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Rikkitic

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#273047 1-Aug-2020 12:43
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I have LED light bulbs through the house. All the ones in regular fittings work as expected. Switch goes off, light goes out.

 

One is in a motion detector in a hallway. It switches on when someone gets up at night to use the bathroom. But it doesn’t switch completely off. Instead, it glows all the time and the glow is actually fairly bright. Not as bright as when the light is on, but probably night light bright. Certainly bright enough to navigate the hallway in the dark.

 

If I wanted a night light, though, I would just have one. What I want is for the motion detector light to switch all the way off. I know LED lights can glow when there is a small voltage present, and I am not hugely worried about this, but my OCD side would really like to fix this. So is there any way to do that? I have tried a couple different bulbs to see if one might be less sensitive to this, but even a branded Philips one glows like a worm. What else might I try?

 

 





Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

 


 


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snnet
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  #2532641 1-Aug-2020 12:58
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What exactly do you mean when you say the lightbulb is in a motion detector? is it a combined unit? or is there a motion detector activating a light? 

 

There are load correction devices we use to eliminate this problem usually




Rikkitic

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  #2532649 1-Aug-2020 13:18
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snnet:

 

What exactly do you mean when you say the lightbulb is in a motion detector? is it a combined unit? or is there a motion detector activating a light? 

 

There are load correction devices we use to eliminate this problem usually

 

 

Motion detector activating a light.

 

 





Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

 


 


snnet
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  #2532651 1-Aug-2020 13:27
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Ah, okay - a load correction device would fix this no matter what lamp you put in, but involves altering the wiring in the light switch or before the light fitting/s

 

I haven't had overly bad experiences with Philips to be honest in regards to glowing - but I have definitely had other brands where it seems more prevalent. You could try a brand such as Ambius from JA Russell / Mitre10 (Goldair brand)? I haven't had one of those glow yet - though with induction from wiring I guess it's possible to happen. Do you know the brand of sensor operating the light fitting/s?

 

 




  #2532652 1-Aug-2020 13:28
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If you disconnect the Motion Sensor output feed to the LED bulb, does it still glow?

 

 





Gordy

 

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.


MikeB4
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  #2532654 1-Aug-2020 13:38
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If its one of the units sold in Bunnings and Mitre 10 that plug into a power socket then it is acting as designed and have a light sensor and motion sensor. I believe teh nightlight feature can be turned of by a combination of clicks on the switch.


Rikkitic

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  #2532659 1-Aug-2020 13:49
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The sensor is a cheap one I bought from Mitre 10 several years ago. It was at a time when a lot of Chinese sensors were being dumped for next to nothing. I think it only cost $5 at the time, but it has always worked fine. I have no idea what the brand is and I doubt it would mean anything anyway. It is mounted on a high ceiling and not easily accessible. Because of that I am not inclined to experiment with it at the moment. My question was just to gather information. I was mostly wondering how difficult this might be to fix.

 

 

 

 





Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

 


 


Rikkitic

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  #2532661 1-Aug-2020 13:51
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MikeB4:

 

If its one of the units sold in Bunnings and Mitre 10 that plug into a power socket then it is acting as designed and have a light sensor and motion sensor. I believe teh nightlight feature can be turned of by a combination of clicks on the switch.

 

 

It is not. The glowing in this case is a bug, not a feature. It doesn't happen with other bulb types, only LED. It looks to be an induction effect.

 

 





Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

 


 


 
 
 

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skewt
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  #2532662 1-Aug-2020 13:56
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I had this with one of my old LimitlessLED bulbs, when “off” it still glowed

I ended up having to get it replaced, I assume just a faulty circuit in the bulb not blocking some residual power

Oblivian
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  #2532718 1-Aug-2020 14:35
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It's current leakage from the LED drivers. Or bad grounding of them.

 

Common in cheaper components. The outside import-express security light LED panel replacement here glows 2 of the 8 modules nearly full time at a very low output as a result

 

https://www.se.com/us/en/faqs/FA112098/ 


gregmcc
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  #2532727 1-Aug-2020 15:04
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It's the electronics in the motion sensor that don't actually fully turn the output off, if a normal bulb is used the load is high enough to drag the output down and there is no visible light, with LED's it only take a very small current to drive them and this isn't sufficient to drag the output down but still presents enough voltage to drive the LED hence the "glowing"

 

The better quality motion sensors use relays so the output actually switches fully off.


Rikkitic

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  #2532731 1-Aug-2020 15:10
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gregmcc:

 

It's the electronics in the motion sensor that don't actually fully turn the output off, if a normal bulb is used the load is high enough to drag the output down and there is no visible light, with LED's it only take a very small current to drive them and this isn't sufficient to drag the output down but still presents enough voltage to drive the LED hence the "glowing"

 

The better quality motion sensors use relays so the output actually switches fully off.

 

 

I'm pretty sure this one has a relay. I hear it click every time it switches.

 

 





Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

 


 


sqishy
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  #2532790 1-Aug-2020 16:02
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If it has motion and a normal on/off wall switch sounds like your live is gong to the bulb from the switch and the wall switch is switching negative. Often the live on the bulb causes a low glow.


gregmcc
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  #2532797 1-Aug-2020 16:26
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sqishy:

 

If it has motion and a normal on/off wall switch sounds like your live is gong to the bulb from the switch and the wall switch is switching negative. Often the live on the bulb causes a low glow.

 

 

@sqishy - what is your electrical background? The above statement is very wrong, there is no "negative", there may be a neutral which should not be switched, but switching this instead of the phase would not cause this to happen.

 

 

 

BTW 30+ years in the electrical industry, registered Electrical Inspector so I think I have a good background to give advice here that can be relied upon.


LennonNZ
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  #2532821 1-Aug-2020 17:36
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Have a look at these Videos.  It is a very common "issue"

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uEmX5XClPY&t=517s


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bgUy6zA0ts


gregmcc
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  #2532822 1-Aug-2020 17:41
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LennonNZ:

 

Have a look at these Videos.  It is a very common "issue"

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uEmX5XClPY&t=517s


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bgUy6zA0ts

 

 

except that I doubt the OP has 50m of cable between the motion sensor and the plugged in light bulb, so no......

 

 


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