Some good friends of ours are moving back to the mainland (grandchildren!) and have been downsizing in anticipation. They gave us this darling little table lamp, which I immediately latched on to for my bedside table. It’s perfect for when I have to turn on a light at 5am to take my daily dose of thyroid hormone replacement. It’s bright enough to see the tiny tablets, but doesn’t scorch my sleep-adjusted retinas or wake up HA.
It had an incandescent bulb in it which burned five or seven watts — unacceptable! I immediately replaced it with a half-watt LED bulb. All was well.
Then, at night, I noticed that the light didn’t turn completely off. It continues to emit a very faint glow.
The lamp is controlled by one of those inline roller switches on the cord. It’s old. What seems to have happened is that a small amount of dirt got into it, which has now become saturated with water from our high-humidity climate. A very small amount of current (I’m guessing about 0.00001 amp) can leak through it when it’s off. That wouldn’t be enough to make any visible light from an incandescent bulb, but those damnably-efficient LEDs can turn it into a few stray photons. It isn’t enough to light up the room at all, but it is enough to help me find the light’s switch in the dark. An accidental night light!
—2p