LED can ligts in kitchen

[elecmen]

Hi, I have 6 LED can lights in a kitchen of a manufactured home that glow dim when off. The circuit is wired correctly and woks fine. What causes this and how can I fix this? All input welcome. Thanks

 

[MAC702]

Your question is missing important information.

What brand/model of LED light?
What brand/model of dimmer switch?
Did you install them or are you attempting to troubleshoot an existing installation?

 

[GoldDigger]

You can fix it by changing one of the lamps to incandescent. Or you can add a load resistor or capacitor in parallel. Or try a different 3 wire dimmer.
The underlying cause is that an incandescent or CFL has a current value below which it will give no light, while to output of an LED remains proportional to current well down into the milliamp range as long as the voltage is high enough. Adding the load drops the "off" state voltage.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[tom baker]

The leviton dimmers I use have a adjustment for the minimum light level. I get them at home depot, under $20.00

 

[elecmen]

Your question is missing important information.

What brand/model of LED light?
What brand/model of dimmer switch?
Did you install them or are you attempting to troubleshoot an existing installation?

I am attempting to troubleshoot existing installation. There in no dimmer in the circuit. I will have to pull the light down off the ceiling to see what brand.

 

[mhanson]

I feel like this may be a neutral issue, like this circuit neutral is tied in whith another circuit somewhere.

 

[kwired]

Those "lighted switches" that are easier to find in the dark or even those more recently available "night light" containing wall plates can cause this issue, because the "night light" is in series with the switched load when the switch is open.

 

[mhanson]

Those "lighted switches" that are easier to find in the dark or even those more recently available "night light" containing wall plates can cause this issue, because the "night light" is in series with the switched load when the switch is open.

That's an excellent point, I have found these switches do have a "Let thru voltage" ,which can dimly illuminate an LED light bulb.

-michael

 

[winnie]

There might in fact be nothing wrong with the circuit. As GoldDigger notes, LEDs will glow with very low current. Nothing is a perfect insulator, and switches have ratings for allowed leakage current; that leakage current might be enough to light the LEDs. If you have a perfectly wired 'switch loop', the capacitive coupling from black to white wire might give you a couple of _micro_ amps of current, which might cause a dim light.

I have 4 foot led utility fixtures from Costco. Perfectly reasonably quality and function...and in the 'off' position they glow ever so slightly when plugged in.

-Jon

 

[kwired]

That's an excellent point, I have found these switches do have a "Let thru voltage" ,which can dimly illuminate an LED light bulb.

-michael

I had one recently where they installed one of those "night light" wall plates. It controlled a single 4 lamp T8 ballast and lamps. Those lamps were dimly illuminated when switch was off, I can only imagine LED luminaires would be even worse in most cases.

Took the plate off and it was fine again.

 

[marco_polo]

I am attempting to troubleshoot existing installation. There in no dimmer in the circuit. I will have to pull the light down off the ceiling to see what brand.

Do they stay dim always or do they eventually turn off completely? I’ve heard of LED drivers making lights stay on very dim until the dc power inside of them dissipates or something like that.