Buy a more expensive brand - I tried one brand it flashed on switch off - tried another it glowed on switch off - tried a more expensive one - 2 bucks more - on switch off no flicker - no glow.
@@Mr21Franz My bulb is "Philips", lowest priced model. The reason it glows is, on the contrary to what most people think, is because the circuit is efficient, so much that even small voltages pass without much resistance. I think I will keep it.
Using the same process, you can make an oscillator out of a single transistor, a capacitor and a diode(or LED). Capacitor charges until the voltage is high enough to flow through the LED, discharges, and then repeats. You can even control the oscillation rate with a pot that controls how fast the capacitors charge, and you can tweak the oscillation frequency range by changing the capacitor value. The output is typically a triangle wave.
Nicely done, explained well even for laymen. As someone who had to talk to laymen about tech stuff I can recognize a well put explanation with examples. Cheers!
You are brilliant! Spot on there! We never had issues like that with old Edison bulbs did we! LOL. Having a wall switch wired wrong is something that would have made no difference with a incandescent lamp. I learned about leakage when I tried using my old skool X-10 switch modules with CFL's several years ago. I'd turn the module off and the tube would still glow and flicker! Learned that the modules had a current bleeder that was used to manually turn on a lamp from it's switch without needing the command from the controller! So, now, if I use a CFL or LED on one of those modules, I have to make an internal mod to kill the bleeder so the bulb won't get the trickle current flow. Kinda tricky. Again, very interesting!
Thanks a lot John! I have a toaster plugged in a switched socket that is also plugged in a wall outlet. I know it is unorthodox a bit but I wanted to be able to switch the toaster on and off since it has not a built-in switch. I realized that toaster's LED indicator stayed on dimly when I switched the socket off. But when I turned the dial to increase heat (increasing resistance in a way) while the switch was off, the LED went off. While I was searching for the reasons of this issue, I came across this video and when I heard capacitive coupling, I tried to turn the socket 180° and plugged it in (an European wall outlet) again to tackle this phenomenon. Guess what... It worked :) I think because of wiring in that socket, the switch was located on the neutral wire. Turning the socket caused the switch to be on the hot wire. Thus, unlike the beginning, LED of the toaster stays off now when the socket's switch is also off. I am not sure if my approach is the exact solution for my case but hope it helps who has a similar problem. I would like to hear from the experts and broaden my electrical knowledge :)
John my friend, your thumb was VERY close to that 110V. Sort of don't do what I do, do what I say. We don't want to loose you. Where I am it's 245V - OOER! Real tingle time.
Actually if the voltage is lower higher the amps, so a chock with 110 volt it feels way stronger than 220 I mean with the same power in watts, something that is 2200 watts of power working at 220 volts works at 10 amps, if you change the input and works at 110 volts, still go to work at 2200 watts, but with 20 amps, so the breaker,the wire and the amps running in that circuit will feel stronger because you feel the amp not the voltage....
wow this is one cool video! i've always wondered why those leds do that. I especially loved the part where it lit up under the power transmission lines! very cool. reminds me of Nikola Tesla lol.
I found 2 problems that cause this. No ground on the circuit causing the neutral to act as a ground which neutrals are technically grounds but a 2nd ground absorbs all the neutral feedback bleed power. And 2 the cheaper led bulb manufacturer making dimmer compatible bulbs never added a bleed circuit resistor around the triac which any little voltage detected can switch the triac gate on and cause the bulbs circuit triac to be permanetley closed and then glow from the small voltage feedback from the neutral since triacs are used in dimmer compatible bulbs and accept voltage from both directions.
You are correct I had a service call that had this issue the led bulb in a bedroom would glow after turning off the switch,the fix was the circuit supplying power was also tied into the smoke alarms and they didn’t make up the grounds in one of the boxes so it was causing the slightest voltage to back feed on the ground around 4volts
Solved my problem. Thanks so much, man! Installed an outdoor flood light. When I turned it off, there was still some glow to it. Not good. Swapped the white for the black wire in the switch and it works perfectly now. Who knew....? Great explanation here. Thanks.
Hi John! Thank you so much for this video. It now explaines why my IKEA-LED lightbulb was flashing when i hooked it up to my remote-controlled switch WHEN IT WAS SWITCHED OFF. (Here in Amsterdam, it's 230 V 50 Hz, btw). It's a switch that you plug in the socket and then it has a socket by itself and you can dim or switch it by a remote. I really thought that it was a complete switch-off, but appearently it is not the case. Also thank you for the video-bit of 'stealing' current from the high voltage live-wires. As a kid, me and my grandpa were fantasizing about a coil made up of wire and a drum. You showed me it actually works!
"Frank, come look at this... Our neighbor is doing something with a video camera. pointing a wired stick at the power lines." "That's nothing. His wife told me she found him hunched over in a dark laundry room by his dryer, muttering something about capacity couples..." I'm just glad you didn't yammer on about free energy and Tesla.
Very interesting video. I have a bathroom fixture with three Philips flat style 60Watt dimmable light bulbs. If I unscrew one bulb out of the three the other two stay on and won’t turn off but they are quite bright still, it’s really weird. I hope the leakage current isn’t costing me on the meter to the house. The outside light fixture on the garage was a 70Watt sodium light with a ballast and I just screwed in a cheap LED bulb to replace the sodium lamp and it works very well.
9:00 You are a brave man. "Standing here under the 240,000 watt lines" Holding a lightning rod in your hand. Thank you for risking your life for science, but we would like more videos, too! ;-)
What he's done is add an antenna to the open circuit so the current isn't leaking it's turning into a radio signal. The glow is caused not by improper wiring in most cases it's just residual current that's present in the neutral loop due to other devices like fridges and clocks being on . The back feed of this residual voltage causes the lights to glow because the active wire is acting like an antenna and turning it into radio waves. Placing an antenna under power lines is doing the opposite turning radio waves back into power it's how radio and TVs works.
