Shimmer or flicker with lights on an electronic switch?
Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2021 1:51 pm
be it a dimming switch or a neutral less on/off switch it seems they have a shimmer when using some bulbs, even with quartz bulbs it seemed the coil of the filament caused some imbalance and they could shimmer one day and not another, but with LED it seems this problem has got worse, I swapped some G9 bulbs these
shimmered so I swapped them for these
but one was faulty, using one from old batch is did not shimmer, and also using one quartz bulb stopped the shimmer, you can hear the relay click in the electronic switch, and it does not click with the shimmer, so I dismantled the faulty bulb and found a dry joint, so soldered and bulb now OK, but while open it was clear it had three components, a metal film capacitor clearly the current limiter, a full wave rectifier, and a electrolytic capacitor the latter clearly was stopping any flicker or shimmer.
But it was after the rectifier so should not affect the other bulbs, think the wattage jumped from 2.5 to 6 so it could be simply the load on the switch, this would also explain why a quartz bulb stopped it, however the physical size of the electrolyte capacitor would simply not fit in the smaller bulb. Some times the three GU10 3 watt bulbs shimmer, but most of the time OK, maybe they shimmer when there is a volt increase or drop so the load on switch changes?
But although the changing of bulb stops it, seems likely it is switch at fault, the switch in my case an energenie mihome which says minimum of 5 watt. Using BA22d or E14 bulbs not had a problem, only with low wattage under 5 watt bulbs was there a problem, since 5 x 2.5 watt total was within limits for switch, but as to if the capacitor or total load which stops it I don't know, but swap switch for mechanical and also stops, so seems to do with switch, since mine are not dimming switches and have a relay that can be heard it is not the SCR or other similar device. It must have some thing to do with getting power for the switch to work, with there being no neutral.
It really does not matter if switch or bulb, what matters is how to stop it. Switches are in the main more expensive that bulbs, so swapping bulbs makes more sense, but I have 18 spare G9 bulbs more than I will ever use, and it was the expensive correctly marked bulbs marketed as dimmable that flickered and the cheap ones which don't have lumen or wattage marked on bulb or packaging the worked OK.
This add seems to say 10 watt 780 lumen, but nothing on the packaging, the problem is they will not take the glass covers, they are too fat, and with 5 in the chandelier it is rather bright for a bedroom. But no flicker.
I did always go for well known makes as being better quality, but since moving to so called energy saving it seems this is not the best move, and the cheaper unmarked bulbs have proved to be better quality.
I hope people can add to this post, and maybe we can work out both why the shimmer and how to stop it.
- G9-small.jpg (21.24 KiB) Viewed 792 times
- G9-big.jpg (76.93 KiB) Viewed 792 times
But it was after the rectifier so should not affect the other bulbs, think the wattage jumped from 2.5 to 6 so it could be simply the load on the switch, this would also explain why a quartz bulb stopped it, however the physical size of the electrolyte capacitor would simply not fit in the smaller bulb. Some times the three GU10 3 watt bulbs shimmer, but most of the time OK, maybe they shimmer when there is a volt increase or drop so the load on switch changes?
But although the changing of bulb stops it, seems likely it is switch at fault, the switch in my case an energenie mihome which says minimum of 5 watt. Using BA22d or E14 bulbs not had a problem, only with low wattage under 5 watt bulbs was there a problem, since 5 x 2.5 watt total was within limits for switch, but as to if the capacitor or total load which stops it I don't know, but swap switch for mechanical and also stops, so seems to do with switch, since mine are not dimming switches and have a relay that can be heard it is not the SCR or other similar device. It must have some thing to do with getting power for the switch to work, with there being no neutral.
It really does not matter if switch or bulb, what matters is how to stop it. Switches are in the main more expensive that bulbs, so swapping bulbs makes more sense, but I have 18 spare G9 bulbs more than I will ever use, and it was the expensive correctly marked bulbs marketed as dimmable that flickered and the cheap ones which don't have lumen or wattage marked on bulb or packaging the worked OK.
This add seems to say 10 watt 780 lumen, but nothing on the packaging, the problem is they will not take the glass covers, they are too fat, and with 5 in the chandelier it is rather bright for a bedroom. But no flicker.
I did always go for well known makes as being better quality, but since moving to so called energy saving it seems this is not the best move, and the cheaper unmarked bulbs have proved to be better quality.
I hope people can add to this post, and maybe we can work out both why the shimmer and how to stop it.