Can lights

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cowboyjwc

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Location
Simi Valley, CA
Before we even start, I have not personally looked at or checked out this issue, it's just a question that I was asked a minute ago, by one of my coworkers.

She said she has some can lights that were installed in her kitchen a few years back. She told me that the one over the sink, does not come right on when you flip the switch, it takes a couple of seconds. I asked if it was a CFL or a screw in type fluorescent and she said no. Again, not verified by me.

Now I know what would make it go off after a few seconds if it's an incandescent, but I have never heard of one not coming on.

Any ideas?
 

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
Aww, that stinks. Her EC must have used some of that slow wire. It was much cheaper. ;)

The only things I can think of are a lighting control system, but for one obscure light?

Maybe a sticking switch? Seems unlikely.

Or as you said CFL of some type, my money is on CFL. Having done service and maintenance I have learned that people often are mistaken. :)
 

steve66

Senior Member
Location
Illinois
Occupation
Engineer
My money is also on CFL or some type of fluorescent with a rapid start or programmed start ballast. They can seem to take forever to turn on.
 

cowboyjwc

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Simi Valley, CA
That's what I'm thinking too, gotta be a CFL or a screw in type.

I paid extra for the super fast wire one time, but I didn't really see any difference. :happyno:
 

GoldDigger

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Staff member
Location
Placerville, CA, USA
Occupation
Retired PV System Designer
I believe it was GE that introduced a CFL which also contained a halogen bulb for instant start. It turned off once the CFL came up to useful brightness.
Biggest problem according to Consumer Reports testing was that it had a severely reduced lifetime compared to standard CFL when used in frequent short-on cycles!

Oops....

Tapatalk...
 

JDBrown

Senior Member
Location
California
Occupation
Electrical Engineer
+1 for making double sure it isn't a CFL. I'm not sure how long ago "a few years back" is, but, as I'm sure you know, California's Energy Code doesn't allow you to use incandescent lighting in the kitchen. I'm not sure how long ago that rule went into effect, though.

My brother remodeled his kitchen earlier this year, and was very irritated to learn about this rule. The remodel combined his kitchen and living room into one large open area, and he wanted to use incandescent cans on dimmers throughout the whole space. He wasn't too happy to find out that wasn't allowed, and he would have to use fluorescent cans which cost twice as much, don't dim nearly as well, and give off light that doesn't quite match the incandescents.
 
Had a customer over the summer that had (2) 4" cans that "hesitated" illuminating. Incandescent lamps. Once they came on they were seemed to be fine.

Took the (rotary dimmer) switch out, re-made all connections in switchbox and never had another problem.

IIRC the neutral connection was a little loose....just enough to make it hesitate?

I figured that it arced - heated up - expanded - made better contact.

That was my guess.......I don't ALWAYS know how I fixed stuff:angel:....just that it's fixed:thumbsup:
 

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
I paid extra for the super fast wire one time, but I didn't really see any difference. :happyno:

a lot of people have experienced that problem, and it's because the wires weren't
twisted like cat 5, etc.... needs to be 14 turns per foot, and it must be a right hand
twist, but only above the equator... there was a batch of Australian fast wire that
got sent here by mistake, and it was only half fast, being left hand twist.

it caused a lot of problems. people were getting billed for the electricity by the POCO
before the light came on.
 
Last edited:

Galt

Senior Member
Location
Wis.
Occupation
master electrician and refrigeration service tech.
I installed some new LED light fixtures last week.first time I ever saw these they have five bulbs .when you turn them on it takes one or two seconds for them to light. There were two separate fixtures on separate circuits and both behaved the same
 

GoldDigger

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Placerville, CA, USA
Occupation
Retired PV System Designer
Sounds like there may be some sort of soft start circuit built into the driver, possibly as a side effect of power factor correction.
It is not an inherent part of LED operation, but rather a design feature.
I have not seen a screw-in LED behave this way, but I would not be surprised if the rectifier/capacitor input circuit were configured this way on some.

Tapatalk...
 

cowboyjwc

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Simi Valley, CA
+1 for making double sure it isn't a CFL. I'm not sure how long ago "a few years back" is, but, as I'm sure you know, California's Energy Code doesn't allow you to use incandescent lighting in the kitchen. I'm not sure how long ago that rule went into effect, though.

My brother remodeled his kitchen earlier this year, and was very irritated to learn about this rule. The remodel combined his kitchen and living room into one large open area, and he wanted to use incandescent cans on dimmers throughout the whole space. He wasn't too happy to find out that wasn't allowed, and he would have to use fluorescent cans which cost twice as much, don't dim nearly as well, and give off light that doesn't quite match the incandescents.

Actually what it says is "at least half of the lighting watts installed in a kitchen must be consumed by high efficacy luminaires."


I don't ALWAYS know how I fixed stuff:angel:....just that it's fixed:thumbsup:

I'm right there with you.:happyyes:
 

cowboyjwc

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Simi Valley, CA
a lot of people have experienced that problem, and it's because the wires weren't
twisted like cat 5, etc.... needs to be 14 turns per foot, and it must be a right hand
twist, but only above the equator... there was a batch of Australian fast wire that
got sent here by mistake, and it was only half fast, being left hand twist.

it caused a lot of problems. people were getting billed for the electricity by the POCO
before the light came on.

I knew that salesman was feeding me a line.:rant:
 

qcroanoke

Sometimes I don't know if I'm the boxer or the bag
Location
Roanoke, VA.
Occupation
Sorta retired........
Had a customer over the summer that had (2) 4" cans that "hesitated" illuminating. Incandescent lamps. Once they came on they were seemed to be fine.

Took the (rotary dimmer) switch out, re-made all connections in switchbox and never had another problem.

IIRC the neutral connection was a little loose....just enough to make it hesitate?

I figured that it arced - heated up - expanded - made better contact.

That was my guess.......I don't ALWAYS know how I fixed stuff:angel:....just that it's fixed:thumbsup:

I have a ceiling fan with a light kit (new out of the box) that has a delay of maybe a 1/4 second before the lights come on. Took it down checked everything put it back up and it still did it. I don't know why I just don't worry about it. Haven't thought to check to see what type of bulbs they are. I assume...... incandescent. Definetly not flourescent.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Even an incandescent should take a few milliseconds to illuminate after power is applied, maybe she just has that kind of ability to see that small of a delay:cool:
 

JDBrown

Senior Member
Location
California
Occupation
Electrical Engineer
Actually what it says is "at least half of the lighting watts installed in a kitchen must be consumed by high efficacy luminaires."
Yeah, I probably should've actually looked it up instead of shooting from the lip :ashamed1:. But I don't do much residential and, like I said, I was pretty sure you were already familiar with the requirement in question. I guess it's not as bad as I thought (until 2014, anyway...).
 

cowboyjwc

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Simi Valley, CA
Yeah, I probably should've actually looked it up instead of shooting from the lip :ashamed1:. But I don't do much residential and, like I said, I was pretty sure you were already familiar with the requirement in question. I guess it's not as bad as I thought (until 2014, anyway...).

May have a little reprieve, I think they voted on it today. They may hold off implementing it until June.
 

readydave8

re member
Location
Clarkesville, Georgia
Occupation
electrician
I have a ceiling fan with a light kit (new out of the box) that has a delay of maybe a 1/4 second before the lights come on. Took it down checked everything put it back up and it still did it. I don't know why I just don't worry about it. Haven't thought to check to see what type of bulbs they are. I assume...... incandescent. Definetly not flourescent.
Seen fans with watt limiter to prevent consumer from using bulbs bigger than allowed, I wonder if they would cause the delay?
 
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