What you say is correct, but there is another reason why these bulbs will glow a while after turning off. If the glow dims over several minutes and finally goes out after turning off it is because the white bulbs use a blue LED with a fluorescent coating to convert some of the blue to green and red to get white just like fluorescent bulbs do. This fluorescent coating also has some phosphor properties, where energy is absorbed but not emitted immediately. This energy keeps the phosphor in an excited state for some short time, and as it decays off emits light.
I prefer incandescent bulbs, I just like the light better, but I recently ran out and had to put an LED bulb in my bedroom, I shut the light out and it does not shut off completely like you say but also when I wake up 4 hours later it still has a glow. I can check the wiring but is there an easy way to stop this? I've also heard LED bulbs aren't good for you...thanks
I have a light I made using an ordinary fluorescent tube and the circuit out of a CFL bulb, it works well but would be very slightly "on" when it was turned off, but when I reversed the live an neutral wires it stopped that and works as it should.
Hey, I use this feature for a night light in the hallway. Just put a .001uF across the light switch terminals. Costs next to nothing to run it all the time and have a regular light when needed. It is getting harder to find these lights without an inverter inside even at just $1. The inverter ones flash with this or don't light at all.
One time I helped someone put up their Christmas lights and a bunch of the led lightsets glowed like this while unplugged. I think I even got a small shock. I didn't know what the heck was going on until now. Perhaps that person's house had bad wiring with hot neutrals a long her house.
Fascinating. I've wondered why one of the LED units in my home did that. I don't know much about electrical workings, but in my infantile understanding I figured it was something like this. I enjoyed the part with the outdoor transmission line. Thanks!!!
My blinking led bulbs are on a 3-way circuit with 2 wall switches, so not sure there is a good way to reduce the microvoltage induced into the open lines. Funny thing is they did not originally blink when they were first installed, only about 6 months later. No changes to the house wiring have been made.
Could you please tell me what did you exactly do to fix it? I have a fixture with remote control and when I turn it off with the remote it is still glowing a little bit, but when I switch it off from the wall switch it goes off completely.
Thank you! I've often wondered about this phenomenon. Can you explain why a lamp with 8 small bulbs only works if I insert up to 7 LEDs and leave one halogen bulb, but won't work if I replace all of the halogen bulbs with LEDs? I suspect it must have something to do with the resistance. The switch is a simple on/off switch, not a dimmer.
David, Is this a low voltage (12v) lamp assembly ? Is there a PSU connected to, or built-into the assembly ? If-so I would bet on that PSU being a switch-mode unit that was originally designed specifically to drive halogen bulbs. It would then need to see a proper load from the halogen bulb(s) before operating correctly. LED units do not "look" the same when you put a multimeter across them. Once the PSU "sees" the halogen bulbs's resistance/load across it, it will develop the full 12v and hence the LED bulbs will also light-up in parallel with the halogen bulb. The cure for this, so that you can use all LED units in the assembly, is to change the PSU for one specifically designed to drive LED units. Some PSUs available will drive both LEDs or halogens. Obviously that may only be possible if the PSU is separate to the lamp assembly due to size and shape limitations. If the lamp assembly you have is not low voltage (12v) and uses mains voltage LEDs and halogen bulbs, I cannot then offer an explanation. Rob.
Gimmick Loop This is a simple form of the capacitive coupling achieved using two closely spaced wire strands to provide coupling in order of picofarads between the two conductors. These wires may be twisted for physical/mechanical stability. Parasitic Capacitive Coupling This is an unintended coupling that may develop due to capacitance between two PCB traces or wires that are close to each other. This may capacitively couple a signal to another and give rise to unnecessary noise or interference. This can be avoided by maintaining safe spacing between the wires and other conductors, or running ground planes and ground lines between signals that are likely to interfere with each other. Capacitive coupling is used in a wide range of circuits to pass the required ac signals or desired frequency signals and leave out the undesired dc signal. Typical applications include: Amplifier and audio circuits Digital circuits Telecommunication circuits Cross-over and filter circuits Power supply units
Anyone has any answers to why the LED summoned that bifrost at 0:55 instead of the usual flickering on the screen? Why did the camera captured it like that? Please I want to know what's going on
This have happened to me with a two way switch circuit. The (cheapo) led lamps were flashing slightly with some seconds period, a bit scary in a bedroom at nighttime!
Thank you. I came downstairs in the dark tonight and my reading light on my lamp was blinking, with the switch and lamp both turned off. I was ready to preform an exorcism on the lamp until I found this.
Nice video!!! I bought a rope light that has the same issue, the thing is that I have the stuff around the whole yard and it never turns completely off.... What resistor would I add to an led strip (the rope light) that's about 150ft long? I'm estimating 800W and on although I use a dimmer to make it not as bright. since it's an LED strip can I just bridge the positive and negative terminals at the end of it? ) - it does glow without the dimmer as well.. Thanks so much!
Curious about that bulb as I don't see a smoothing capacitor or a bleed resistor. As the bulb is coloured I don't know whether it is designed to be used with triac controllers such as sound into light modulators.
Hey @JohnAudioTech ! Thanks for this video. I learned that the switch on my lights is on the negative wire. Is there a way to fix it without having to switch to the hot wire? Installing the switch on the hot wire would imply cutting into the wall...
ok, but, why did my LED's glow dimly during the 'great texas power outage' in February 2021? Those little LED nightlights, well, they glowed during the outage(s). If the power company shuts down the local circuit, why are my LED's glowing?
I have an LED floodlight that stays on for a little while after the power is turned off. It's in an outdoor floodlight in a motion activated light fixture. Bad discharge resistor in the bulb??
