Why do my 3w LED bulbs glow faintly when powered off?

vishalrao

vishalrao

Global Moral Police
Keymaster
Hello!

I have a light fixture with two bulb holders and wired for two-way switching.

Earlier it housed 7w LED bulbs which didn't have the issue I'm facing after I fitted it today with 3w Halonix-branded (actually 2.9w as printed on the box) LED bulbs.

This evening I noticed they both faintly glow when they're switched off. I don't see this with couple of same bulbs fitted in another light fixture in the same house.

What could be the issue?

Is it potential wiring issue with the two-way switches like a short-circuit or current leakage or something like that?

In any case I'll be informing and getting an electrician to check this out.

Thanks!
 
I have similar 3w led bulbs which when switched off glow extremely dim and can only be noticed in pitch dark darkness. I inquired with an electrician and he said due to earthing carrying a certain amount of tiny power some bulbs are extremely sensitive to current and can even glow to the tiniest current it senses.
I wasn't actually bothered but just curious on such a behavior.
In fact during Diwali I observed in a few balconies of other flats that their string lights would still glow dim even though the entire flat was in darkness.
Let me know what the electrician says. In my case, I do not have any 2-way switch but if I install those bulbs in any rooms the effect is the same. But it does not keep glowing the entire night but for some time like on-off itself. Bhutiya behaviour! But string lights glow 24x7.

You can also try this: Take an led and simply insert it in heavy points like geyser, AC, fridge without switching on the button (else be ready for a big bang theory) and you will see it glows to 20-30% of its lumens value. Its all about earthing.

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vishalrao said:
Hello!

I have a light fixture with two bulb holders and wired for two-way switching.

Earlier it housed 7w LED bulbs which didn't have the issue I'm facing after I fitted it today with 3w Halonix-branded (actually 2.9w as printed on the box) LED bulbs.

This evening I noticed they both faintly glow when they're switched off. I don't see this with couple of same bulbs fitted in another light fixture in the same house.

What could be the issue?

Is it potential wiring issue with the two-way switches like a short-circuit or current leakage or something like that?

In any case I'll be informing and getting an electrician to check this out.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Two possibilities
More likely, your switch is wired to neutral and not live.. In which case low current devices can obtain enough potential difference between the active 220V supply and the small length of wiring to the open switch on the neutral line

The other being that the switch is wired correctly but your neutral is not at zero.

Both possibilities can be easily checked with a DMM
 
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My guess, electricity from other wires from the same conduit causing interference through induction.

Check with multimeter. See if there's any voltage.
 
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