[Mdmaiorano]

Hey all,

Hoping you can help me diagnose a problem I have in my remodel: I’ve got one circuit for bathroom lights consisting of 4 LED cans (Lithonia 4JBK) on a Lurton dimmer, GFI protected since one of the cans is over the shower. My issue is that I have an extremely slight flicker in the lights that I can’t diagnose. When I say flicker, it’s not a strobe at all, just a slight variation in the brightness, like it’s quickly and erratically going back and forth between 100% and 90% brightness. It’s not the dimmer or the GFI since I’ve tested them by bypassing each alone and both at the same time and the problem persists. The really weird thing is if I hook up only 2 of the cans, the flicker goes away. The 2 cans don’t have to be in sequence and can be any random 2 of the 4. As soon as I add a 3rd can back into the run, the flicker comes back. It’s almost like there’s an inconsistent flow of power through the line that shows up once that 3rd+ can is hooked up.

I’ve used the same cans and dimmers for 6 other zones and 30 other cans with no issues, which again leads me back to something with the circuit.

What else can I do to test and diagnose the issue? I’m stumped over here! Thanks for the help,

-Mike

 

[chandler48]

Make sure your bulbs and dimmers are compatible with each other......dimmable bulbs. Check the connection in each can to make sure the wires are secure in their fasteners. Other than that, I can only suggest changing dimmer style.

 

[dmxtothemax]

Re: Slight Flicker Through LED Cans. I’m Stumped!

Put one only incandesant light on the same dimer
see if that stabilizes it.

 

[Mdmaiorano]

I know it’s not in the dimmer at all because I’ve used the same setup on 6 other circuits with no issues, and I’ve also just bypassed the switch all together to test and still get the flicker.

I’ll give it a shot with the incandescents tomorrow to see what that gives me and report back.

Thanks all!

 

[Greenlight1]

I know it’s not in the dimmer at all because I’ve used the same setup on 6 other circuits with no issues, and I’ve also just bypassed the switch all together to test and still get the flicker.

I’ll give it a shot with the incandescents tomorrow to see what that gives me and report back.

Thanks all!

See what else that breaker is powering besides your bathroom lights. Sometimes we have problems with people using different dimmers and/or lamps throughout the home on the same circuit.

 

[Mdmaiorano]

No flicker through an incandescent. Also nothing else on this circuit. Just a home run to GFI, GFI to dimmer, dimmer to 4 cans.

Funny part is that if I leave the incandescent in the series with the other 3 LEDs, it seems to “even out” the others and no flicker.

The plan calls for 2 sconces in this same run that would be incandescent, so I’m wondering if cutting those in will have the same effect on the cans. They’ve been ordered so fingers crossed! I’ll put this on the back burner for the moment to see if that solves the issue once I get them in.

Thanks all!

 

[ajaye]

Re: Slight Flicker Through LED Cans. I’m Stumped!

If it's a LED and you have a dimmer on it, the LED must be dimmable compatible. Otherwise this will happen, I had a 12 light light unit in the hall, connected to a dimmer.

The moron's who installed it put in a mixture of in candescents and LED's (non dimable) I had buzzing flicker etc.

I went through a process of replacing the min-lights, in the end, it would ONLY work when all 12 lights were LED dimmers, fooking cost me a fortune for LED's

that sir I believe is your problem, whether you USE the dimmer or not, it has electronics in there, get the right LED's it will sort it out

Hey all,

Hoping you can help me diagnose a problem I have in my remodel: I’ve got one circuit for bathroom lights consisting of 4 LED cans (Lithonia 4JBK) on a Lurton dimmer, GFI protected since one of the cans is over the shower. My issue is that I have an extremely slight flicker in the lights that I can’t diagnose. When I say flicker, it’s not a strobe at all, just a slight variation in the brightness, like it’s quickly and erratically going back and forth between 100% and 90% brightness. It’s not the dimmer or the GFI since I’ve tested them by bypassing each alone and both at the same time and the problem persists. The really weird thing is if I hook up only 2 of the cans, the flicker goes away. The 2 cans don’t have to be in sequence and can be any random 2 of the 4. As soon as I add a 3rd can back into the run, the flicker comes back. It’s almost like there’s an inconsistent flow of power through the line that shows up once that 3rd+ can is hooked up.

I’ve used the same cans and dimmers for 6 other zones and 30 other cans with no issues, which again leads me back to something with the circuit.

What else can I do to test and diagnose the issue? I’m stumped over here! Thanks for the help,

-Mike

 

[Datawise]

In the LED world, quality bulbs make a huge difference. Even a cheap incandescent bulb will even out the the issues with cheap LED bulbs.

If I have done it once, I have done it a thousand times; replace the cheap LEDs with quality ones or put an incandescent bulb on the circuit.

Cheers
John

 

[Mdmaiorano]

Alright to put a bow on this, I think I've gotten to the bottom of it:

Out of the 30ish Lutron cans I installed, about half had a little black capacitor that had been added between the push connects and the bulb. My bathroom run of the 4 cans was the only one that didn't have at least one can with the capacitor added and the only one that was flickering. Same dimmers and bulbs and everything on the other 5 circuits with no issue. This leads me to believe that Lutron is adding the capacitor to their newer manufacturing runs to solve this issue.

Luckily for me, adding in the incandescent sconces solved the flicker, so no more issues!

TL;DR - Make sure at least one of your bulbs has a capacitor added to it, or try to add an incandescent fixture into the run.

Thanks for the help everyone! Hope that helps someone in the future.

-Mike