How long is "a little while"? The phosphor in a white LED can have an afterglow that last for a few seconds. Could also be the smoothing cap discharging. The discharge resistor won't have anything to do with it. Its resistance is usually picked so it discharges the cap over a few minutes (everything else would be a waste of power).
superdau it stays glowing (not fully) for maybe 5 seconds. I figured it would be a smoothing capacitor discharging and it stays glowing longer due to a bad bleed resistor.
I have bulbs they glow maybe 3 seconds and then dimmer for another few. I figure that is also why they never flicker even when set real low. On the other hand and have spotlight that never shut off until I moved it to another plug. I am not happy about that.
What about LED light strips? Mine did not glow at first but they fell so I stuck them back to the wall and now they glow dim red when off ( remote controlled)
I had an LED bulb go 'bad' recently. When turned on, it was very dim, but on. When I unscrewed it to replace it, it remained lit for approx. 5 seconds after being fully removed from the socket. Assuming this must have been residual current stored in the capacitor?
Is there any way to turn off an led that keeps glowing? Something like discharging it with a resistor or something? I got a problem with an led ring for selfies and haven't found the fix. Thanks for your video.
So how does this happen with a rechargable battery LED light? I have a rechargable light that flickers often after being USB charged and unplugged. Is this a sign of the light starting to fail? Not a big deal but I was just wondering.
Today I just noticed for the first time that my Car LED bars (behind the grill) glow whenever I use them, and then turn them off. I figured it was only trickling out the final few "drops" of current in the wiring. Sure enough, they both glow ever so slightly (in the dark). After a minute or so, they no longer glow. The glow is so dim that I can barely see it in even the pitch darkness of night. Not bothering with installing relays, or troubleshooting my brains out. I'll just keep an eye on them for a few weeks and see...Otherwise, I'll take 45 seconds to disconnect the current and leave it that way until I truly (and rarely) actually need the extra lights.
I noticed this effect on my outdoor xmas tree tonight. The tree has an indoor plug, with built-in timer... 6 hours on and 18 hours off, with a very low voltage going to the outdoor xmas tree. It had been off for 3 hours, but some of the led lights had a dim glow. Is it faulty?
This is one of those videos that slightly make me a bit terrified of electricity because sometimes it does some weird shit like randomly being able to dimly light lights through the air. At the same time, it is fascinating. It's basically why Tesla wanted to create a Tower that basically dispenses electricity all over the globe because it's possible for electricity to travel without a wire. Although, on a large scale like what he had in mind, we aren't close to having the technology to be able to regulate the amount of energy to do that. Basically, I think if we tried to do it now, the ones closer to the tower may have their electronics explode while others that are in the right distance get a good charge. Any further and the charge is slow as hell. Plus, for example, phones work on 5v DC, appliances work on 120-220. There is so many problems with the idea. I think I went on a pointless rant but this video makes me think of this type of shit.
Naseem Mohamed I wouldn't say it's pointless at all; people take so much for granted, and don't really realize what is going on. FWIW, molecules are COMPLETELY reliant upon electric charge; seems it's all about electric charge.
I have a ceiling fan with a built in 18 watt led light kit. No bulbs, just a light strip in it. When the light is off and we run the fan we are getting a very slight flicker to the light. It’s not bright. We have had the fan installed for a couple months but I just started noticing this. Is this ok?
That capacitive coupling (happens to LED in refrigerators too that was originally using an incandescent one- what's the solution for that btw?) it's like induction in wireless charging I think. God bless, Rev. 21:4
Had similar problems caused by a control switch back box being too small, causing the wire insulation to be pinched and compromised. Remedied by refitting a deeper back box and insulation sleeving on the damaged wires.
No idea why they would even make a colored LED bulb with the phosphor coated "white leds" which are already blue without the phosphor. Seems kinda wasteful to me as phosphor does cause slight efficiency losses
What happens of that happens with lights that aren't LED's? Also what happens if it stops in one place and starts in another? Example: moving into a new apt and having it happen there and stop at the old apt?
I believe when you connect the extra non-charged wire to the LED, it is actually converting radio waves into enough power to charge the capacitor then provides just enough power to light the bulbs slightly......try turning off ALL electronics in your house that uses a radio signal including unplugging your Wi-Fi, then try the bare wire test......or try putting the wire only in a faraday cage....that may make the difference!!
If there is switch on phase side, when switched off, then also CFL Build flashes some times why ? From where the bulb get current and how circuit is completed .
I recently bought a new home and switched all my lights to led bulbs. A few of the hallway bulbs dimly glow when the power switch is off. They are not on dimmer switches. My question is, is there are fire hazard?
No they are fine. Without getting into all the details, there are several reasons this can happen and none are indicators of fire hazard. If you do have switch on neutral you have a safety issue but its not a fire hazard issue.
@@helloimbasa Neutrals, which are in the category of grounded conductors are not allowed to be switched, per NEC in the US and likely in most other sane countries as well. Basically if the neutral is switched then its possible that all sorts of situations can occur where the device(s) and conductors are hot up to the point of the switch. Imagine having a switched outlet in a room and the switch is on the neutral. With this configuration the device is hot and both conductors are hot up to the switch. Someone could literally think the device is safe because it is switched off and do something dangerous, possibly even purposefully.
Hello folks so i have a sensor solar light that is doing that glow ones it turns off but i noticed that if i turn off the switch from inside it completely turns off what might b the issue any ideas
The glowing doesn't bother. My question is, is the glowing costing additional consumption cost. Is it going to cost me extra with the electric company?
Is this necessarily a problem? I have led strips on my desk, whenever I turn it off, there is always a dim glow. Only when I unplug the power cable it stops emitting light. My question is, do I have to unplug the power cable every time I’m not using the led? Or can I just leave it as it is, will the slight glow course any damage on the LED?
