Hey @ScottyD, welcome to the forums! Glad to have you here and thanks for posting.
Is it the switch that’s flickering or the bulb?
If it’s the switch, try to see if the wires are securely fastened. Sometimes if the neutral or line wire isn’t fastened down tight enough, it can cause flickering on the switch.
If it’s the bulb, if you swap the bulb out, does that fix it?
Just got my red series dimmers today! Very excited and i feel like i’m going to go down a rabbit hole of customization. In any manner, I’ve installed the first dimmer in our bedroom with neutral wire. It’s connected to 4 Sunco 13 watt dimmable led retrofits and I notice the same thing- a faint bit of flickering in the off position with all 4 LEDS. Anything that can be done?
Sure let me go through my purchase history and find the model I got. I did get 2 bypasses with my switches bc of non neutral locAtions in the house so I can give that a shot. For what it’s worth-I’ve got these leds in our two other bedrooms on standard Leviton dimmers- the decora style with a slider to the right of the paddle and I see no dimming with these although I’m sure there’s an inherent operational difference between a smart dimmer and traditional ones.
Also, while I waited for these dimmers, I had our living room lights (same leds) on one of those lighted 3 way toggle switches (the ones with the amber glow within the toggle?) and did notice that when off, there was an faint flicker on those as well.
Obviously you aren’t listed on there but curious if perhaps you know of a comparable model from Leviton or Lutron that would be similar to at least have an idea…
Eric I’ve got a box of 4 of these in a different color temp I’m not using. They’re not pricey but if you want I can send them out to you guys for testing
Confirmed with Aotec that the bypass can just go directly between load and neutral on the switch. Adding this eliminated the flicker. It also now reports the wattage about 13watts less (42 vs 55)- I assume that’s due to the resistor. I’m hoping I won’t have to add this to all 4 rooms that have these leds but we’ll see…
Looks like my light has started to flicker too. I first noticed it today. LZW30-SN Red series On/Off switch (not dimmer)
Bulbs: 2x Feit Electric ESL13T/12 CFL bulbs
It flickers with 1 or 2 bulbs installed. Pulling the air-gap makes the flickering stop, but it resumes flickering when power is restored. I tried putting a higher wattage bulb in, and it does not flicker (the higher wattage bulbs do not physically fit with the cover on though, so it is not a permanent solution).
I suspect some sort of leakage current. I am leaving the air-gap pulled tonight, and will look at it again tomorrow when its light out and I find my volt meter.
@mrutenbeck has an LZW30-SN controlling a similar fluorescent fixture (not sure about the brand or wattage) and has been noticing the same thing. I saw it with my own eyes when I was there last weekend, too.
Like the above posters, this is the switch (not the dimmer), and the neutral wire is (as is necessary with the switches) connected. The switch itself does not display any sign of problems (e.g., flickering LED). The relay audibly clicks when turned on/off, and pulling the air gap stops the problem. I’d expect this with a dimmer, at least in the no-neutral configuration and low-wattage loads, but it seems a bit odd to me for it to happen with a switch that has a neutral and when the relay is turned off, which is the case here.
I did some internet research, and I think I understand the root cause of the flickering light.
According to this post from Eric, these switches support an inductive load of up to 400 watts.
Inductive loads are loads powered by magnetic fields, such as fans or motors. My Google-fu has taught me that inductive loads do not play nicely with relays. When a relay cuts the power to an inductive load, the magnetic field collapses. This collapse creates a quick voltage spike that can cause an arc inside the relay. The arc leads to premature failure of the relay.
To combat this, relays for inductive loads typically use whats called a snubber (essentially a resistor and capacitor across the relay). A snubber’s primary function is to limit the voltage spike in order to prevent the electrical arc. A side effect of the snubber is that a small amount of current is allowed to pass through the switch even when it is off.
For an inductive or resistive (incandescent light) load, this small amount of current isnt enough to do anything, but for a capacitive (LED/CFL) load, this can have unintended effects. Instead of passing through the bulb harmlessly, it slowly charges the capacitor inside the bulb. When the voltage in the capacitor gets high enough, the light turns on. The light drains the capacitor pretty much immediately (causing light to flash), the light goes out, and the capacitor starts charging up again.
If this is the case, it looks like the only real solution is to somehow change the load. It might be changing one or more bulbs, or installing a bypass.
I replaced my 2 CFLs with 2x Fiet Electric CEOM100/930/4 bulbs from Costco. These bulbs are considerably brighter than the old bulbs (which is fine by me since they are in the kitchen), and it solved my problem.
Disclaimer: I am not an electrician, so I cannot say for certain that any of the above information is correct (except that changing the bulbs out solved my problem).
@2vanger - I think it should. I have 12 G8 LED lights on my under cabinet light and they are slightly dim when turned off. I was going to get a bypass to see if it fixes it.
TLDR: The Aeotec bypass works, the Lutron bypass does not.
I had this ghosting issue with most of my LED lights. I think I’ve had this issue with about 6 different types and brands of LEDs and only had 2 that didn’t have this issue. I tried both the Lutron LUT-MLC bypass and the Aeotec ZW150-Z bypass (see Eric’s link above). The Lutron did not work for me but the Aeotec did. I suspect that the Aeotec has a resistor (with a capacitor?). The Lutron is a pure capacitor; it is intended to address installations without a neutral and should work fine for that need.
