Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

LED ceiling lamps briefly blink/flash several times an hour

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    LED ceiling lamps briefly blink/flash several times an hour

    I first installed an SmartHome dimmer in my kitchen many many years ago. My kitchen had 11 BR25 60W incandescent cans/spots -- I had them on a a high-power Insteon dimmer for years. Worked perfectly.

    About 5 years ago, I replaced the bulbs with BR25 dimmable LED lamps and immediately noticed that they all quickly blink/flash off-and-on several times an hour at random times. It's a small fraction of a second -- blink and you'll miss it.

    I checked the wiring and then replaced the high-power dimmer with a 2476DH without any change. It wasn't frequent and was so brief, I just lived with it.

    I have now replaced the ceiling lamps and cans with flat dimmable LED fixtures -- pulled the cans and these just sit in the ceiling with a separate junction box next to each lamp. These are working great, and I can tell Alexa to dim them to 5% via the Insteon switch and that actually works (the BR25 LED lamps would slowly flash and pulse if dimmed too low). Very pleased.

    Unfortunately, they also blink/flash a few times and hour, but for some reason, it's much more noticeable than it was before. It seems to happen more often or maybe the duration is slightly longer.

    I don't know if the blink is caused by Insteon traffic, or noise on the line from an appliance starting or some other temporary dip or power glitch. My guess is that it was always happening with this switch but the incandescent filaments didn't care.

    The lights list a large number of compatible dimmers but Insteon isn't on the list. As I said, dimming does work perfectly. It's the blink/flash that's annoying -- several times an hour.

    I'm definitely willing to replace the switch if there is a newer model that handles LED lighting better. Any advice on what to do would be most welcome. It's become annoying enough (and concerning for an electrician working on a kitchen remodel) that I need to do something about it and really don't want to switch to something else.

    Thanks!


    #2
    I have seen the same thing. Most likely it requires a design change to the Insteon hardware of device firmware.

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by Kjfatl View Post
      I have seen the same thing. Most likely it requires a design change to the Insteon hardware of device firmware.
      Thanks for replying. Glad I'm not nuts--my contractor was a little pertuirbed that maybe there was some faulty wiring but I checked it several times and even wired the previous lights directly for a few hours and they did not blink. I was wondering if the latest iteration of the switches maybe had a fix. I guess I can email Insteon support if they don't monitor these forums.

      Comment


        #4
        These aren't bulbs -- they are hard-wired dimmable flat 6.5" LED light fixtures that came with separate junction boxes. They clamp to the inside of the ceiling drywall and there are a bazilliion similar models. These have four adjustable color temperature settings via a switch on the junction box, which I like, and are definitely dimmable, going down to 5% with the Insteon wall switch without any flickering.

        It's the blinking that's annoying -- several times an hour, like the power is very very briefly being interrupted. All 11 blink at the same time. A nearby, identical light on a different hard-wired wall switch does not blink at all, and I'm sure it's the Insteon switch interrupting power for a small fraction of a second.

        Maybe it's when it's responding to, or repeating Insteon traffic. That gives me an idea: is it possible to disable the Insteon repeater in the switch? That might be an interesting experiment.

        Comment


          #5
          I have seen the same thing. Most likely it requires a design change to the Insteon hardware of device firmware.

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by InvaderZim View Post
            These aren't bulbs -- they are hard-wired dimmable flat 6.5" LED light fixtures that came with separate junction boxes. They clamp to the inside of the ceiling drywall and there are a bazilliion similar models. These have four adjustable color temperature settings via a switch on the junction box, which I like, and are definitely dimmable, going down to 5% with the Insteon wall switch without any flickering.

            It's the blinking that's annoying -- several times an hour, like the power is very very briefly being interrupted. All 11 blink at the same time. A nearby, identical light on a different hard-wired wall switch does not blink at all, and I'm sure it's the Insteon switch interrupting power for a small fraction of a second.