We are leasing a house, after living in this house for about a year. In the kitchen there are four pocket lights (older house, so pockets were supposed to be an upgrade I guess). We noticed a kitchen pocket light burned out and then the other pocket light would not completely turn off.. when the light switch is in off position (no dimmers). I replaces all the lights and 3 worked, but one new light never worked.. but with 3 lights working, when I turn off light they all go off and stay off. I noticed tonight one of the 3 working lights burned out. Now when the light switch is in off position one light stays on (albeit dimly)... very puzzling and worry some. O' and the 4 pocket lights are controlled by two light switches. Landlord acts confused and just says replace all bulbs, but this has me worried, faulty wiring for poorly installed pocket lights. I have no idea what kind of lighting was in that kitchen before? The place has been cheaply renovated, by looking at ceiling easy to tell where a wall was taken out and cheap wood flooring was poorly put in.. open gaps flooring doesn't meet wall very well in numerous places. Anyway, ya any idea how worried I should be about the wiring with these pocket lights? Anyone
Hey so what about when you shut off a LED bulb if you look really quickly compared to an incandescent bulb next to it, it kind of dims off rather than it being instantly off.
+JohnAudioTech - Dont forget induction etc. ... cable = antenna (also for by "Dirty electricity" produced EM-radiation & radiation from power-lines, transmitters etc )
I put can lights up when I remodeled my kitchen and sometimes when I shut them off there is a light glow to them, so I have it set up where 3 different switches will turn them off or on and one is a dimmer switch, so is one of my switches wired wrong? Any feedback will be helpful
At my house, I have lights let up that you plug in, when unplugged there are sections that light up dimmly constantly. (Even days without being plugged in so it can't be the capacitor) wrapped around timber. feel like current leakage not the issues, maybe eddie current. only half of the circuit is along a 2.5A cable but it lights up(dimml) in sections. and parts have lightened up that are not near the cable. can anyone help? im an apprentice sparky so still fresh. EDIT. not under any powerlines.
Is it dangerous if your light fixture is constantly doing this? My bedroom light is always flickering like that when it's not on. Some nights my anxiety gets really high because my roommate isn't always here and if something happens in the middle of the night I have to deal with it alone
@@JohnAudioTech annoying is accurate. It's too dark to see during the day but when you're laying in a pitch black room and there's a very dim light constantly flickering it can be annoying
I'm having a similar issue in an car. I replaced some small driving lights (factory ) with LEDs and they glow dimly when off. I just installed them so I don't know yet if there will be any power drain. We'll see..
you just need to make the Hot wire always go to the switches to avoid this ( when your connection type is Line to Neutral ). and when your connetion type is Line to Line just Connect the Switch Return to the Gold terminal of receptacle.
JohnAudioTech Thanks for the reply. I really don’t know what’s causing it, the switch on my wall is just a basic on/off switch. I have the lights correctly wired, yet they glow when the switch is in off. Maybe they’re cheap LED’s or something? I got the light fixture off Amazon (China).
I am laying in bed im dozing off and my room is almost lit up? I look at the ceiling fan and its light up! My switch was off . I GOT UP TURNING ON THE SWITCH , IT LIGHT UP ON NORMAL. THEN I turned it off . It dimmed this way for 3 or so minutes....I have never had this happen before?
What about on a transistor radio? Tuning LED on my c.1980 Panasonic AM/FM/SW radio.... While switched off.. Draining batteries after a few days... J.C.
I have wasted 1 entire day looking for house wiring mistakes !
My small 1 watt led bulb was glowing even when switched off.
Thanks for this video.
Buy a more expensive brand - I tried one brand it flashed on switch off - tried another it glowed on switch off - tried a more expensive one - 2 bucks more - on switch off no flicker - no glow.
@David Lee It does consume lil bit of electricity but the increase in your electricity bill will be insignificant. Dont worry.
@@Mr21Franz My bulb is "Philips", lowest priced model. The reason it glows is, on the contrary to what most people think, is because the circuit is efficient, so much that even small voltages pass without much resistance. I think I will keep it.
@David Lee yes it will reduce such occurances to a large degree. That is the right way to do House wiring.
i bet you are an self proclaimed electrician who don't know shit, atleat you would've used commen sense what a losser
Using the same process, you can make an oscillator out of a single transistor, a capacitor and a diode(or LED). Capacitor charges until the voltage is high enough to flow through the LED, discharges, and then repeats. You can even control the oscillation rate with a pot that controls how fast the capacitors charge, and you can tweak the oscillation frequency range by changing the capacitor value. The output is typically a triangle wave.
Nicely done, explained well even for laymen. As someone who had to talk to laymen about tech stuff I can recognize a well put explanation with examples. Cheers!
Had no idea that an exposed LED can summon the Bifrost. 0:55
Y so?
well Thor did say Science and Magic is the same to Asgardians
Are you saying RGB is the secret to the powers of the norse gods?!
🤣😂
Any idea why that happened? The bifrost instead of the usual flickering I mean?
You are brilliant! Spot on there! We never had issues like that with old Edison bulbs did we! LOL. Having a wall switch wired wrong is something that would have made no difference with a incandescent lamp. I learned about leakage when I tried using my old skool X-10 switch modules with CFL's several years ago. I'd turn the module off and the tube would still glow and flicker! Learned that the modules had a current bleeder that was used to manually turn on a lamp from it's switch without needing the command from the controller! So, now, if I use a CFL or LED on one of those modules, I have to make an internal mod to kill the bleeder so the bulb won't get the trickle current flow. Kinda tricky. Again, very interesting!
Thanks a lot John! I have a toaster plugged in a switched socket that is also plugged in a wall outlet. I know it is unorthodox a bit but I wanted to be able to switch the toaster on and off since it has not a built-in switch. I realized that toaster's LED indicator stayed on dimly when I switched the socket off. But when I turned the dial to increase heat (increasing resistance in a way) while the switch was off, the LED went off.
