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Posted: 8/28/2014 6:26:30 PM EDT
I'm at the MIL without any real tools, but she wanted a motion sensor light to mounted at the top of the stairs. She had a battery op one, but it eats batteries. I found an LED light bulb with motion snesor that  works well and was going to switch out the bulbs in the fixture at the top of the stairs. Its controlled by a wall switch at the top of the stairs and bottom of stairs. When I removed the globe, and the wall switch was off, the old school clear lightbulb filaments were glowing a faint orange. Odd. I switched out the bulbs and the LED bulb started strobing, WITH THE POWER SWITCHED OFF AT THE WALL.

What would cause a small amount of power to continue to flow? Isnt off, off? and how do I fix it? And no, I havent  had time to tear the fixture down and look inside for loose wires.

Thanks in advance
Link Posted: 8/28/2014 6:39:23 PM EDT
[#1]
Have you tried manually disconnecting the wires on the switch?  If so, does the bulb still glow?
I'm thinking there's some kind of stray path inside the switch (i.e. it's defective).
Link Posted: 8/28/2014 6:50:18 PM EDT
[#2]
Another possibility, grasping for straws here....  perhaps the bulb socket itself has ground and neutral connected together. If so, and if the switch was switching the neutral, and if you had a very poor connection between ground and neutral back at your circuit breaker box, there would be a small amount of current flowing from hot, through the bulb, to ground and back to neutral, even with the switch off.

ETA:  Cliff notes - check that the wires connected to the bulb are black and white. If you see a bare wire or a green wire connected to the bulb, that may be the culprit.

Link Posted: 8/28/2014 8:22:49 PM EDT
[#3]
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Quoted:
Another possibility, grasping for straws here....  perhaps the bulb socket itself has ground and neutral connected together. If so, and if the switch was switching the neutral, and if you had a very poor connection between ground and neutral back at your circuit breaker box, there would be a small amount of current flowing from hot, through the bulb, to ground and back to neutral, even with the switch off.

ETA:  Cliff notes - check that the wires connected to the bulb are black and white. If you see a bare wire or a green wire connected to the bulb, that may be the culprit.

View Quote



Thanks. I'm going to have to take the plate cover off and drop the light fixture tomorrow in the light of day to check it out. Its a real old house, so who knows what i'll find. I'll report back what I find.
Link Posted: 8/28/2014 9:02:46 PM EDT
[#4]
Stairs often have three way switches - turn on/off at bottom & off/on at top.  Improperly wired 3-way (loose wire / switched leads) on either end can really hose things up.
Link Posted: 8/31/2014 7:36:15 AM EDT
[#5]
Any dimmer in the circuit?

Standard dimmers and LEDs often do not get along.
A motion sensor may not get along with an LED bulb either.


Link Posted: 8/31/2014 7:42:11 AM EDT
[#6]

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Quoted:


Stairs often have three way switches - turn on/off at bottom & off/on at top.  Improperly wired 3-way (loose wire / switched leads) on either end can really hose things up.
View Quote
This.





 
Link Posted: 8/31/2014 4:17:25 PM EDT
[#7]
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Quoted:
This.

 
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Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Quoted:
Stairs often have three way switches - turn on/off at bottom & off/on at top.  Improperly wired 3-way (loose wire / switched leads) on either end can really hose things up.
This.

 



I tried both switches, no change in the glow when power is off at either switch. I didnt have time this trip (had a long list of repairs) to check the wall switches and fixture for loose wires. Next time. Would this work to check for a hot/mild hot wire with the wall switch off?

Volt meter

The bulb I tried was a led bulb with a built in motion sensor I got from amazon for $20. It works in other fixtures just fine.

Link Posted: 9/1/2014 9:53:03 AM EDT
[#8]
I don't see how loose wires or improperly wired 3-way switches could cause this.   A faulty switch with some kind of leakage path inside could do it, but that's not likely.  It's easy to test - remove all the wires from the switches and see if the light still glows.  If so, I still think you have some kind of incorrect wiring at the light fixture involving ground.

BTW, that "voltmeter" you referenced won't help you much when you're looking for a leaky path.   It may help to identify hot vs. neutral, but that's about it.

ETA:  Check that none of the wires on the switch contacts are ground (i.e. bare or green).  Just a sanity check.
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