Light Fixture "Strobing" in century home
Hi Electricians, I have a century home in North America (specific details can be provided in DMs).
The whole house has "updated" electricals from it's first construction (built "before" electricity; then ungraded to knob-and-tube; then "modernized" some time thereafter).
One particular room in the house has an Ikea-looking light fixture with 3 bulbs, and is hooked up to a dimmer-switch.
When I first moved in, I replaced the old dull incandescent bulbs (x3) with LEDs; with no immediate signs of trouble.
About a year later, 1 of 3 started "strobing" or pulsing (1 second bright, 1 second dull, repeat); and ultimately burned out. When I tried to replace that bulb, the new one started "strobing" almost immediately. No worries, as Meatloaf famously said "two outta three aint bad"
Welp...yesterday bulb 2 of 3 started "strobing", and now I'm feeling frustrated.
What the Victorian Crap is going on, and how do I fix it?
Posted Oct 18, 2022, 6:26 PM UTC
Either bulbs are not dimmable, or dimmer is not LED compatible would be my guess.
Cooool…
So I’d love to use LEDs as opposed to incandescent.
Is there a change I can do at the switch?
I’m not married to “dimming” as a concept, and would be A-OK with the standard on/off configuration.
Or…is there any kind of diagnostic experiment I can run to confirm the nature of my problem?
I would think you could just remove the dimmer and replace with a conventional switch. If the dimmer is ok wiht incandescent, I would update it first. Also perhaps check the packaging or label on the LED bulbs to make sure they are "dimable"
You should be able to take the plate off the switch to get a make/model on the dimmer. Use that to Google if that switch is capable of dimming LEDs. If it is, your good to go. You just need to buy dimmable LEDs. If it can't dim LEDs you can replace it with one that will.
I have had some luck by adjusting the internal dial on the dimmers to max, to work better with LEDs as full bright and just not using the dimmer function. Hope that helps.