While I was searching for the reasons of this issue, I came across this video and when I heard capacitive coupling, I tried to turn the socket 180° and plugged it in (an European wall outlet) again to tackle this phenomenon. Guess what... It worked :)
I think because of wiring in that socket, the switch was located on the neutral wire. Turning the socket caused the switch to be on the hot wire. Thus, unlike the beginning, LED of the toaster stays off now when the socket's switch is also off.
I am not sure if my approach is the exact solution for my case but hope it helps who has a similar problem. I would like to hear from the experts and broaden my electrical knowledge :)
*0:43** Says be more careful to us, but if you notice closely he's accidentally about to touch the line wire.*
that's the neutral (cold) wire, touching it will do nothing
John my friend, your thumb was VERY close to that 110V. Sort of don't do what I do, do what I say. We don't want to loose you. Where I am it's 245V - OOER! Real tingle time.
Actually if the voltage is lower higher the amps, so a chock with 110 volt it feels way stronger than 220 I mean with the same power in watts, something that is 2200 watts of power working at 220 volts works at 10 amps, if you change the input and works at 110 volts, still go to work at 2200 watts, but with 20 amps, so the breaker,the wire and the amps running in that circuit will feel stronger because you feel the amp not the voltage....
Makes me nauseous that he got that close.
wow this is one cool video! i've always wondered why those leds do that. I especially loved the part where it lit up under the power transmission lines! very cool. reminds me of Nikola Tesla lol.
Lakario Davis That would be Ben Franklin actually.
The bleeder resistor can't discharge the capacitor if the resistor is on the AC side of the bridge rectifier. Error on my part.
ya think? LOL.
It would still stop them lighting.
Well, that's better than me thinking aliens are taking flash photos of my house!
I found 2 problems that cause this. No ground on the circuit causing the neutral to act as a ground which neutrals are technically grounds but a 2nd ground absorbs all the neutral feedback bleed power. And 2 the cheaper led bulb manufacturer making dimmer compatible bulbs never added a bleed circuit resistor around the triac which any little voltage detected can switch the triac gate on and cause the bulbs circuit triac to be permanetley closed and then glow from the small voltage feedback from the neutral since triacs are used in dimmer compatible bulbs and accept voltage from both directions.
You are correct I had a service call that had this issue the led bulb in a bedroom would glow after turning off the switch,the fix was the circuit supplying power was also tied into the smoke alarms and they didn’t make up the grounds in one of the boxes so it was causing the slightest voltage to back feed on the ground around 4volts
Man, you were having way too much fun. Good video
Solved my problem. Thanks so much, man!
Installed an outdoor flood light. When I turned it off, there was still some glow to it. Not good. Swapped the white for the black wire in the switch and it works perfectly now. Who knew....? Great explanation here. Thanks.
Hi John! Thank you so much for this video. It now explaines why my IKEA-LED lightbulb was flashing when i hooked it up to my remote-controlled switch WHEN IT WAS SWITCHED OFF. (Here in Amsterdam, it's 230 V 50 Hz, btw). It's a switch that you plug in the socket and then it has a socket by itself and you can dim or switch it by a remote. I really thought that it was a complete switch-off, but appearently it is not the case. Also thank you for the video-bit of 'stealing' current from the high voltage live-wires. As a kid, me and my grandpa were fantasizing about a coil made up of wire and a drum. You showed me it actually works!
"Frank, come look at this... Our neighbor is doing something with a video camera. pointing a wired stick at the power lines." "That's nothing. His wife told me she found him hunched over in a dark laundry room by his dryer, muttering something about capacity couples..." I'm just glad you didn't yammer on about free energy and Tesla.
The story of my life :')
Very interesting video. I have a bathroom fixture with three Philips flat style 60Watt dimmable light bulbs. If I unscrew one bulb out of the three the other two stay on and won’t turn off but they are quite bright still, it’s really weird. I hope the leakage current isn’t costing me on the meter to the house. The outside light fixture on the garage was a 70Watt sodium light with a ballast and I just screwed in a cheap LED bulb to replace the sodium lamp and it works very well.
You might wish to include a bridge rectifier for a finer sine stream.
9:00 You are a brave man. "Standing here under the 240,000 watt lines"
Holding a lightning rod in your hand. Thank you for risking your life for science, but we would like more videos, too! ;-)
What he's done is add an antenna to the open circuit so the current isn't leaking it's turning into a radio signal.
The glow is caused not by improper wiring in most cases it's just residual current that's present in the neutral loop due to other devices like fridges and clocks being on . The back feed of this residual voltage causes the lights to glow because the active wire is acting like an antenna and turning it into radio waves. Placing an antenna under power lines is doing the opposite turning radio waves back into power it's how radio and TVs works.
Anom Amos I'd also say don't forget illuminated wall switches. - I wouldn't be surprised if code changes to accommodate illuminated switches.
Anom Amos yes.. induction
What you say is correct, but there is another reason why these bulbs will glow a while after turning off. If the glow dims over several minutes and finally goes out after turning off it is because the white bulbs use a blue LED with a fluorescent coating to convert some of the blue to green and red to get white just like fluorescent bulbs do. This fluorescent coating also has some phosphor properties, where energy is absorbed but not emitted immediately. This energy keeps the phosphor in an excited state for some short time, and as it decays off emits light.
This video was informative. I'm going to try re-wiring my switch so that it's on the hot line instead of neutral.
I prefer incandescent bulbs, I just like the light better, but I recently ran out and had to put an LED bulb in my bedroom, I shut the light out and it does not shut off completely like you say but also when I wake up 4 hours later it still has a glow. I can check the wiring but is there an easy way to stop this? I've also heard LED bulbs aren't good for you...thanks
I have a light I made using an ordinary fluorescent tube and the circuit out of a CFL bulb, it works well but would be very slightly "on" when it was turned off, but when I reversed the live an neutral wires it stopped that and works as it should.
