Posted: 10/27/2015 6:55:48 PM EDT
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This evening I replaced the two overhead bulbs in my garage with LED bulbs. Now that it's dark out, I went into the garage and the bulbs have a very faint glow to them. I googled it and it seems a common problem, but the explanations (and some solutions) are over my head. There are two switches that control the lights, one near the overhead door and one near the house entrance door. No dimmer.
Is this to be expected sometimes? Is it a problem? Will my house burn down? |
| It's not a problem, it's a feature. LEDs have much lower resistance than the bulbs you replaced. Thus a very very small amount of current flows, making them glow. Still use way less electricity than your old bulbs which dissipate that small current mostly in heat instead of light. |
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It's not a problem, it's a feature. LEDs have much lower resistance than the bulbs you replaced. Thus a very very small amount of current flows, making them glow. Still use way less electricity than your old bulbs which dissipate that small current mostly in heat instead of light. Why would any current be flowing with zero voltage (switch off)? |
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Tag for answer before replacing my lights.
I do know that 12v LED's have a faint glow with the vehicle turned off. Myself and many other Frontier/Xterra owners replaced their interior lights with LED's and we all have the faint glow. I know it's not the same as 120v, but it does happen in life. |
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Never any issue with the previous CFL bulbs. The LEDs I put in were free, so it's a wash I suppose.  Quoted:
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You have a wiring problem or your new bulbs are making free electricity for you. Should not happen. Never any issue with the previous CFL bulbs. The LEDs I put in were free, so it's a wash I suppose. You could have a leaky switch to the bulbs passing current, but most likely you have a bad neutral connection somewhere in your wiring. You should get that located and fixed. I had it happen once and it lit an incandescent bulb to partial brightness with a good switch turned off. It doesn't seem like it should happen, but an open neutral can cause that and there are explanations on the web, maybe some of what you were reading before. |
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I read somewhere that some 3 way switches will do this. My ceiling fan w/ leds does this in my rental. Its a 3 way and has a remote. This what I read on google. I just turned them on with one switch and off with the other, and the did a very faint strobe for a few second before going to the very faint glow. |
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Why would any current be flowing with zero voltage (switch off)? Quoted:
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It's not a problem, it's a feature. LEDs have much lower resistance than the bulbs you replaced. Thus a very very small amount of current flows, making them glow. Still use way less electricity than your old bulbs which dissipate that small current mostly in heat instead of light. Why would any current be flowing with zero voltage (switch off)? Because it's pretty hard to keep the voltage at absolute zero with most house wiring. There is almost always some phantom voltage/current. He just couldn't see it before putting LEDs in. |
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Quoted: Because it's pretty hard to keep the voltage at absolute zero with most house wiring. There is almost always some phantom voltage/current. He just couldn't see it before putting LEDs in. Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: It's not a problem, it's a feature. LEDs have much lower resistance than the bulbs you replaced. Thus a very very small amount of current flows, making them glow. Still use way less electricity than your old bulbs which dissipate that small current mostly in heat instead of light. Why would any current be flowing with zero voltage (switch off)? Because it's pretty hard to keep the voltage at absolute zero with most house wiring. There is almost always some phantom voltage/current. He just couldn't see it before putting LEDs in. Mine don't do that. |
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Mine don't do that. Quoted:
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It's not a problem, it's a feature. LEDs have much lower resistance than the bulbs you replaced. Thus a very very small amount of current flows, making them glow. Still use way less electricity than your old bulbs which dissipate that small current mostly in heat instead of light. Why would any current be flowing with zero voltage (switch off)? Because it's pretty hard to keep the voltage at absolute zero with most house wiring. There is almost always some phantom voltage/current. He just couldn't see it before putting LEDs in. Mine don't do that. Some household LEDs are more "advanced" than others. They will have different resistance circuits. Also, the level of phantom current and how good the grounds on the house are going to be different depending on how good the installer was. |
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Some household LEDs are more "advanced" than others. They will have different resistance circuits. Also, the level of phantom current and how good the grounds on the house are going to be different depending on how good the installer was. Quoted:
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It's not a problem, it's a feature. LEDs have much lower resistance than the bulbs you replaced. Thus a very very small amount of current flows, making them glow. Still use way less electricity than your old bulbs which dissipate that small current mostly in heat instead of light. Why would any current be flowing with zero voltage (switch off)? Because it's pretty hard to keep the voltage at absolute zero with most house wiring. There is almost always some phantom voltage/current. He just couldn't see it before putting LEDs in. Mine don't do that. Some household LEDs are more "advanced" than others. They will have different resistance circuits. Also, the level of phantom current and how good the grounds on the house are going to be different depending on how good the installer was. I'm guessing the ones I have are on the lower end of the price spectrum. My son got them free at school from the power company. Little box with three bulbs and a night light, energy conservation promo. ETA: The bulbs... http://mybrands.com/Brands/Simply-Conserve/Simply-Conserve-LED-11W-A19-Lamp |
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I'm guessing the ones I have are on the lower end of the price spectrum. My son got them free at school from the power company. Little box with three bulbs and a night light, energy conservation promo. Bottom line, you don't need to worry. The glow is a very tiny amount of current still in the wires that you didn't know was there before because incandescent bulbs will just dissipate it into a tiny amount of heat instead of light. |
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Bottom line, you don't need to worry. The glow is a very tiny amount of current still in the wires that you didn't know was there before because incandescent bulbs will just dissipate it into a tiny amount of heat instead of light. Quoted:
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I'm guessing the ones I have are on the lower end of the price spectrum. My son got them free at school from the power company. Little box with three bulbs and a night light, energy conservation promo. Bottom line, you don't need to worry. The glow is a very tiny amount of current still in the wires that you didn't know was there before because incandescent bulbs will just dissipate it into a tiny amount of heat instead of light. Thanks, I'll leave them up. I appreciate it. |
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LED bulbs have a driver circuit. You have turned off the input current to the circuit but the charge is still in the circuit and the potential is still above ground. We were using a LED on a circuit at work where the led was the both the bleed off and indicator for a charge. You could still see a glow in the 5 micro amp current flow range well after the power was removed. |