Anyone know why this capacitor was installed?

[Quba101]

I'm currently working in a building that was completed in 2006. All the lighting is switched by wall mounted PIR and these capacitors seem to be installed at every PIR connection behind a blank plate. The capacitor is connected between the switched line and N Just wondering if these were needed for the old lights as every light is LED now?

 

[mainline]

I'm currently working in a building that was completed in 2006. All the lighting is switched by wall mounted PIR and these capacitors seem to be installed at every PIR connection behind a blank plate. The capacitor is connected between the switched line and N Just wondering if these were needed for the old lights as every light is LED now? View attachment 117801

There was probably a relay, inductive load involved, so used a capacitor for induction suppression.

 

[loz2754]

Looks to me like it's being used as a snubber to prevent the LEDs from glowing even when the switch is off, due to the effect of capacitance in the cables.

 

[freddo]

Caps were also required when the lights were a small load to operate correctly with some 2 wire PIRs and timer switches that have no neutral connection. The timers current draw would be enough to make some fluorescent lights flicker etc.

 

[mainline]

Looks to me like it's being used as a snubber to prevent the LEDs from glowing even when the switch is off, due to the effect of capacitance in the cables.

The op said it’s leds now so I assume it wasn’t before

 

[loz2754]

The op said it’s leds now so I assume it wasn’t before

Hence the addition of the snubber.

 

[FastGenerations]

I'm currently working in a building that was completed in 2006. All the lighting is switched by wall mounted PIR and these capacitors seem to be installed at every PIR connection behind a blank plate. The capacitor is connected between the switched line and N Just wondering if these were needed for the old lights as every light is LED now? View attachment 117801

The capacitors installed between the switched line and neutral were likely added to prevent flickering or false triggering with older lighting systems, particularly with fluorescent or low-wattage bulbs. With your current LED lights, these capacitors might not be necessary. To check, you can disconnect one capacitor and see if the LED light operates correctly without flickering or false triggering. If everything works fine, you can consider removing them.

Hope this helps!

 

[Baddegg]

Have had the issue of led lamps still glowing gently when switched off, snubber worked a treat on more than one occasion