Hey, I use this feature for a night light in the hallway. Just put a .001uF across the light switch terminals. Costs next to nothing to run it all the time and have a regular light when needed. It is getting harder to find these lights without an inverter inside even at just $1. The inverter ones flash with this or don't light at all.
Great video. Does the glow affect the LED lamp in the long run?
One time I helped someone put up their Christmas lights and a bunch of the led lightsets glowed like this while unplugged. I think I even got a small shock. I didn't know what the heck was going on until now. Perhaps that person's house had bad wiring with hot neutrals a long her house.
Fascinating. I've wondered why one of the LED units in my home did that. I don't know much about electrical workings, but in my infantile understanding I figured it was something like this. I enjoyed the part with the outdoor transmission line. Thanks!!!
Very nice explanation sir ❤❤❤❤
Thanks!
But the question is: How do I identify if the bulb I'm about to buy is missing that resistor?
My blinking led bulbs are on a 3-way circuit with 2 wall switches, so not sure there is a good way to reduce the microvoltage induced into the open lines. Funny thing is they did not originally blink when they were first installed, only about 6 months later. No changes to the house wiring have been made.
I agree..1 of the best explanation.. Nice 👍.. shout out on next video..God bless
Thanks man for the explanation now i know... thats what happen to our light specially when raining...👍
The air serves as a capacitor or the air capacitance absorbes the induced current through air as picked up by the loose wire....
Thanks!! Learned a bunch of things i never knew... and fixed my lights.
Could you please tell me what did you exactly do to fix it? I have a fixture with remote control and when I turn it off with the remote it is still glowing a little bit, but when I switch it off from the wall switch it goes off completely.
will it damage my led and still take electric bill
Thank you! I've often wondered about this phenomenon. Can you explain why a lamp with 8 small bulbs only works if I insert up to 7 LEDs and leave one halogen bulb, but won't work if I replace all of the halogen bulbs with LEDs? I suspect it must have something to do with the resistance. The switch is a simple on/off switch, not a dimmer.
David,
Is this a low voltage (12v) lamp assembly ? Is there a PSU connected to, or built-into the assembly ?
If-so I would bet on that PSU being a switch-mode unit that was originally designed specifically to drive halogen bulbs. It would then need to see a proper load from the halogen bulb(s) before operating correctly. LED units do not "look" the same when you put a multimeter across them.
Once the PSU "sees" the halogen bulbs's resistance/load across it, it will develop the full 12v and hence the LED bulbs will also light-up in parallel with the halogen bulb.
The cure for this, so that you can use all LED units in the assembly, is to change the PSU for one specifically designed to drive LED units. Some PSUs available will drive both LEDs or halogens.
Obviously that may only be possible if the PSU is separate to the lamp assembly due to size and shape limitations.
If the lamp assembly you have is not low voltage (12v) and uses mains voltage LEDs and halogen bulbs, I cannot then offer an explanation. Rob.
The halogen lamp acts as a current sink, soaking up the excess current in the circuit so the LEDs will not glow.
@@bobbychariot1980, thanks for the explanation. That makes sense.
Gimmick Loop
This is a simple form of the capacitive coupling achieved using two closely spaced wire strands to provide coupling in order of picofarads between the two conductors. These wires may be twisted for physical/mechanical stability.
Parasitic Capacitive Coupling
This is an unintended coupling that may develop due to capacitance between two PCB traces or wires that are close to each other. This may capacitively couple a signal to another and give rise to unnecessary noise or interference. This can be avoided by maintaining safe spacing between the wires and other conductors, or running ground planes and ground lines between signals that are likely to interfere with each other.
Capacitive coupling is used in a wide range of circuits to pass the required ac signals or desired frequency signals and leave out the undesired dc signal. Typical applications include:
Amplifier and audio circuits
Digital circuits
Telecommunication circuits
Cross-over and filter circuits
Power supply units
great video to explain! i dont mind this glowing, but how much it takes electricity? im afarid my electric bills:/
Anyone has any answers to why the LED summoned that bifrost at 0:55 instead of the usual flickering on the screen? Why did the camera captured it like that? Please I want to know what's going on
Just the camera
This have happened to me with a two way switch circuit. The (cheapo) led lamps were flashing slightly with some seconds period, a bit scary in a bedroom at nighttime!
Thank you. I came downstairs in the dark tonight and my reading light on my lamp was blinking, with the switch and lamp both turned off. I was ready to preform an exorcism on the lamp until I found this.
Thank you so much. Turning around my plug in the outlet solved the issue
Nice video!!! I bought a rope light that has the same issue, the thing is that I have the stuff around the whole yard and it never turns completely off.... What resistor would I add to an led strip (the rope light) that's about 150ft long? I'm estimating 800W and on although I use a dimmer to make it not as bright. since it's an LED strip can I just bridge the positive and negative terminals at the end of it? ) - it does glow without the dimmer as well.. Thanks so much!
Curious about that bulb as I don't see a smoothing capacitor or a bleed resistor. As the bulb is coloured I don't know whether it is designed to be used with triac controllers such as sound into light modulators.
That's genius! I was wondering why my kitchen lights are lit even when the switch/dimmer is off.
Hey @JohnAudioTech ! Thanks for this video. I learned that the switch on my lights is on the negative wire. Is there a way to fix it without having to switch to the hot wire? Installing the switch on the hot wire would imply cutting into the wall...
ok, but, why did my LED's glow dimly during the 'great texas power outage' in February 2021? Those little LED nightlights, well, they glowed during the outage(s). If the power company shuts down the local circuit, why are my LED's glowing?
I have an LED floodlight that stays on for a little while after the power is turned off. It's in an outdoor floodlight in a motion activated light fixture. Bad discharge resistor in the bulb??
