (as mentioned you should be able to test it by just putting in a regular non 3-way incandescent bulb and see if it still has different brightnesses when you touch the lamp. CFL bulbs don't work on dimmers.
You can probably get a touch lamp that will operate as a typical 3-way lamp that should work with a 3-way CFL, but I'm not sure where to get one like that. Or you go back to incandescent for that light.