How to Build a Touch Lamp

A touch lamp seems almost magical. You touch the metal of the lamp, and the lamp lights. Touch it again, and the bulb brightens even without a three-way bulb in the lamp. The materials needed to create your own galvanic response touch lamp from scratch are too complex for the average do-it-yourselfer. The good news is there are kits on the market that make it a breeze to turn any lamp into a touch lamp in a matter of minutes.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Touch lamp kit Lamp with incandescent bulb

1. Buy a touch lamp kit at your local home improvement center, hardware store or lamp store. Check to see if the kit will work with the new energy-saving light bulbs; many brands won't.

2. Plug the special adapter you find in the touch lamp kit into a wall outlet near the lamp you want to make touch-sensitive. Plug the lamp into the special adapter wall-plug.

3. Connected to the special wall-plug adapter will be a gold-colored or silver-colored disk. The disk will be connected to the wall plug-in by a long wire. Set the disk wherever you want the touch switch for the lamp. You can mount the plate on a wall or set it on the table next to the lamp.

4. Make sure the lamp has the proper light bulb type (incandescent for most kits). Do not put in a three-way bulb.

5. Touch the gold- or silver-colored plate. The light should come on. Touch the plate again, and the light should get brighter. Touch it a third time, and the bulb should get brighter still. This is equivalent to turning your touch lamp into a three-way lamp without purchasing a three-way bulb. Touch the plate a fourth time to turn the lamp off.

Tips & Warnings

• Most touch lamp kits won't work with the new low-energy CFL bulbs. Check the package to make certain before purchasing. A standard 60 to 100 watt bulb automatically becomes a three-way (three-brightness) bulb when you use most touch lamp kits.
• Do not touch the touch pad when changing a light bulb since this could cause the bulb to burn out almost immediately. Do not hold your hand on a touch plate for more than a second or two since this could cause the bulb to burn out prematurely.