What could be causing my touch lamps to come on by themselves?

Question

I am rewiring my house with major upgraded wire. I am installing #12 armorflex wiring and conforming to commercial code. Yes, I know most people use romex for houses, but I have seen plenty of attics and basements with bare wire from vermin and other problems... I prefer to do it this way.

My enigma: I have a floor lamp plugged into a bedroom outlet(plugged into a touch-lamp module). In the morning when I turn on my bedside lamp (plugged into an outlet on the same circuit, but across the room), the floor lamp comes on. On rare occasions, I will wake in the middle of the night to find the floor lamp on.

I did not have this happen before the upgrade. could this be an artifact caused by the metallic cover on the wire?

Has anyone heard of this before?

Answer 1

This is just a guess...a big guess. Touch modules work by static electricity jolts. This is why a close lightening bolt can activate them! I don't know code for amorflex, but check to see if the metal case is grounded properly AND continuously. My guess (again, a big guess) is the neutral is finding a path to the metal shield someplace besides at the fuse/breaker panel and your static touch is traveling along the metal shield.

One other thought...does the process work in reverse? Can you touch the floor lamp and turn on the bedside lamp? If not you may have slightly defective module at the bedside table. If it doesn't work in reverse, switch the touch sensors if you can. If the problem follows the module you have a module problem. If it stays at your bedside or the process works in reverse you may have a slight wiring connection problem. I say "slight" because static voltage goes into the tens of thousands to millions of volts (no amperage that's you it doesn't kill you). At that voltage, the charge pretty much goes where it wants. Fun problem.