LED Lights have gone dim

[culley388]

Hi Folks,

Apologise if this has been raised before but cannot find anything related when I search.

We have had two LED lights fitted in our bedroom by an electrician to be used as reading lights etc.

The set came from B&Q and runs off the upstairs lighting circuit with an LED driver.

The lights have gone dim and I can find no reason why, I did read something about load on the circuit so turned off various trips and the lights then became bright again when all trips were switched back on but this only lasted a few hours before the lights dimmed again.

Can anyone offer me a reason why this has happened in 'laymans' terms before I get an electrician in to show me something potentially easy to fix for a big price!

Cheers Culley

 

[ericmark]

A white LED is around 3 volt so to run from the mains some electronics are required to get 230 vac to 3 vdc in the main it is current rather than voltage which is controlled and the electronics control this current.

It may be built into the bulb or as a separate unit but there is likely two reasons for an LED to become dim. One is the LED has been damaged likely through over current but they rarely recover the other is the controller has reduced the current.

Third is bad connection but normally the LED takes very little current and the controller will work from 150 ~ 250 vac.

So the most likely is something in the house is transmitting a signal which is telling the electronic unit to close down. When we use dimming switches there is hand shaking between the LED electronics and the switch and it would seem the electronic unit is seeing a signal it thinks is telling it to reduce output.

Have you any of these silly things?

or is a neighbour using them? To me they should be banned but sending LAN signals through the mains wires can effect other electronic equipment.

The fact that switching off and on again cured it for a time points to something being switched off then slowly re-booting.

 

[culley388]

We do not have any of those devices nor does our neighbour. Could it be that a dimmer switch for another light in the house is causing the signal you talk about Ericmark?
We have one fitted in the same room for the main light or am I misunderstanding what you mean?

Cheers Culley

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I think it unlikely that interference, either radio frequency or mains borne, is being interpreted by an LED driver as an instruction to reduce its output.

What's more likely is that you are the victim of the B&Q buyers' tendencies to scour the world for the cheapest stuff they can find.

Or a simple installation fault - are the drivers covered in loft insulation, for example?