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feisar32

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Hi all

Hoping someone might be able to advise. I've got two sets of LED lighting this is affecting. One is the plinth LEDs I originally raised a thread for some months back; one is two LED wall lights.

The problem I have is that, when the lights are off, they flash briefly every ten seconds (in the case of the plinth LEDs) and every twenty(ish) seconds in the case of the farthest LEDs wall lamp. Both sets of lights are switched; the wall lamps are switched individually, and can be switched from the three-way switch nearest the door, or from a single switch under each lamp. The plinth LEDs are switched both via a presence detector, and can be overridden by a standard grid-switch module

When I did some Googling, there was a thread I found elsewhere that suggested "[..] you can usually check for a small voltage on the switched live wire. If the circuit has two-way switching, this voltage will be more apparent on one of the "off" configurations rather than the other. Adding a suppressor (or snubber) to the circuit between the switched live and the neutral will solve the problem".

My brother-in-law is an electrician, but he says he's never heard of suppressors or snubbers. I wondered whether this issue sounds familiar to any of you and if so, whether the suppressor or snubber is the correct solution?

When I Googled snubbers, what I got back as an example was something like a "Danlers Low Load Capacitor for Low Energy Lamps" ... would that be the right sort of thing ... ?

One other query as well, if I may: anyone know of any 24v LED strip with a 50mm cut-point ... ? Or is it only 12v strip that can be put at those intervals?

Thanks in advance ...
 
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The "problem" with LED lights is they take so little power to operate them, and even worse they often have the ability to charge up until they conduct (and flash) then repeating this. It only takes a small current, the sort you get from capacitive couple between conductors for a 2-way switch, to make this happen.

A snubber network is a resistor and capacitor originally intended to suppress arcing at switch or relay contacts, but now they are often used to provide an alternative path for the very low capacitive current. Basically you connect one in parallel with the LED light (i.e. from L to N at one light) and it (hopefully) keeps any stray current down. Here is an example:

 
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pc1966 said:
The "problem" with LED lights is they take so little power to operate them, and even worse they often have the ability to charge up until they conduct (and flash) then repeating this. It only takes a small current, the sort you get from capacitive couple between conductors for a 2-way switch, to make this happen.

A snubber network is a resistor and capacitor originally intended to suppress arcing at switch or relay contacts, but now they are often used to provide an alternative path for the very low capacitive current. Basically you connect one in parallel with the LED light (i.e. from L to N at one light) and it (hopefully) keeps any stray current down. Here is an example:

Click to expand...
That's really helpful, thank you ? Would I need one of those per light, or would that be one per circuit?
 
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feisar32 said:
Would I need one of those per light, or would that be one per circuit?
Click to expand...

We should probably describe it as 'one per separately-controlled lighting group.' as that does not technically constitute a circuit, but I am sure you have the right idea.
 
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Snubber available from Farnell, worked for me, fits neatly inside a Wago lighting box.
 

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@Mike Johnson's solution is very neat as a purpose-built unit, but for installation in an existing fitting, I recommend a type with insulated wire leadouts as per the link in post#2.

Any type with 0.1 - 0.22μF plus 100-120Ω is suitable electrically. The Rifa metallised paper types with that gold-coloured element in a clear plastic moulding ought to be of good quality. However the older examples of that brand (25+ years) have gained a poor reputation in the electronics industry for going up in a cloud of smoke. I tend to avoid them, perhaps unfairly, because of that experience.
 
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@Lucien Nunes its not a purpose built unit, it's just the normal Wago lighting box and it all fits in neatly, just happenstance really, its what I used to update an existing set of LED GU10 downlight fittings to stop them flashing, I don't know if the number is anything to do with it, but there are twelve of them and I had to put three of these in to achieve the result.
 
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Sure, I meant that you had purpose-built them for the downlighters during installation, but the OP wants to add to existing fittings hence probably easier with longer insulated leads. I can't see the capacitance of yours, I wonder what length of cable is in your switch runs to create the leakage?
 
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