Glow-in-the-dark LEDs

Talk Electrician Forum

Help Support Talk Electrician Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Feb 2, 2017
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Location
Lincolnshire
Hello Folks

This is my first post so please be gentle.

Over the past year I have been replacing standard lamps and energy-savers with LEDs throughout our house.

This problem emerged when I installed 12W dimmable LEDs, all B22 bases, in the four ceiling lights on our first floor - two bedrooms, bathroom and hall. The bathroom and one bedroom are one-way while the second bedroom is a two-way with a wall switch and a pull cord over the bed. The hall is a two-way with one switch at the head of the stairs and the other on the ground floor (please be patient - I think some of this detail might be important).

The problem is in the dark of night all four of these lamps glow faintly.

The one-way in the bedroom and the bath glow very, very faintly, the other bedroom and the hall slightly brighter. The really interesting bit is when I switch these two off from one particular switch rather than the other, they glow less brightly.

My first step was to replace the two-way pull cord with a new one. I started here because the old one didn't 'snap' very well. This replacement resulted in no change; the lamps still glowed.

Following this, I replaced the other three two-way wall switches one at a time with still no change.

I have absolutely no idea what is happening here. We have lived here for one year. The wiring throughout the house is perhaps 20-30 years old and seems to be in good working order. The ground fault system seems to function okay. Any checks I've made on earthing for power points, fixtures, etc. are okay.

The only other possibility I can think of is that on the ground floor, I have installed dimmers for four ceiling fixtures. All four of these dimmers snap to the off position - two rotate and two push. These all seem to work just fine with dimmible LEDs. I have no idea why this might contribute to the problem but never mind.

Although it's been many, many years since I worked as an electrician, in answer to a question some of you might ask: yes, I know how to wire a two-way properly (in American we called them three-ways - I've never been able to figure that one out).

Any helpful advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Regards

Bill

 
It may not be anything to do with the wiring being an issue. 

LED's can glow because of inductive coupling, may just require a snubber fitting across one of the light switches. 

 
Hello Guys

Many thanks for your prompt replies.

@Blue Duck: Yep - I've had problems in the past with cheap imports from a very big country that shall remain nameless. Some that were advertised to last for 20,000 hours failed in less than 500 hours. Since them I've paid more for any I buy and I've had no more problems..

@Rob. Great advice. Now if I just knew what a snubber fitting is I may be in business (I'm from America, remember, and I don't recall anything we called by that name).

All the best.

Regards

Bill. 

 
this happens quite  alot with LED. Becuase they need so litle voltage to glow, the induced voltages from other cables is enough to leave them faintly lit when turned off. By snubber, I think Rob means a capacitor?

 
Hello Binky

Based on a little research I did last night, it turns out there are all sorts of snubbers for all sorts of circuits. I think what I'm looking for is some kind of RC circuit to run in parallel with a switch in a 240v 50hz 13a domestic house lighting application.

However I couldn't find anything for the specific application I need and I don't have the knowledge or experience to build one from scratch.

Then I thought perhaps the nice folks at Maplin might be able to help but they have no snubbers of any kind in their online catalogue.

I shall keep looking.

In the meantime my dear wife, who hates electricity companies with a passion - she doesn't discriminate, though, she hates all public utility companies equally - is kept awake at night thinking about that little wheel whirring round and round in the meter as she gazes at the faint glow on the ceiling above her head.

Thanks for all your help.

Regards

Bill.

 
@Special Location: So far, so good. Now if I buy this suppressor from Maplin, exactly what do I do with it? According to the first reply to my original post, Rob, do I just wire it in parallel across one of the two-way switches?

Thanks for all your help so far.

Regards

Bill

 
Look at the Danlers one I linked to, it has the terminal designations written on it nice and clearly.

 
We've had this before on here ...... someone recommended the following , which I keep meaning to try .

On a 1 way circuit , fit a 2 way switch  ....make the switch wire common  &  feed on L1  ....then connect L2 to earth .

As the others have said , glowing in the dark seems to occur at one site and not another  .  I've fitted 100's of LED  X GU10  lamps and its never happened .  I 've been offered GU10's at half the cost of what I pay at the wholesaler's ...........wouldn't touch them to be honest .   I tend to stick with brands  that have proven their worth .

Scan0003.jpg

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Top