8’ incandescent dimmed when switch is off

Status
Not open for further replies.
C

Clint623

Member
Location
Westhoff, TX
Occupation
Owner
I was deleting the ballast and installing LEDs in 8’ shop fixtures (2 lamp). Before I worked on the first fixture, I noticed that the incandescent lamps were dim on one side and the other was off with the switch off. I went ahead and opened the fixture and tested for hot wires and came across the neutral having voltage. First thought was a shared neutral or grounding issue. After completing the install of the LEDs, I turned off the switch again and half of the LED was on, on each side because of the neutral. What are y’all’s thoughts and solutions?
 
C

Clint623

Member
Location
Westhoff, TX
Occupation
Owner
retirede said:
What does “neutral having voltage” mean? What did you measure to? You need to measure L-N with a load.
Click to expand...

I put my fluke widow maker up there and it started going off specifically on the neutral when I had the wires pulled out. Did not measure with a meter to see how much.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Little Bill

Little Bill

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Tennessee NEC:2017
Occupation
Semi-Retired Electrician
I would never trust a non-contact tester alone to verify anything. You should use a meter and check for voltage, preferably a "wiggy" or solenoid tester.
Sounds like some neutrals are crossed somewhere and the return is backfeeding the lights with partial voltage.
 
R

retirede

Senior Member
Location
Illinois
Clint623 said:
I put my fluke widow maker up there and it started going off specifically on the neutral when I had the wires pulled out. Did not measure with a meter to see how much.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Sounds like a compromised neutral. Time to get the meter out.
 
Little Bill

Little Bill

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Tennessee NEC:2017
Occupation
Semi-Retired Electrician
Clint623 said:
It’s only happening in this one room.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
It doesn't have to be more than one room. It's likely that a neutral from another circuit with a load on is tied into the light circuit in question and is backfeeding the lights. Doesn't take much to power up an LED dimly. Even a fluorescent in some cases.
 
C

Clint623

Member
Location
Westhoff, TX
Occupation
Owner
Upon further investigation I have nothing to show. I ran a piece of 12/2 from the panel to the lights so I could dedicate the neutral and it had no affect. Since the ground was right there, I checked the old neutral to ground and from hot to the new and old neutral and everything was nominally correct with the voltage and no voltage on the neutral was present. When I disconnect the neutral, the lights turn off like they’re supposed to. So, now that I’ve checked all I can up to this point, I believe it is an internal leak from the old ballast but that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense either.
2c5bdbd208d2982ad63477a3f4ad4933.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
C

Clint623

Member
Location
Westhoff, TX
Occupation
Owner
It’s the old ballasts. I separated the one fixture that I had prepared for LED from the rest of the lights and it turns all the way off where as before half of the LEDs would come on. So, I’m going to change out the other three and roll on.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
C

Clint623

Member
Location
Westhoff, TX
Occupation
Owner
c8c4fb33e92ba9698068c3e0149cd65e.jpg

This is what it was doing when the switch was off and connected to the rest of the lights with the old ballast.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
C

Clint623

Member
Location
Westhoff, TX
Occupation
Owner
ptonsparky said:
We seldom, if ever, used the old ballasts when installing LED retrofits. Waste of time to leave in another point of failure.
Click to expand...

I don’t either but normally I’m able to do one light and turn it on to make sure everything is kosher. When I saw what was happening, I needed to figure out why instead of doing the rest and get in a bind with them not working because they use this space as an office daily..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
D

d0nut

Senior Member
Location
Omaha, NE
Just replace the whole thing with an actual LED luminaire. At this point you have probably spent more time and money trying to get the existing lights to work than if you would have just replaced them from the start.
 
C

Clint623

Member
Location
Westhoff, TX
Occupation
Owner
d0nut said:
Just replace the whole thing with an actual LED luminaire. At this point you have probably spent more time and money trying to get the existing lights to work than if you would have just replaced them from the start.
Click to expand...

True


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top