How long is "a little while"? The phosphor in a white LED can have an afterglow that last for a few seconds. Could also be the smoothing cap discharging. The discharge resistor won't have anything to do with it. Its resistance is usually picked so it discharges the cap over a few minutes (everything else would be a waste of power).
superdau it stays glowing (not fully) for maybe 5 seconds. I figured it would be a smoothing capacitor discharging and it stays glowing longer due to a bad bleed resistor.
I have bulbs they glow maybe 3 seconds and then dimmer for another few. I figure that is also why they never flicker even when set real low. On the other hand and have spotlight that never shut off until I moved it to another plug. I am not happy about that.
This wouldn't cause a fire or any other harm would it?
What about LED light strips?
Mine did not glow at first but they fell so I stuck them back to the wall and now they glow dim red when off ( remote controlled)
here analog meter dont use ground,only live and neutral 245v, i wonder if it still spin the meter when current is leaking to ground??
I had an LED bulb go 'bad' recently. When turned on, it was very dim, but on. When I unscrewed it to replace it, it remained lit for approx. 5 seconds after being fully removed from the socket. Assuming this must have been residual current stored in the capacitor?
Is there any way to turn off an led that keeps glowing? Something like discharging it with a resistor or something? I got a problem with an led ring for selfies and haven't found the fix. Thanks for your video.
So how does this happen with a rechargable battery LED light? I have a rechargable light that flickers often after being USB charged and unplugged. Is this a sign of the light starting to fail? Not a big deal but I was just wondering.
Today I just noticed for the first time that my Car LED bars (behind the grill) glow whenever I use them, and then turn them off. I figured it was only trickling out the final few "drops" of current in the wiring. Sure enough, they both glow ever so slightly (in the dark). After a minute or so, they no longer glow. The glow is so dim that I can barely see it in even the pitch darkness of night. Not bothering with installing relays, or troubleshooting my brains out. I'll just keep an eye on them for a few weeks and see...Otherwise, I'll take 45 seconds to disconnect the current and leave it that way until I truly (and rarely) actually need the extra lights.
I noticed this effect on my outdoor xmas tree tonight. The tree has an indoor plug, with built-in timer... 6 hours on and 18 hours off, with a very low voltage going to the outdoor xmas tree.
It had been off for 3 hours, but some of the led lights had a dim glow.
Is it faulty?
This is one of those videos that slightly make me a bit terrified of electricity because sometimes it does some weird shit like randomly being able to dimly light lights through the air. At the same time, it is fascinating. It's basically why Tesla wanted to create a Tower that basically dispenses electricity all over the globe because it's possible for electricity to travel without a wire. Although, on a large scale like what he had in mind, we aren't close to having the technology to be able to regulate the amount of energy to do that. Basically, I think if we tried to do it now, the ones closer to the tower may have their electronics explode while others that are in the right distance get a good charge. Any further and the charge is slow as hell. Plus, for example, phones work on 5v DC, appliances work on 120-220. There is so many problems with the idea. I think I went on a pointless rant but this video makes me think of this type of shit.
Naseem Mohamed I wouldn't say it's pointless at all; people take so much for granted, and don't really realize what is going on. FWIW, molecules are COMPLETELY reliant upon electric charge; seems it's all about electric charge.
I have a ceiling fan with a built in 18 watt led light kit. No bulbs, just a light strip in it. When the light is off and we run the fan we are getting a very slight flicker to the light. It’s not bright. We have had the fan installed for a couple months but I just started noticing this. Is this ok?
That capacitive coupling (happens to LED in refrigerators too that was originally using an incandescent one- what's the solution for that btw?) it's like induction in wireless charging I think.
God bless, Rev. 21:4
Had similar problems caused by a control switch back box being too small, causing the wire insulation to be pinched and compromised. Remedied by refitting a deeper back box and insulation sleeving on the damaged wires.
I have seen LED drivers get ruined when neutral was disconnected with power on. Whole fixtures had to be replaced.
This is a feature if the bulb is: in the living room, in the hallway, in the bathroom, outside, ect
this is a bug if the bulb is: in the bedroom.
No idea why they would even make a colored LED bulb with the phosphor coated "white leds" which are already blue without the phosphor. Seems kinda wasteful to me as phosphor does cause slight efficiency losses
What happens of that happens with lights that aren't LED's? Also what happens if it stops in one place and starts in another? Example: moving into a new apt and having it happen there and stop at the old apt?
I believe when you connect the extra non-charged wire to the LED, it is actually converting radio waves into enough power to charge the capacitor then provides just enough power to light the bulbs slightly......try turning off ALL electronics in your house that uses a radio signal including unplugging your Wi-Fi, then try the bare wire test......or try putting the wire only in a faraday cage....that may make the difference!!
If there is switch on phase side, when switched off, then also CFL Build flashes some times why ? From where the bulb get current and how circuit is completed .
I recently bought a new home and switched all my lights to led bulbs. A few of the hallway bulbs dimly glow when the power switch is off. They are not on dimmer switches. My question is, is there are fire hazard?
No they are fine. Without getting into all the details, there are several reasons this can happen and none are indicators of fire hazard. If you do have switch on neutral you have a safety issue but its not a fire hazard issue.
Nick Knight Thanks Nick
@@NickFrom1228 What is the safety issue?
@@helloimbasa Neutrals, which are in the category of grounded conductors are not allowed to be switched, per NEC in the US and likely in most other sane countries as well. Basically if the neutral is switched then its possible that all sorts of situations can occur where the device(s) and conductors are hot up to the point of the switch. Imagine having a switched outlet in a room and the switch is on the neutral. With this configuration the device is hot and both conductors are hot up to the switch. Someone could literally think the device is safe because it is switched off and do something dangerous, possibly even purposefully.
