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I have just fitted a new touch-sensitive switch into the base of a bedside lamp after the old one packed up. It's a Chinese made product with a CE mark. It's the second time I've done this replacement since the original unit failed. My wife loves the lamp, so the aim is to keep it going. It is of the type that has three positions of brightness. I'm posting because I thought, after wiring it up, that I would test the voltage and current present on the touch element of the switch that connects to the conductive metal body of the lamp. The voltage is 100v, which seemed fine, providing the current is very small. However, when I ran my DC multimeter from the lamp body (red terminal of multimeter) to an earth point (black probe, the metal kitchen sink), the current reading was 120mA.

I googled this and websites repeatedly warn that current at this level, ie, 0.12A, can be lethal. Since I do not know what the current was on the original lamp from metal body to ground, I can't compare. Does anyone possess one of these bedside lamps and could similarly measure the current from the metal body to earth? Doing so, with the one I have, activates the light perfectly to the three different levels. I would be very grateful if anyone is able to perform this measurement, using a meter set to DC and on the larger mA range.

Equally, if anyone can shed light on what is going on, I'd be grateful. Obviously there has to be some current for the lamp to work, but I would have assumed it would be very much lower, perhaps in the order of microamps for safety. There is a dearth of reliable material online about the operation of these lamps. I realise that running the test to the plumbing means I had an earth with far less resistance than otherwise would be the case, so one would expect a larger reading, however, that would make it a risky device in the event of someone touching with wet hands etc.

thanks in advance

Foreign countries often make things that "work" at a cheap price, the only way to do this is cheap labour and poor quality components.

oh, and the CE mark, it's true, it was a Chinese Export.

I would have expected the metal body of the lamp to be earthed and started with a continuity/ohms reading between the body of the lamp and the earth pin on the plug.

If there was 120 mA to earth my RCBO would trip, I wonder if it is messing up you multi-meter, I remember measuring the current used by a 2 meter radio on transmit, showed 300 amp, believe my there was no way 300 amp could go through a 10 amp fuse, the RF was messing up the AVO and yes an actually auto electricians AVO heap of rubbish, did same with a fluke, and readings were as expected.