Flood LED Flickers

[benjamming]

Our house was new construction in 2006 with 4 Cooper model ms37 rain tight motion detector flood lights (2 bulb each setup). I've installed 3 Sylvania 74772 LED bulbs. One fixture will cause LED bulb flicker. It will do this if LEDs are installed in both sockets or if one socket is empty & the other has an LED installed. No dimmers installed just a dumb switch that operates 2 fixtures (other fixture has standard PAR38 bulbs). Another fixture (separate switch) on the back side of the house does not have this issue. It has an LED in one socket & the other is standard PAR38 bulb.

Thoughts as the issue?

 

[wings&wheels]

is the motion detector made for LED's? I had the same problem with an older timer that was not made for led's. Lasted for a few years after I switched to led's, then started flickering, but still operated fine w/ incandescent. May need a newer fixture if you want led's.

This is assuming the led bulb is not the problem. Over the years, I have had a few led bulbs fail by flickering or strobing.

 

[spackard]

Looks it was about $20 when new. Toss and buy another.
Even the RAB STL200, at $77, now has (only) a 10 year warranty (used to be lifetime).

 

[Oildudeny]

I have an old fixture that works fine with LEDS, did you check the fixture wiring make sure black is to black white to white. Make sure the neutral (white) wire has a good connection. LED bulbs could be more picky over the incandescent.

 

[Cujet]

Many control circuits "contactors" or "relays" work via solid state components. On a basic level, the 60HZ pure sine wave is changed into something else by passing through semiconductors. It won't matter on a conventional bulb, but many LED's have drive circuitry designed to work with conventional AC power.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted by benjamming
It will do this if LEDs are installed in both sockets or if one socket is empty & the other has an LED installed. No dimmers installed just a dumb switch that operates 2 fixtures (other fixture has standard PAR38 bulbs). Another fixture (separate switch) on the back side of the house does not have this issue. It has an LED in one socket & the other is standard PAR38 bulb.

Thoughts as the issue?


You might see if you can put an old-school night light bulb in the other fixture socket to mask your issue.

I have the same problem and hear a relay click when the light goes on, so it's not like it's going through a MOSFET or anything, or maybe it is-- they're pretty cheap inside.

When LEDs first got cheap ~5 years ago I got some actual Cree branded ones that take 1/2 second to stop making light after I shut them off. (They were really trying to mimic incandescent quality.) They may have better rectifiers inside which would again mask your issue.

What's your target here, are you trying to save electricity? How many minutes are these lights on per day and what's the payback?

 

[ET16]

I had the same problem. I put in a higher wattage bulb, and it went away. It seemed that the circuit wasn't drawing enough for the switch with the lower wattage.

 

[benjamming]

eljefino,

I'll put a regular bulb back into the one fixture where there is flickering to see if that solves the problem.
If it doesn't flicker, then that's not masking the issue but removing the issue, right?
Just wanted to try some out...