Hello folks so i have a sensor solar light that is doing that glow ones it turns off but i noticed that if i turn off the switch from inside it completely turns off what might b the issue any ideas
...so, is an LED that glows when off and/or that flashes when off dangerous?
No. It just shows LED's sensitivity to low current. It is mostly annoying that the lights flash or glow slightly when they're supposed to be off.
The glowing doesn't bother. My question is, is the glowing costing additional consumption cost. Is it going to cost me extra with the electric company?
Nothing to worry about. The leakage current draw is so small it won't impact your electric bill.
Is this necessarily a problem? I have led strips on my desk, whenever I turn it off, there is always a dim glow. Only when I unplug the power cable it stops emitting light.
My question is, do I have to unplug the power cable every time I’m not using the led?
Or can I just leave it as it is, will the slight glow course any damage on the LED?
It should not harm the LEDs.
Link to the bulbs that light up from the neutral when turned off???
The end looked dangerous, like Ben Franklin kite/key.
We are leasing a house, after living in this house for about a year. In the kitchen there are four pocket lights (older house, so pockets were supposed to be an upgrade I guess). We noticed a kitchen pocket light burned out and then the other pocket light would not completely turn off.. when the light switch is in off position (no dimmers). I replaces all the lights and 3 worked, but one new light never worked.. but with 3 lights working, when I turn off light they all go off and stay off. I noticed tonight one of the 3 working lights burned out. Now when the light switch is in off position one light stays on (albeit dimly)... very puzzling and worry some.
O' and the 4 pocket lights are controlled by two light switches.
Landlord acts confused and just says replace all bulbs, but this has me worried, faulty wiring for poorly installed pocket lights. I have no idea what kind of lighting was in that kitchen before? The place has been cheaply renovated, by looking at ceiling easy to tell where a wall was taken out and cheap wood flooring was poorly put in.. open gaps flooring doesn't meet wall very well in numerous places.
Anyway, ya any idea how worried I should be about the wiring with these pocket lights?
Anyone
Are these LED bulbs? It could be faulty bulbs.
JohnAudioTech No not led, they're Philips Halogen indoor / out door flood lights 50W
Hey so what about when you shut off a LED bulb if you look really quickly compared to an incandescent bulb next to it, it kind of dims off rather than it being instantly off.
That is due to the capacitor used in the LED bulb. It holds a small charge of electricity that dissipates when the bulb is turned off.
+JohnAudioTech - Dont forget induction etc. ... cable = antenna (also for by "Dirty electricity" produced EM-radiation & radiation from power-lines, transmitters etc )
Okay but isnm it dangerous if, when I flick off my lightswitch the light flickers and fades off slowly?
I put can lights up when I remodeled my kitchen and sometimes when I shut them off there is a light glow to them, so I have it set up where 3 different switches will turn them off or on and one is a dimmer switch, so is one of my switches wired wrong? Any feedback will be helpful
Do LED bulbs make your home glow, like your at a black light party?
Sir It tells that the LED bulb OR The resistor is already busted
At my house, I have lights let up that you plug in, when unplugged there are sections that light up dimmly constantly. (Even days without being plugged in so it can't be the capacitor) wrapped around timber. feel like current leakage not the issues, maybe eddie current. only half of the circuit is along a 2.5A cable but it lights up(dimml) in sections. and parts have lightened up that are not near the cable. can anyone help? im an apprentice sparky so still fresh.
EDIT. not under any powerlines.
Is it dangerous if your light fixture is constantly doing this? My bedroom light is always flickering like that when it's not on. Some nights my anxiety gets really high because my roommate isn't always here and if something happens in the middle of the night I have to deal with it alone
Not dangerous but it's annoying. I'd try a different bulb.
@@JohnAudioTech annoying is accurate. It's too dark to see during the day but when you're laying in a pitch black room and there's a very dim light constantly flickering it can be annoying
switched neutral used to be the standard way of wiring the circuits in a house. that changed with code requirements.
0:54 the bulb light up...you mean an intra Dimensional portal to hell opens
I even stuck my licked finger in the socket; NOTHING! Weird; I'm wondering; what's the sensitivity of the power meter?
Is this a dangerous problem? Mine is pulsating when switched off
I'm having a similar issue in an car. I replaced some small driving lights (factory ) with LEDs and they glow dimly when off. I just installed them so I don't know yet if there will be any power drain. We'll see..
jmorg1267 having the same issue, any updates on how to fix?
you just need to make the Hot wire always go to the switches to avoid this ( when your connection type is Line to Neutral ). and when your connetion type is Line to Line just Connect the Switch Return to the Gold terminal of receptacle.
Thanks, I had this effect too! that explains it!
So I need to reverse the wire right?
The air is like one big giant resister :P
Does this still consume electricity?
Probably
Thank you very much!! You helped me to understand how it works!!
Does this actually waste energy in your home or is this simply “leakage” that the LED’s are are picking up?
It is using energy but it is so small it really doesn't make a difference.
JohnAudioTech Thanks for the reply. I really don’t know what’s causing it, the switch on my wall is just a basic on/off switch. I have the lights correctly wired, yet they glow when the switch is in off. Maybe they’re cheap LED’s or something? I got the light fixture off Amazon (China).
I am laying in bed im dozing off and my room is almost lit up? I look at the ceiling fan and its light up! My switch was off . I GOT UP TURNING ON THE SWITCH , IT LIGHT UP ON NORMAL. THEN I turned it off . It dimmed this way for 3 or so minutes....I have never had this happen before?
because of the static
What about on a transistor radio?
Tuning LED on my c.1980 Panasonic AM/FM/SW radio....
While switched off..
Draining batteries after a few days...
J.C.
Why does the bulb light up if it is off with two hot lines?
I am looking for this answer
Will using a higher wattage driver solve the issue?
I'm using a fluorescent light bulb and it keeps on flashing every 30 minutes do I need to call a electrician