flickering led lights

[brightspark]

I asked the question on voltimum ask an expert on flickering led lights and had no reply after 1 week and a few days these are the top bods for wiring design and products what hope .we will see

 

[rtbcomp]

Have they been installed for a while? Do all the lights flicker?

I've got one that strobes after it's been on for about 20 minutes. It's fairly old and a cheap one so due for replacement anyway. I've put it in the loo so it's never on for 20 mins anyway and it if it starts flickering it's telling me I've been in there for too long.

 

[addjunkie]

4 years ago i fitted led lights to the kitchen ceiling. Downlighters. 3 year warrenty, they have all now been replaced as they started flickering......then failed about 6 weeks later...

Least the replacments have replacable led bulbs.

 

[500e]

Was old psu on mine

 

[500e]

While on LEDs Shower cubical zone 0 or 1 if 0 where to buy

 

[brightspark]

robus shower rated downlights u can use 240v if there wired through an rcd

 

[J1nx]

Planned obsolescence, poor thermal dissipation kills the drivers I think

 

[dannyp]

LED lights can cause havoc with flickering issues, had a lot of problems with it at home, if you have a big group of identical units on a long cuircuit they can play up. i have my theorys on why it happens and i've managed to fix it here, i've mentioned my theorys before but they get poo pooed and genraly looked at like i'm an idiot.

but some experiments you can try, and note the effets from,

1) add in an extra resistive load tempoarily , a tungsten bulb is ideal
2) add in a larger tempoart supply with big cabel
3) wrap the supply cabel through a ferrite choke
4) conect in the primary side of a small transformer as close as possibe to the lights themselves in the region 20-50 VA

 

[zx9]

LED lights can cause havoc with flickering issues, had a lot of problems with it at home, if you have a big group of identical units on a long cuircuit they can play up. i have my theorys on why it happens and i've managed to fix it here, i've mentioned my theorys before but they get poo pooed and genraly looked at like i'm an idiot.

but some experiments you can try, and note the effets from,

1) add in an extra resistive load tempoarily , a tungsten bulb is ideal
2) add in a larger tempoart supply with big cabel
3) wrap the supply cabel through a ferrite choke
4) conect in the primary side of a small transformer as close as possibe to the lights themselves in the region 20-50 VA

I expect 1 or 4 would stop one of ours from flickering on when it is turned off, it is on a two way on the recently built loft conversion stair my other idea was to fit a suppressor as used on electric motors. I have not done any of the above, it was easier to replace the LED with a 40W tungsten, now flicker free.

 

[dannyp]

1 and 4 stop them flickerign due to leackage, all of them stop flickering when there on tho 1 and 4 are most effective and easyest

 

[wookie]

I've got one that strobes after it's been on for about 20 minutes.

I maybe wrong but they all strobe to some degree don't they ?

All the mains ones we've got strobe to some degree, but then I'm susceptible to flicker so I tend to notice it more than most people. Are there any mains LED units that don't flicker ?

 

[J1nx]

What flickering are we talking about? I was thinking one faulty lamp, replacing it with new fixes. Dannyp, I guess is talking about installation issues with multiple lamps?

 

[J1nx]

I maybe wrong but they all strobe to some degree don't they ?

All the mains ones we've got strobe to some degree, but then I'm susceptible to flicker so I tend to notice it more than most people. Are there any mains LED units that don't flicker ?

That flicker is the driver, current limiting designs can be flicker free but the voltage regulating is cheaper and easier I think. Upping the switching frequency can almost eliminate flicker also.

 

[zx9]

What flickering are we talking about? I was thinking one faulty lamp, replacing it with new fixes. Dannyp, I guess is talking about installation issues with multiple lamps?

The flicker I was talking about is: The pendent light is switched off on a two way circuit and randomly flickers on very brightly for a fraction of a second the time between flickers can be 1/4 hr or 2hrs truly random, does not depend on other in the house what else is on at 4 in the morning er.... fridge & freezer but at opposite sides of the house and two floors down. The install the light in question was on was only done three years ago, all tested and signed off by the builder's sparkie.
Swapping LED lamp with identical one from 1st floor landing and the problem stays with the 2nd floor fitting.
Any way like I said not too bothered as long as I can get a 40W tungsten lamp for that fitting I am happy.

 

[J1nx]

That an interesting fault, I’d definitely be too curious to leave it and just put a tungsten in.

 

[WorkshopChris]

The flicker I was talking about is: The pendent light is switched off on a two way circuit and randomly flickers on very brightly for a fraction of a second the time between flickers can be 1/4 hr or 2hrs truly random, does not depend on other in the house what else is on at 4 in the morning er.... fridge & freezer but at opposite sides of the house and two floors down. The install the light in question was on was only done three years ago, all tested and signed off by the builder's sparkie.
Swapping LED lamp with identical one from 1st floor landing and the problem stays with the 2nd floor fitting.
Any way like I said not too bothered as long as I can get a 40W tungsten lamp for that fitting I am happy.

95% of problems like this come down to induced voltage caused where the cable runs are all bunched together as they get closer to the consumer unit end of the installation. This voltage varies depending on loading and slowly charges the capacitors in the led fitting.

 

[rtbcomp]

I maybe wrong but they all strobe to some degree don't they ?

All the mains ones we've got strobe to some degree, but then I'm susceptible to flicker so I tend to notice it more than most people. Are there any mains LED units that don't flicker ?

This strobing looks about half the mains frequency - I suspect an arm of bridge rectifier or smoothing capacitor may have gone down.

 

[normspanners]

I suspect an arm of bridge rectifier

Brunel ---------now he was a bridge rectifier wasnt he ?

 

[normspanners]

95% of problems like this come down to induced voltage caused where the cable runs are all bunched together as they get closer to the consumer unit end of the installation. This voltage varies depending on loading and slowly charges the capacitors in the led fitting.

This is a similar thing to some pirs that cause flicker ----- now, we should differentiate between a ' freq flicker' and 'flashing on' ------just now and again? some pirs cause flashing of led every few seconds/ minutes due to the pir using the 'normal' filament bulb harmlessly to find a neutral connection I think, and that is caused by exactly what chris is speaking of, the caps slowly charging then suddenly discharging through the led to release energy.
here they speak of both ???https://community.screwfix.com/threads/led-10w-floodlight-plus-seperate-pir.140439/