Fused connector query

[Keeley621]

I wonder if someone could help me.

So I have a fuse socket which I have simply changed from white to chrome. There isn't much slack with the wires so is quite a tight fit. I've finally got it screwed into the wall....turnt on the electric, however, the red neon light is on but I havent switched the socket on yet. Why woukd the light be on but the socket isn't switched on?.

Baffled is a understatement.

 

[EFLImpudence]

There are no fused sockets.

So, likely a Fused Connector Unit - and likely the light is on because you have connected the IN/FEED/SUPPLY and OUT/LOAD wires the wrong way round.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

It sounds to me like your old 'plug' is itself an FCU but with a light in it. If this is the case, a flickering neon light is no big deal so there's no need to change the thing at all.

You used to be able to buy just the replacement neon and resistor, to replace a flickering / failed one, but as above - the flickering doesn't really matter.

 

[JohnD]

You used to be able to buy just the replacement neon and resistor, to replace a flickering / failed one, but as above - the flickering doesn't really matter.

you still can, but it's not easy.

I bought a couple of dozen on ebay not long ago.

Modern indicators tend to be LEDs and will probably last a lot longer.

 

[Alec_t]

You used to be able to buy just the replacement neon and resistor

You still can, from many sources.

 

[bernardgreen]

Modern indicators tend to be LEDs and will probably last a lot longer.

but a basic neon and resistor is almost certainly cheaper than a compact and reliable LED driver circuit.

 

[AdrianUK]

but a basic neon and resistor is almost certainly cheaper than a compact and reliable LED driver circuit.

Aren't these mutually exclusive terms?

It would seem, at the moment, that its not the LED itself that fails prematurely but the supply electronics.

I would suggest that the neon, with its simple dropper resistor, will survive an order of magnitude longer than any LED indicator if my experience with LED lamps are anything to go go by. I'd certainly be very surprised to get a 17 year life out of anything LED despite what the manufacturer may claim.

 

[JohnW2]

I would suggest that the neon, with its simple dropper resistor, will survive an order of magnitude longer than any LED indicator if my experience with LED lamps are anything to go go by. I'd certainly be very surprised to get a 17 year life out of anything LED despite what the manufacturer may claim.

I think it's probably less black and white than that. I think I've yet to come across any of those neon indicators which (if 'on' for most/all of the time, which is common) don't start glimmering/flashing (or dying completely) a lot earlier than 17 years - although that, of course, is only my personal experience.

Kind Regards, John

 

[bernardgreen]

I'd certainly be very surprised to get a 17 year life out of anything LED

I have some equipment with LED indicators that have been almost constantly lit for 40 years.

There is a massive difference between using an LED element for an indicator and using an LED element as a source of illumination.

LED elements used for illumination are often driven to the highest possible current level to get every last lumen out of them. This shortens the life of the element and ironically takes the element out of it's most efficient operating area. Double current does not mean double the light output.

 

[JohnW2]

I have some equipment with LED indicators that have been almost constantly lit for 40 years.

So have I - but I suspect that most/all of yours are, like mine, fed from an ELV DC source, with just a series resistor - which is very different from a situation in the LED is fed 'via some electronics' from 230V AC.

Unpleasant a thought though it may be , I would not be surprised if it came to pass that the LED elements fed through resistors from an ELV DC source outlived me by a good few decades

Kind Regards, John

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

but a basic neon and resistor is almost certainly cheaper than a compact and reliable LED driver circuit.

You don't need a driver, their are other ways to run an LED from the mains.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Aren't these mutually exclusive terms?

It would seem, at the moment, that its not the LED itself that fails prematurely but the supply electronics.

I would suggest that the neon, with its simple dropper resistor, will survive an order of magnitude longer than any LED indicator if my experience with LED lamps are anything to go go by. I'd certainly be very surprised to get a 17 year life out of anything LED despite what the manufacturer may claim.

As a simple indicator LED, I would expect a very much longer life. I must have hundreds of them around here, many from when LED's first appeared, but no failures. The only failures I have had, have been when I have over-run small LED's. LED's for lighting, are a different fish kettle.

 

[Alec_t]

As a simple indicator LED, I would expect a very much longer life.

My previous car had a 'security system active' LED which was on more or less continuously 24/7 and had faded considerably after about 8 years, which is consistent with typical rated lifetime.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

My previous car had a 'security system active' LED which was on more or less continuously 24/7 and had faded considerably after about 8 years, which is consistent with typical rated lifetime.

I would suggest it was maybe over-run, or dirty.

 

[CBW]

Think OP might have just wanted to upgrade to Chrome, as opposed to changing it because it was faulty/flickering.