Light bulbs "housekeeper" and LED bulbs confidently entered our everyday life. There is hardly a house that does not have either a housekeeper or an LED lamp.
At the same time, problems appeared that did not exist before. I'm talking about the flickering of some light bulbs when the switch is off, or about a faint glow that is noticeable only in the dark. Some people are so frightened by this that they are forced to return to using conventional incandescent bulbs.
However, the problem is solvable and applicable to both housekeepers and LED bulbs.
There are only two reasons for this effect.
The first reason for the flashing LED light.
Perhaps this is the most common reason. If there is a backlight in the switch that controls the light, the LED light will flash with a 99% probability.
The meager current that passes through the light bulb in the off switch is capable of charging the electrolytic capacitor in the LED lamp start-up system, but this current is not enough to power the circuit in operating mode.
As a result, we observe periodic discharges of the capacitor, which are expressed in the blinking of the LEDs.
TWO ways to solve.
Solution one
Turn off the backlight on the switch. This is the easiest and fastest way to fix the problem. But, as you understand, the switch at night will now have to be searched by touch.
Solution two
If you do not want to remove the backlight, you will have to “conjure” at the place where the lamp is connected to the electrical wiring.
To do this, you just need a 100kΩ resistor with a power of 2W. It must be connected in parallel with the lamp, as illustrated in the diagram:
According to Kirchhoff's first law, a significant portion of the current that went only through the light bulb will now go through the resistor. Accordingly, the light bulb will get less. The infinite charge/discharge of the capacitor will stop and the diodes will stop flashing.
The second reason for the flashing light
If your switch does not have a built-in backlight, but the lamp still flashes, then the neutral wire “goes” through the switch, and the phase wire is constantly connected to the lamp.
How, you say, is the circuit closed? After all, the contact in the switch is open!
This is due to leaks that may be in a piece of cable from the lamp to the switch.
There are also two solutions.
The first is to swap the phase and neutral wires going to the lamp from the junction box.
The figure below shows an INCORRECT connection
The second - as well as in the previous case, build a 100 kOhm 2 W resistor into the lamp.
When adding a resistor to the lamp, it should be borne in mind that the resistor will consume power equal to 0.5 watts. If this is critical for you, consider the alternative option that I suggested in this article.