LED Spotlight confusion

[Farmboy81]

Hi Guys,


Bit of a mystery one, I recently fitted a pair of LED spotlights to my Fazer (make a big difference, so thanks to all the others who posted about them).


Buuuuut, they come on randomly when they're turned off; sometimes one (it changes which one) just lights up very dimly, sometimes it's an intermittent flashing (at various speeds). If i flick the switch on and off, it stops but then comes back a while later.


I don't understand how this is happening, I know that LEDs draw so little power that it's unlikely to be issue, especially as I ride the bike every day so it doesn't have a chance to discharge the whole battery.


I've wired direct to battery with an inline fuse, and a switch on the handlebar, nothing fancy but it does the job.


Any ideas as to what the issue could be? Has anyone else experienced this?

[redmandan]

I can't offer a real solution as I'm not as electrically qualified as others but it must be a small amount of draw on the bulb.



My brother has an older house and he has a chandelier in his living room connected to his ageing electrics.


He put energy saving bulbs in (6 in total) and then when he turns all the lights off the new bulbs slowly illuminate to a dim glow. To remedy this he put back one of the original bulbs.


Just my own 2 cents but like my bro you must have some power running through the lights even in an off position. I've just bought the Chinese spots and switch set-up from fleabay awaiting fitting to the bike and it's entirely possible these cheap switches are a bit naff and let a small amount of power through.


Otherwise someone who knows more will chime in.

[darrsi]

Where's the earth lead attached to?

[daviee]

sounds like a bad earth

[bandit]

I can't offer a real solution as I'm not as electrically qualified as others but it must be a small amount of draw on the bulb.



My brother has an older house and he has a chandelier in his living room connected to his ageing electrics.


He put energy saving bulbs in (6 in total) and then when he turns all the lights off the new bulbs slowly illuminate to a dim glow. To remedy this he put back one of the original bulbs.


Just my own 2 cents but like my bro you must have some power running through the lights even in an off position. I've just bought the Chinese spots and switch set-up from fleabay awaiting fitting to the bike and it's entirely possible these cheap switches are a bit naff and let a small amount of power through.


Otherwise someone who knows more will chime in.

Found this that may help ya bro,


When you say it continues to glow, does it glow continuously, or just for seconds/minutes? If the latter, what you are seeing is the phosphors continuing to glow. Most "white" LEDs are actually blue/violet/UV LEDs exciting phosphors to produce white light. When the LEDs turn off, the phosphors continue to glow off a little while. No additional energy is being consumed.[/color][/size] [/color]

[fazersharp]

I can't offer a real solution as I'm not as electrically qualified as others but it must be a small amount of draw on the bulb.

My brother has an older house and he has a chandelier in his living room connected to his ageing electrics.

He put energy saving bulbs in (6 in total) and then when he turns all the lights off the new bulbs slowly illuminate to a dim glow. To remedy this he put back one of the original bulbs.

Auto electronics apart. That sounds to me like your bro has a dimmer switch that is not fully LED compatible. As that behaviour of the bulbs is the same as using a non LED dimmer. I have over 60 led bulbs here at Sharp hall. If his old chandelier had 20w bulbs then that is 1020W and the LEDs I am guessing they are candle bulbs no more than 5w each = 30w.
We have a 9 bulb chandelier in the banqueting hall of Sharp Hall and as LED dimmer switches are over £20 AND dimmable LEDs are more expensive I went for LEDs in that fitting that dimmed in steps with an on/off of the NORMAL switch each time the bulbs dimmed up to 4 levels. 

[His Dudeness]

Stick up a link to the LEDs you bought

[Farmboy81]

Thanks Guys,


Sorry for the delay, busy christmas!


The earth is direct to frame, so I can't see how that would be a problem; and the lights can stay on for hours, so not the phosphorescence either.


As mentioned I ride every day, so there's no issue with the battery (I pulled the fuse while she was off the road for xmas, just in case).


I may well change the switch for something better as that seems the most likely to me.


Thanks again