Rant: Lamps with inline switches

[Renate]

What were they thinking?

I have an Ikea 5W desk lamp that I paid good money for.
Mmm, actually, I got it out of someone's trash one morning walking down the street.
Still, that doesn't alter the case.

You have a desk lamp, but instead of having the power switch on the lamp, it's on the cord, somewhere down the back of the desk.
So to turn on/off the lamp you have to haul up the cable, much as a Maine lobsterman would haul up his lobster pots.
Eventually you'd find a crustacean encrusted switch which had cost the manufacturer about $0.01/thousand.

So, I finally bypassed the inline switch and installed a normal epoxy-sealed toggle switch in the base of the lamp.
Ok, the switch was only a Radio Shack (tm) switch.

Oh, yeah, the base is a steel shell on a plastic enclosure that is full of (literally) rocks!
Good luck drilling through that.

[Benta]

Are you for real?
You go dumpster diving, salvage a cheap IKEA lamp and then you have audacity to complain about it in the "Projects" section of this site?
Which parallel universe do you live in?

   

[Circlotron]

Adding the new switch was the project.

[Benta]

Adding the new switch was the project.

And the title: "Rant:..."

Project-wise: drilling a hole and mounting a switch: WOW!

[Gyro]

Well, as this is the projects section, let's make use of it!...

Did you ensure that the metalwork is grounded (I see only a 2 core cable) now that you've mounted a metal bodied switch to it? It looks to me as if it was a Class II double insulated product up to that point.

That's the reason that most lamps have in-line switches these days - it allows the double insulated cord to be continuous right through the housing and up into the insulated plastic lamp holder.

You need to re-work it with a plastic bodied mains switch and ensure that double insulation is maintained within the lamp base.


(Hey, my very own little rant!  )

[themadhippy]

you done it all wrong the correct way is https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/is-this-a-joke-remote-control-light-switch/

[floobydust]

I have five Ikea desk lights rescued from the garbage.
All had the same problem - 12VAC 20W halogen with aluminium crimp ring connectors at the elbow joints, that made bad connections with the copper wire, so they make sizzling sounds, arced and cut out, go dim etc. I replaced them with the usual copper crimp connectors and they work fine.

But mains-powered lights, I would be extra cautious and generally hate doing mods to them.
Example is the yank and tug test on the line cord, that it doesn't break wires to the switch loose. Mini-toggle switches... have to use heatshrink on the terminals and then the nut goes loose and the stupid switch spins around 

[Renate]

Project-wise: drilling a hole and mounting a switch: WOW!

Hey, some days I do even less than that.

I also replaced the felt base that I had to rip off to access the innards.
I replaced it with some nice 1/16" red rubber plumber's gasket material.
I glued it on with Loctite "Vinyl, Fabric, Plastic" glue which has become a recent favorite.
I glued a full square on then trimmed it with a carpet knife after it dried.

[Haenk]

Looks like you spent way more for your working time and parts than a new lamp would cost

(And yes, that's certainly an illegal and dangerous modification. A plastic switch is probably much safer...)

[Gyro]

This style of switch is appropriate for a lamp like that (original fitment on older double insulated lamps). All of the panel parts are plastic, it is properly approved for mains use, and has spring type maintenance free wire connections that won't allow the wires to come loose.

On the mechanical side, it has very small depth at the rear, so is easy to fit into a low height lamp base. Fitting is single hole, with a notch to prevent rotation....

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/122371310808

[Siwastaja]

Are you for real?
You go dumpster diving, salvage a cheap IKEA lamp and then you have audacity to complain about it in the "Projects" section of this site?
Which parallel universe do you live in?

   

No, you are the only one living in a parallel universe.

This is electronics design forum, and you totally can discuss quality of design regardless of whether the product was purchased or dived from dumpster. You don't even need to have the physical product, you can discuss the design based on photographs or seeing the product in store or somewhere else. And I totally agree that a desk lamp with a base should have the power switch in that base and definitely not in the cord where it's usually out of reach.

Obviously, you can't claim for "money back" from IKEA, but that isn't what's going on here.

You can do better. Use logic instead of emotion before attacking others.

[Terry Bites]

F**k Ikea. To bragg, I have recently achieved the goal of removing all IKEA items from my home. That includes poxy tea lights as well!
My next target is anything made of MDF.

I line switches are desined to fall down the back of whatever so you cant use them anyway

[Renate]

Looks like you spent way more for your working time and parts than a new lamp would cost

Unfortunately, I don't think there is a simpler English expression for "lavishing care on something which hardly merits it".

(And yes, that's certainly an illegal and dangerous modification. A plastic switch is probably much safer...)

I don't know about that. It uses a 12 V wall wart. How many of those or USB chargers do you have where the ends are exposed?

[SiliconWizard]

I also have a desk lamp with the power switch on the cable. Pretty annoying. It's likely just for a matter of cost reduction - I guess using a COTS power cable with integrated switch costs less than integrating a power switch at a more convenient position on the lamp itself, possibly just for a matter of production cost (fewer steps.) So, yet another example of industrial design with the mantra "who cares if the customers find that usable or not, as long as we can sell crap tons of it because it's cheap".

[Ian.M]

Looks like you spent way more for your working time and parts than a new lamp would cost

Unfortunately, I don't think there is a simpler English expression for "lavishing care on something which hardly merits it".

Trad Brit: "can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear"
Modern vernacular: "gilding a turd"

[Renate]

There's "polishing the cannon ball", but that's a bit of a different nuance.

[Gyro]

(And yes, that's certainly an illegal and dangerous modification. A plastic switch is probably much safer...)

I don't know about that. It uses a 12 V wall wart. How many of those or USB chargers do you have where the ends are exposed?

You could have saved us a lot of time if you had mentioned that earlier!

The thread really is a waste of time then.