LED Bulb Flicker

Zee09

Zee09

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I have various LED bulbs throughout the house. Several makes.
Lately I have noticed I am sensitive to them and I can see flickering in them especially if I am sitting to the side of them.

I have asked others about this and they can't see it. I just started noticing it in the last few weeks.

Anybody else super sensitive to this
It is driving me a bit nuts..

Reminds me of people that never seen a hummingbird when they are surrounded by them. Once you train your eye to them you can see them at very long distances...

Now this flickering is not from vibration. Anybody else?
 
actually.. mine started flickering just the other day and then burnt out. When I took it out the ceramic neck was cracked in half! Talk about a fire hazard! Just on a normal on-off switch. These were about 7 years old. Might want to make sure yours aren't dying, before they cause a fire. These were some no-name I got years ago.. Now I've been using brand name stuff like Feit Electric. but...

People who could see the flickering (if it's not ready to die) usually can see what the cheap power supplies used in the lower quality led lightbulbs are causing (home type, I'm talking, A19 base). The power supplies do not supply smooth power (think more jagged lines on an oscilloscope) and that makes the flicker you're seeing. I thought they had gotten better over time, but maybe with greed they just went back to the cheap stuff.

The people who I know who could see this, it was usually with the cheap LED bulbs..
 
A few things to look at. First I've had bulbs that didn't seat well in certain receptacles that caused issues. Another issue is low cost "Great value " and other brands I've found don't have the weight that GE or Cree does. This means a really small heat sink or thinner wiring. Third according to a number of sources
The low frequency of less than 50 Hz makes the LED bulb flicker. Your LED bulb might be flickering due to loose or incorrect wiring, incompatible dimmer switches, or bulb components such as a defective LED driver.
 
Hi Zee, Yes I believe all LEDs flicker as part of the design. I am not an expert of them by any means but if memory serves me correctly all LEDs have a built in controller. When the controller starts leaking voltage (expression I have heard) they can start to exhibit noticeable flicker. I have 2 garage lights that are LEDs that I bought at HD. They are linkable so you can hang multiple units and only have a single linked power cord to connect them all in series so to speak. When I turn them off after they have been on for some time. I can see them flicker right before they completely go out. This could be due to the internal controller starting to fail.....not sure.
 
researcher said:
actually.. mine started flickering just the other day and then burnt out. When I took it out the ceramic neck was cracked in half! Talk about a fire hazard! Just on a normal on-off switch. These were about 7 years old. Might want to make sure yours aren't dying, before they cause a fire. These were some no-name I got years ago.. Now I've been using brand name stuff like Feit Electric. but...

People who could see the flickering (if it's not ready to die) usually can see what the cheap power supplies used in the lower quality led lightbulbs are causing (home type, I'm talking, A19 base). The power supplies do not supply smooth power (think more jagged lines on an oscilloscope) and that makes the flicker you're seeing. I thought they had gotten better over time, but maybe with greed they just went back to the cheap stuff.

The people who I know who could see this, it was usually with the cheap LED bulbs..
Click to expand...
Great info. Thanks
This one had like under 250 hours on it and was a Sunbeam and the other was fresh that replaced it and it is a Philips... The new one really messed up my eyes.
I do have some Feits I can try...
 
I've only noticed my various LED bulbs flicker when they're about to die. Otherwise, I've never noticed a flicker. I have both standard bulbs and flood bulbs throughout the house and none exhibit any flicker, including while dimmed.
 
KJSmith said:
FYI,
LED's are all DC voltage wise.
They have a built in "driver" that converts to DC.
The LED itself should not fail...in theory... but the driver will.
Click to expand...
Usually the driver fail, cheap power electronics, when they fail they sort of have unstable voltage which makes them "flicker".

If you have a battery powering an LED with resisters / potentiometer adjusting the voltage / current without switching, they won't flicker. If your switching power supply switch at very high frequency (khz), then your eyes won't see them flicker either.

If you just use the LED as rectifier at the 60hz grid AC, yes it will flicker if you are sensitive to it. Back in the CRT days I need refresh rate to be at least 75hz, and usually 100hz, to feel comfortable.
 
Thanks for this. I use LED lamps in one room and those are kept on all the time. Sometimes they flicker a little. I thought it was electric power fluctuations, because a neighbor had had problems with those and the power company visited to check. Now I know LEDs can be prone to flickering.
 
Cree is the most readily available high quality brand around here. You may know this already, but look for a CRI greater than 90 and a CRB approval.
 
Twice we've had LED bulbs which flickered.
In both cases the central contact was flat and didn't touch the hot contact in the socket fully.
In both cases a blob of solder gave the contact the dimension it needed to work.
Making solder stick to the center contact was difficult.

The cheap LED bulbs I've used just stop working.
 
NO never noticed but some will flicker at voltage fluctuations that you normally would not even notice. EX. I have a LED desk lamp that flickers when I print something on my laser jet printer. No other bulbs do.

I cant comment on reliability of the bulbs I am about to mention but I have had them about 7 months now, I love them. IN fact "just because" I have got rid of perfectly working lights and put these in. Nice and bright, great color temperature and I suspect will be good long term reliable. I like bright I only use 100 watt equal. bulbs.
Problem is they are more hard to find and more expensive, unless you buy them in Costco. Costco sells 4 packs for $15 and sometimes on sale for $12, even then, for some reason they are not on their website.
Anyway, everyone sells two packs for the same price. They use more energy because they are brighter. I like a nice bright house, hate the "dull" look. Im choosey about lighting (and just about everything in life )*LOL*

www.feit.com

17.5W (100W Replacement) Warm White (3000K) A19 (E26 Base) Dimmable Enhance LED (2-Pack)

The Feit Electric LED Enhance product line features our highest quality energy efficient light. This Warm White omnidirectional A19 LED light bulb produces a similar light output less energy than a standard 100-watt incandescent light bulb. This high performance bulb also has a high (CRI) of 90+...
www.feit.com www.feit.com
 
Zee09 said:
Long ago I had some of those all plastic ones from Ebay...
They had a sq. Circuit board in the plastic dome and when they failed the dome would blow off... Real junk.
Click to expand...
I have had some Satco brand LED bulbs go *poof* and let the smoke out of themselves. This was a few yeas ago though.

CFLs seemed to be built like tanks when they first came out and they lasted forever. They then got built cheaper and cheaper as time went on and became junk.

Consumer grade LED "bulbs" started out kind of junky and stayed that way.

Our county highway dept swapped out all the roadway lights where I live with LED. We had a mix of ancient cobra head style mercury vapor street lights and newer HPS. Now with these new LED lamps I swear one in 10 of them is already burned out.
 
JTK said:
I have had some Satco brand LED bulbs go *poof* and let the smoke out of themselves. This was a few yeas ago though.

CFLs seemed to be built like tanks when they first came out and they lasted forever. They then got built cheaper and cheaper as time went on and became junk.

Consumer grade LED "bulbs" started out kind of junky and stayed that way.

Our county highway dept swapped out all the roadway lights where I live with LED. We had a mix of ancient cobra head style mercury vapor street lights and newer HPS. Now with these new LED lamps I swear one in 10 of them is already burned out.
Click to expand...
Same here.
You have to really pay up or they are Junk- and then they may be expensive junk..lol
Everything I got from eBay was plastic junk
 
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These were expensive and I liked them, but they didn't last long at $9 a pop

ph bulb.JPG
 
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