            Maybe it's when it's responding to, or repeating Insteon traffic. That gives me an idea: is it possible to disable the Insteon repeater in the switch? That might be an interesting experiment.
            I'm not sure if you've noticed but you're being trolled. No switch can guarantee success with all LEDs but newer insteon switches do work much better than old switches. Using other switches such as the 2476 makes no sense with them being released prior to led bulbs growing in popularity. If you want to use it with insteon, a new switch would be your best bet.

            Since that's your only location with problems, you could swap a switch from a location workout issues to see if you get the same result (and vice versa). If your still having problems with that location (with a working switch) you probably have a wiring issue somewhere or those lights are simply incompatible. This would be especially so of one of your problematic switches works without issue in the location you swapped with.

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by lilyoyo1 View Post

              I'm not sure if you've noticed but you're being trolled. No switch can guarantee success with all LEDs but newer insteon switches do work much better than old switches. Using other switches such as the 2476 makes no sense with them being released prior to led bulbs growing in popularity. If you want to use it with insteon, a new switch would be your best bet.

              Since that's your only location with problems, you could swap a switch from a location workout issues to see if you get the same result (and vice versa). If your still having problems with that location (with a working switch) you probably have a wiring issue somewhere or those lights are simply incompatible. This would be especially so of one of your problematic switches works without issue in the location you swapped with.
              Hopefully not being trolled here -- do you mean by the LED makers? I did swap switches when the problem first appeared without any effect, but have no switches newer than 2-3 years. That's why I was wondering if there is a recent revision. I think all my switches are revision D or 4.3. At this point, I'm waiting for a sale but if I knew this problem had been solved, I'd just go ahead and order one.

              Since these switches are triac-based, like just about every other dimmer, I can understand why some LEDs would not be compatible and they'd need some kind of circuitry to handle that and prevent the right kind of load. I have another supposedly dimmable LED light in a hall where I just installed a manual dimmer (the kind with a slider because it will rarely be adjusted) and it flickers and strobes when dimmed down to night-light levels. Insteon manages to dim my kitchen LEDs to 5% (barely on) without any flicker at all, so that's fantastic. It's the intermittent fast blink that's the problem. If I had to speculate, I'd guess that the design of the switch requires a brief power interruption when the switch sends X10-style signals over the powerline. Hence I was wondering whether it was possible to disable that and use only the wireless mesh network. I didn't see anything in the instruction pamphlet for the switch.

              Comment


                #8
                With chips in short supply around the world, I would not wait for a sale.

                Id just order a switch and test. It's not like you can't return it.

                Comment


                  #9
                  I decided that the location could benefit from a dimming keypad, so I ordered one of those and three switches for other locations. They arrived right before the 10% off memorial-day sale. D'oh!

                  Sure enough, the lights (Amico brand, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B087JL1W9M) blink with the new keypad as well. I normally use HCA on a Windows Server to remote-control the Insteon stuff but also have an Insteon Hub so I experimented with the "blink on traffic" setting -- didn't make any difference. Finally, in desperation, I went to Lowes and bought an 8-pack of their much-more expensive LED lights (https://www.lowes.com/pd/Utilitech-6-Pack-Canless-Color-Choice-Integrated-LED-5-in-or-6-in-65-Watt-EQ-White-Round-Dimmable-Canless-Recessed-DownLight/1001771926), figuring I could hook one up in a way that won't harm it and easily return the lot if they also blink. Of course nothing ever blinks while I'm watching it directly, so I'll have to keep an eye on it. One thing I did notice is that the cheap lights I ordered from Amazon actually dim better: the Lowe's Utilitech lights only claim to go down to 10% (Amico claims 5%) and at the low end of the range, the Utilitech lights take on a purplish hue and set even lower than that, they flicker while the Amicos stay perfeclty white and solid. I have both set to a 4k color temperature.

                  But disappointed that the new keypad didn't solve the flicker problem. My plan now is to wait a couple of days to see if the Utilitech light flickers, but take it back regardless because of the poor dimming performance and maybe try a name brand like Halo or GE from Lowes.

                  Comment

                  Working...
                  X