Lights flicker when off

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01-15-15, 12:44 PM

Steve McGrath

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Lights flicker when off

I have an odd issue. Several months ago i replaced all the light switches in my house with illuminated light switches. When the switch is off an orange LED glows.

A month ago i noticed when i turned off a ceiling fan the lights flickered. I turned on/off the light, and everything was fine. Then a week later I noticed the lights always flickered when it was off. Also, the light switch always glows instead of only when off. As far as I can remember the lights had no issues until then.

There's 2 light switches that control the ceiling fan. I redid the wiring- twice. I replaced both light switches with new ones. Same issue. But if i use another LED light it doesnt have the issue - when i turn off the ceiling fan the light goes off with no flicker.

I have seen these LED lights flicker before when i used a dimmer, but i am not using a dimmer for the ceiling fan. There are lights on the same run before and after this, that work fine with no flickering, and the light switch doesnt glow when on.

Is this something i should worry about? Or just a problem with the LED bulbs? One thing i should mention is next to one of the switches is a chamberlain smart light switch that uses wifi to talk to a hub, so could the wifi signal being causing this?

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01-15-15, 02:29 PM

PJmax

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The illuminated switch that controls the fan may flicker because the fan motor is connected to power thru capacitors. As the capacitor charges, the light in the switch would get dim and the cap would stop charging. The cycle may continue.

If you are using LED bulbs in the fan.... they may not create enough of a load to keep the switch light on continuously.

Neither issue will cause any problems with the fan or the switches.

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