Flickering downlights

[Murdoch]

To be clear the flickering occurs when the lights are on. Will a snubber work with this as everthing i read about snubbers is to solve flickering when lights are switched off.

Are you not going to answer my questions?

 

[ProDave]

I asked earlier about heating. Our house is heated with an air source heat pump and sometimes at start up the downlights flicker for a few seconds when the compressor starts up (in spite of it being an inverter driven soft start compressor)

I suspect something else close to you has such a large load with a high start up surge causing a fluctuation in supply voltage. There is a reason the DNO now ask if there are any heat pumps or similar high startup current loads when requesting a new supply. Some LED lights are more susceptible to flicker due to fluctuating voltage than others.

 

[stunner]

?

No heavy industry near by.
Neighbours not experiencing it.
Not happening with other fittings although some cheap led bayonet lamps were fitted to batten holders in cupboards and they slightly flickered. They were changed to phillips lamps and that solved it so assumed cheap lamps..

 

[Geoff1946]

So cheap lamps which flickered causing interference with other lamps on the same circuit?

 

[MikeJhn]

A snubber will work with the lights on, see post 16.

 

[Murdoch]

I think you need to replace one or two of the Aurora lights with good old fashioned down lights with changeable bulbs and see if that one performs any differently

I’ve seen some odd results where led drivers can affect other lamps on the circuits

 

[stunner]

A snubber will work with the lights on, see post 16.

Ok
Will try snubber. Where do i purchase correct one from and where/how on circuit do i connect it? Do i need 1 per circuit or 1 o every bank of lights?
Thanks

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

HI
never seen this issue in 35years in the trade and wondered if anybody has any idears.
The property is a new build and the installation fitted by myself. We have 26 Aurora cx7 downlights on 3 seperate circuits and controlled by various switching configurations. All dimmer switches are Varilight V- pro modules and the consumer unit is the new Click Elusian split load board with SPD.
The lights flickers very randomly sometimes not for a day or 2. I have checked everthing. No loose connections. Aurora have sent new fittings which i have fitted. I've changed the dimmer modules but the problem is still there. Has anyone got any idear what this could be or has any body seen this before? I've now hit a wall as to what to do next.
Thanks

I have to say I am surprised you haven't encountered problems with integrated LED+Driver downlights in 35years?
Unless it is something a customer has bought themselves, I stopped fitting integrated units years ago. (irrespective of brand).

I will only buy downlights (230v or 12v) with removable lamps, as when they fail, (not if), it is just a major pain in the rear having to replace a whole fitting.. (done quite a few jobs replacing downlights other electricians have fitted, but who then became uncontactable by the customer.)

And if you encounter any weird symptoms such as you are getting, doing fault finding investigations is so much easier if you can just replace remove or swap lamps around to see if the fault moves..

Since going self employed 24 years ago, I try to be selective in the products I supply and fit..
Keeping a "How easy are these to maintain if they go faulty mindset"..

And three key points since LED's have become the norm are:-
1) LEDs and Dimmer's are a pain in bum..

2) LED's and some other devices can also be a paint in the bum...

3) The more all singing and dancing your LED's are.. (e.g. dimmable, colour change and/or colour temperature selective etc..)
the more chance of a bigger pain in the bum..

I cannot offer any magic solutions...
But I would not rule out the possibility that your particular choice of light fitting are simply not 100% compatible with the environment they are installed in!

Even the Auroa website...
https://auroralighting.com/gb/trade/ProductDetail/AU-CX7

states a disclaimer about the sensitivity of LED's with products such as extractor fans...

Please Note: We do not recommend mixing LED's circuits with products such as extractor fans.This is due to the sensitive nature of LED's and is not product specific.

I wish you well with your investigations...
and do let us know if you manage to sort it.

 

[peterspurs]

Still sounds like a loose connection issue somewhere start again and recheck

 

[MikeJhn]

Ok
Will try snubber. Where do i purchase correct one from and where/how on circuit do i connect it? Do i need 1 per circuit or 1 o every bank of lights?
Thanks

The snubber shown in post 16 is from RS Components, if I remember had to buy them in a pack of five, the connection is across the feed into the LED, exactly the right width for a Wago lightbox and Wago 294 connector, I only needed to put two into a bank of twelve downlights, but it could depend on the wattage of the LED's.

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/rc-network-capacitors/2067831

 

[mort2376]

Varilight load regulator

This could help

Or

Danlers Snubber

 

[Murdoch]

I think you need to replace one or two of the Aurora lights with good old fashioned down lights with changeable bulbs and see if that one performs any differently

I’ve seen some odd results where led drivers can affect other lamps on the circuits

Been thinking about this and this has to be your next step - just change one of the LED fittings for a GU10 lamp holder and fit a FILAMENT bulb - then if it flickers too you'll know its not LED related

 

[Mike P]

Been thinking about this and this has to be your next step - just change one of the LED fittings for a GU10 lamp holder and fit a FILAMENT bulb - then if it flickers too you'll know its not LED related

Or any filament mains lamp and holder!

 

[runningpiglet]

Ok
Will try snubber. Where do i purchase correct one from and where/how on circuit do i connect it? Do i need 1 per circuit or 1 o every bank of lights?
Thanks

CPC FT00715 is what I have used. One per switched circuit.

<https://cpc.farnell.com/ampohm-woun...or-0-1uf-100r/dp/FT00715?st=network capacitor>

 

[Dairyspark]

Probably doesn’t add much to the conversation but I’ve experienced this with Bell downlights (integrated units) even when fitted with the Bell dimmer which is supposed to be suited to them I still had a slight flicker and full brightness. Changed from dimmer to switch and flickering went away

 

[binky]

Probably doesn’t add much to the conversation but I’ve experienced this with Bell downlights (integrated units) even when fitted with the Bell dimmer which is supposed to be suited to them I still had a slight flicker and full brightness. Changed from dimmer to switch and flickering went away

https://electricianforum.co.uk/threads/i-have-found-the-holy-grail.46558/

 

[stunner]

HI
never seen this issue in 35years in the trade and wondered if anybody has any idears.
The property is a new build and the installation fitted by myself. We have 26 Aurora cx7 downlights on 3 seperate circuits and controlled by various switching configurations. All dimmer switches are Varilight V- pro modules and the consumer unit is the new Click Elusian split load board with SPD.
The lights flickers very randomly sometimes not for a day or 2. I have checked everthing. No loose connections. Aurora have sent new fittings which i have fitted. I've changed the dimmer modules but the problem is still there. Has anyone got any idear what this could be or has any body seen this before? I've now hit a wall as to what to do next.
Thanks

I have now remove i of the light circuits from the split load rcd and connected it to BG rcbo and it seems to of sorted the problem?? Any idears why ??

 

[Murdoch]

I have now remove i of the light circuits from the split load rcd and connected it to BG rcbo and it seems to of sorted the problem?? Any idears why ??

Something else connected to the same circuit/ shared RCD interfering with it?

I’ve seen some very odd issues with different types of led lights affecting others on the same circuit