Lights In Kitchen Are Flickering -

[alyoshak24]

The problem: Kitchen Can Light Bulbs are flickering ONLY when the following occur

• Electric Stove Top is in use (All Electric)
• Refrigerator Motor Kicks In
• Dishwasher Motor Kicks In
• Disposer Use

Context: We relocated service on a 200A house, no where in the house do lights flicker except this area. Kitchen lights are on their own circuit NOT sharing a neutral or power.

I am assuming only motor loads (except this stove top) are causing the flicker but how is this possible if the lights do NOT share a neutral ?

I have read on other trouble shooting posts that it can possibly be the type of LED bulbs ?

There are NO dimmers for these lights, just 3 way switching and they only flicker when one of the four above occur. Please help me as i finally graduated from being uncertified donkey brains to a certified Donkey Kong.

Cheers

 

[zbang]

Is the 'flicker' a single blip or a constant intensity change up and down? I'd expect one-time blips with a motor starts.

If it's an ongoing flicker, like when a stove burner is on, check for loose connections everywhere and esp on the service neutral (check the voltages to see if they go higher than expected).

Have the light bulbs in the cans been replaced? Some are more sensitive to voltage than others.

 

[Elect117]

This happens in my parents house and it bothers the hell out of me.

A dip in voltage can occur when a motor starts. For my parents it is the trash compactor. When they start that thing up, for a solid 2 seconds all the lights on the first floor dim with a barely noticeable flicker.

Until the motor reaches a steady state it is purely inductive and overdraws on the circuit. It isn't high enough to be a ground fault or long enough to create heat but is just long enough for our eyes to notice the voltage drop in the lights making them dim or flicker.

You can increase the size of wires to the lights. You can also try a soft starter on the motors. But since they are in the refrigerator, dishwasher, and disposer you are probably not going that route. Reducing the voltage drop normally can help fight that but if the voltage at the lights is already pretty much 120V then you aren't going to do much.

You can also rearrange them on the panelboard to separate them a bit so that the motor currents are at the bottom of the board (which will only help if the service isn't the problem) or on different legs than the lighting. I'm guessing they are all plugged into outlets.

 

[alyoshak24]

Is the 'flicker' a single blip or a constant intensity change up and down? I'd expect one-time blips with a motor starts.

If it's an ongoing flicker, like when a stove burner is on, check for loose connections everywhere and esp on the service neutral (check the voltages to see if they go higher than expected).

Have the light bulbs in the cans been replaced? Some are more sensitive to voltage than others.

No it is just a single blip, and all the bulbs are 3 months old and have not been changed.

 

[CoolWill]

Probably just cheap lamps. BUT, I have noticed that newer machines with some kind of inverter technology inside like direct drive washing machines and inverter based mini splits cause a constant flicker in LEDs of all types except those specifically designed to be "flicker free".

 

[alyoshak24]

This happens in my parents house and it bothers the hell out of me.

A dip in voltage can occur when a motor starts. For my parents it is the trash compactor. When they start that thing up, for a solid 2 seconds all the lights on the first floor dim with a barely noticeable flicker.

Until the motor reaches a steady state it is purely inductive and overdraws on the circuit. It isn't high enough to be a ground fault or long enough to create heat but is just long enough for our eyes to notice the voltage drop in the lights making them dim or flicker.

You can increase the size of wires to the lights. You can also try a soft starter on the motors. But since they are in the refrigerator, dishwasher, and disposer you are probably not going that route. Reducing the voltage drop normally can help fight that but if the voltage at the lights is already pretty much 120V then you aren't going to do much.

You can also rearrange them on the panelboard to separate them a bit so that the motor currents are at the bottom of the board (which will only help if the service isn't the problem) or on different legs than the lighting. I'm guessing they are all plugged into outlets.

i havent tried rearranging them on different legs but will try to do so.. One of my senior electricians asked me to check my grounding syste. ie Water Bonding, Ground Rod Electrode System...and i asked him how on earth (why thank you ) could that be the problem ? he looked at me dumbfounded and continued to eat his soft spread peanut butter.

 

[tortuga]

I have read on other trouble shooting posts that it can possibly be the type of LED bulbs ?

Try replacing one of the LED's with incandescent and see if the incandescent flickers.

 

[tthh]

90% it is LED related. As stated, try an incandescent and then another brand of LED. I try Philips first, if possible, and mostly don't have issues.

 

[readydave8]

of my senior electricians asked me to check my grounding syste. ie Water Bonding

I'd be amazed if grounding helps

 

[Fred B]

LED are more sensitive to the slight voltage fluctuation that occurs on motor startup than other bulbs, and cheap ones even more so. I have seen many times on cheap consumer grade bulbs. (HO: "I found these so much cheaper on Amazon" and now even TEMU getting in on the act of cheap knockoffs.) And then it's the electricians "fault" that they don't work up to par.

In some ways seem counterintuitive as LED are so low in wattage, but in reality with the low power usage it doesn't take as much a fluctuation to cause a flicker as the ratio of usage to a power fluctuation is greater on a LED. Efficiency seems to be an enemy of consistency of lighting level especially with the cheap lighting.

 

[NoahsArc]

Try a better brand of LED first before spending thousands on it.
Philips. If you actually like light quality, ultra definition.
Even if that doesn't fix it, your house will look nicer for it, so it's a win-win solution.

See how much your voltage is dropping at the panel when the stove top is on.

 

[guschash]

Probably a problem with bad neutral on line outside. Just had the same problem. Washer and dryer would kick out and lights would flicker. Ended being a loose neural at the pole. I checked the voltage coming in and I got 245 phase to phase 107 and 135 when I went from one phase to neutral.

 

[miless090]

I would check the service neutral first. Next I would have the power company do a check on their equipment. It may be that the transformer on the pole/pad is undersized.

 

[MCosentino87]

Probably a problem with bad neutral on line outside. Just had the same problem. Washer and dryer would kick out and lights would flicker. Ended being a loose neural at the pole. I checked the voltage coming in and I got 245 phase to phase 107 and 135 when I went from one phase to neutral.

I have run into this exact issue. Power strip caught fire at my parents house, noticed LED lights flicker on occasion. Voltage was reading +/- 50v on either phase at random. After turning the panel inside out we decided to call the poco and they confirmed that the neutral was corroded at the pole transformer.