Using a smart bulb in a table lamp—ways to lock the physical knob?

Making some changes to my lighting and I have a table lamp which I’d like to put a smart bulb in and control with a smart switch (it’s a hue bulb and aurora switch if it helps).

Obviously that setup fails if someone physically turns off the lamp, using the turn knob.

Without re-wiring the lamp, does anyone know of a way to lock the knob in the on position or something along those lines?

I tried just unscrewing the knob, but it leaves behind a tiny screw. Certainly would serve the purpose of stopping people from turning off the lamp! But not sure a little screw sticking out passes the wife test.

What I was thinking of would be something that could be placed over the knob itself to keep it from turning or something that could cover the screw left behind when removing the knob.

Or any other suggestions! I’m sure I’m not the first to want to do this. What solutions have others found?

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Great question! I’ve seen some conceptual drawings for this kind of babyproofing lock, but no actual devices. Hopefully someone else will know.

Meanwhile, I’m Just reposting my note from the other thread to keep everything together. :wink:

  1. In many cases, the turn knob can be removed altogether. On some lamps, it just unscrews.

  2. If you want to modify the lamp itself, that’s possible, but it’s not the kind of project I give advice for over the internet since it involves electrical work. Any repair shop or electrician can do this for you if you want.

  3. Sometimes the easiest way is to convert the existing switch to a cord switch and then either just hide the cord behind a piece of furniture or put a little plastic box around it. It’s the same idea as this, but smaller.

There are many styles of dumb inline cord switches available and again most repair shops can convert a table lamp to a cord switch for you if you don’t want to do it yourself. The new in-line switch should cost less than $10 for the part and maybe 30 minutes for the labor.


Sometimes if people have a lamp they love but the rotary knob becomes too hard to use they will convert it to an inline switch because it’s physically easier so it’s a fairly common modification. Back before I ever got into home automation I converted a lamp this way so my service dog could turn it on and off. :dog:

  1. if the turn knob is down by the base of the lamp, you can tape over it or put an extra piece over it, often the base from a different lamp. But don’t cover it with anything if it’s up inside the lampshade as it might create a fire hazard.

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Converting the lamp to a cord switch would be my preferred solution since it doesn’t change the aesthetics of the lamp and the switch is still available if you need it, but that’s just me.

This may not be relevant, but does the lamp have more than one brightness? Just as a warning in case it does, I’ve killed two Sylvania smart bulbs using them in a floor lamp with a low and high setting. The lamp was “always” on high, but they failed anyway. It’s possible that they were damaged on the occasions where someone switched the lamp off at the knob, and I had to flick through the settings to figure out which one was high, or that the voltage coming through the dimmer even on high was altered enough that it didn’t play nice with the internals on the bulbs. In both cases, after months of use they started behaving oddly - not producing the correct color, or turning off at random - and eventually stopped lighting altogether. I tested them again recently and both would initially light and respond to commands, but after a few minutes went dead again.

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Very good to keep in mind. This particular lamp only has on/off though. Thanks!

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