MK neon locator wiring

[Bobby10]

Have a few of these fitted in a house I bought. I have led bulbs fitted at top and bottom of stairs and 1 of them flickers then stays on when light is switches off. Had a look at wiring and it is connected to l1 and l2. Also in the bedrooms same thing but these are 1 way lighting so they are connected com and l1. Checked mk for wiring diagrams and this is the way they say it should be wired.

Did some reading up and there has been several mentions of them but no clear solution.

I would like to keep them as they are very useful for seeing light switch location in the dark. I would like to keep led bulbs as they are instant on and full brightness straight away.

There are a few people said that connecting the locator to l1 and earth solved the flickering. Or to com and earth. This would put a current into earth on lighting circuit though.

The cables are plastered into walls and wallpapered so running new cable not an option.

 

[bernardgreen]

The current that illuminates the neon when the lamps are OFF passes through the LEDs on its way to Neutral. This very small current plus current due to capacitive coupling between Live and Switched Live ( due to conductors being side by side in the cable ) is enough to charge up the LED driver with some energy. Enough to light the LED for brief flashes or, in some case continously lit when the switch is OFF.

Fitting a snubber across the LED lamp solves the problem in all but the worst cases as it provides a way for the current to the neon and capacitive coupling to bypass the LED lamp.

The snubber is a capacitor in series with a resistor and this can be purchased as a contact suppressor ( identical circuit )

A more convenient source of the contact supressor is Maplins

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/contact-suppressor-rg22y

This has a 0.1uF capacitor which is a bit of an over kill but better too large than too small.

There are other suppliers.

Read more: //www.diynot.com/diy/threads/leds-flash-very-so-often.415539/#ixzz4Bcrk6aoK

 

[ericmark]

This is the basic wiring diagram for a cheap LED lamp, R3 the 100kΩ resistor is there to make the LED's switch off quickly and to stop them lighting due to capacitive and inductive links in the wiring. Designs will vary and so will the resistor size so fit one make and it will work fine, another will come on dim, and a third will flash. Adding another capacitor or resistor across the lamp will stop the flashing etc, but swap the lamp and you could be doubling up on the drain. Our whole aim when moving to LED is to reduce the power used, little point if we install with the LED's devices which simply use power for no good reason. Be it a glow panel, a PIR, or a timer it is very easy to reach the point where control devices are using more than the lamp.
My son was looking at some LED lamps with Wifi seemed very good until he realised the Wifi bit would use more power than the lamp, better to simply leave the lamp on 24/7.
I think we all need to re-think with LED lamps exactly what we need and want, with my lamps swapping the lamp for a slightly larger one cured the problem no need to fit bits inside the lamp fitting.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

There are a few people said that connecting the locator to l1 and earth solved the flickering. Or to com and earth.

Do not do that.

 

[Bobby10]

Thanks for reply. I will fit the item you suggested. In the living room there is 2 led bulbs powered from 1 switch and these do not flicker or glow. It is only the bedrooms and stair that do it. All bulbs are philips led which are 60w equivalents. 9w I think.

 

[armstma1]

Just noticed this post as I had the same problem.

For info, an easier way (that I used) to cure the problem is to replace the switch wire with a 3 core and earth. Thus giving you a neutral at the switch to attach one of the neon cables to with a chocolate block.

Works perfect only downside being is the neon is permanently on but with light on you can't actually tell.

I know it wont suit everyone but I wired my house in conduit so it was easy to pull new switch wire through......hope this helps someone else out.