In recent years, LED strips have gained widespread popularity, increasingly displacing other lighting sources. The main secret of their success is design flexibility. With a minimum of knowledge, tapes can be cut into pieces of different lengths, pasted over various structures and soldered together in complex configurations. This is very convenient, but often certain errors are made during assembly, leading to various problems. The most common of them is that the LED strip lights up dimly.
Reasons for the low brightness of the LED strip
Typically, reduced brightness is a consequence of a voltage drop. In fact, there can be only three reasons for such a drawdown:
- Poor contact or too thin power wires.
- Significant current leakage on some element.
- Insufficient power supply.
The cause of poor contact may be a manufacturing defect or poor-quality soldering of individual tape elements to each other. On long wires at currents of several tens of amperes, the voltage can also drop quite significantly (this is the most common reason for reduced brightness, since many people underestimate losses in wires). Leaks can also occur in places of poor-quality soldering or on failed (broken) LEDs.
The power supply may cause reduced brightness if its power is incorrectly calculated. Typically, devices are selected that provide approximately 20 percent power reserve. But even if the source was initially of sufficient quality and could cope with the load, over time its characteristics could deteriorate significantly. Let's figure out how to fix the listed breakdowns.
Diagnostics and troubleshooting
The main rule of any repairman is that fault diagnosis should be carried out consistently and methodically. Therefore, to begin with, let’s divide the entire system into main functional blocks:
- power supply;
- dimmer or RGB controller;
- RGB amplifier;
- LED Strip Light;
- wires and other connecting elements.
Repairs should begin by checking the power source. Only after making sure that the voltage we need is present at the output of the driver or power supply can we look for other faults. Similarly, you should check dimmers, regulators and amplifiers, which are functional analogues of the main power supply.
1. Diagnostics of the power supply and control devices
It is not difficult to check the functionality of the power supply; the simplest and most inexpensive tester is enough. All measurements should be carried out under load (by connecting a lighting structure that has brightness problems). We check the voltage at the output, then connect the tester in series and measure the current in the circuit (do not forget to rearrange the probes and switch the multimeter mode).
By carrying out these simple measurements, you can clearly understand whether the power supply meets the declared characteristics. By multiplying the obtained values of voltage and current, we obtain the power they produce. If this power is lower than declared, and a significant voltage drop is observed, then the problem is in the power supply, and it should be solved by replacing or repairing the device.
The same goes for dimmers and RGB controls. By measuring the voltage at their output, you should make sure that they are working and functioning correctly. At this stage, it may turn out, for example, that there is no breakdown at all, and the reason is that the brightness of the glow has been reduced in the controller settings.
2. Diagnostics of LED strip and connecting elements
If the voltage on the power supply is normal, but the current is significantly lower than the calculated one, it means that the contact is broken somewhere or wires that are too thin and long are used that simply cannot transmit the required power. Poor contact can be caused by poor-quality soldering or a frayed track (very often happens on moving elements). The same tester will help to localize the fault, which should measure the voltage in different sections of the tape.
If the voltage at the output of the power supply is underestimated, and the current exceeds the calculated one, then there is a leak somewhere. Its cause may be poor-quality soldering, contamination and flux residues on which a current bridge occurs. In conditions of high humidity, individual elements may oxidize (even if the tape itself is protected with silicone, solder points and connectors are susceptible to oxidation). Oxidized contacts can lead to both open circuits and leaks.
Specific cases
If a separate segment of the LED strip shines dimly, the cause of the breakdown is not difficult to find, but it is usually easier to completely cut it out than to repair it. The remaining tape can simply be soldered or the faulty segment can be replaced with a new one (if the tape is already glued to some surface).
Difficulties may arise with a 220-volt strip connected directly to the network. It uses a series connection of 60 LEDs, and deterioration in the performance of one diode can disrupt the performance of the entire strip. To identify a faulty LED, you can short-circuit each of them in turn with tweezers (but be careful and do not forget that the strip is connected to a 220 V network). As soon as the faulty diode is closed, the others will flash at full brightness.
Why is the LED light dim? Unfortunately, this question worries many users. Having purchased an LED light source, we expect that it will provide high quality lighting for several years. Almost everything may turn out differently. Let us tell you why an LED lamp may shine dimly.
Why does an LED lamp burn at full intensity - features of the design and operation of the lamp
The design of an LED lamp consists of a base, driver, radiator, bulb and board with LEDs. The light source is powered through an alternating electric current network, the voltage of which is reduced by the driver. The radiator is responsible for removing heat from the LED elements - they heat up when the lamp is on. If an LED lamp is used instead of a traditional incandescent or halogen lamp, it is necessary to select the power and brightness corresponding to the previous light sources and luminaire.
These features of the operation of LED lamps make it possible to understand Why does the LED lamp burn at full intensity?. It is worth noting that a frequent search on the Internet that includes the word “in full swing” is incorrect. The correct word to use is “full heat”.
Why the LED lamp barely burns - reasons
There are several reasons why an LED lamp or lamp shines dimly:
- Use of low-quality components. Unscrupulous manufacturers may install a weak heatsink (which will cause the LEDs to overheat and fail), or use an unsuitable CHIP element. All this leads to a decrease in the brightness of the light flux.
- Natural degradation of LEDs. This process happens sooner or later with any LED lamps. Usually the degradation period is written on the packaging. If the period of appearance of dimness coincides with the manufacturer's stated data, it is time to change the lamp.
- Low mains voltage. A rare but common factor. This can be checked using another lamp. If it shines just as dimly in the lamp, you need to call an electrician.
- Wrong choice of lamp characteristics. Carefully read the instructions for the lamp - it indicates what power and brightness the light source should be. Or focus on the performance of the old lamp.
To avoid asking yourself the question, Why does the LED light barely light up?, choose products only from trusted manufacturers - for example,. The product warranty will allow you to simply change the lamp if you come across a product with a manufacturing defect.
Why does the light glow dimly when it is turned off? I began to hear this question very often. Let's figure out how to fix this......This only happens with LED lamps or energy-saving ones, as in the photo on the left.
A person opens his eyes at night and sees that the light bulb in a floor lamp, lamp or night light is blinking or dimly lit. This is annoying and sometimes prevents you from falling asleep. Some electricians begin to go into “space” and advise: “The wiring is outdated - it needs to be changed……. The wiring is not connected correctly - two wires need to be swapped, etc.”
But the solution in 99% of cases is simple: an LED backlight is installed in the switch to determine in the dark where the switch is located. This is the reason for our problem: the LED backlight of the switch consumes a tiny current passing through the light bulb, which is enough to heat up, say, gas in an energy-saving lamp, in order to get pulsating flickering in the dark. And the LED lamp may even burn very dimly, but not continuously.
How to eliminate flickering or glowing of a lamp in the dark when the switch is off? Very simple:
- Replace an LED light switch with a neon light switch
2. Replace the switch with LED backlight with a switch without backlight.
3. Remove the LED backlight from the switch - usually, by removing the decorative cover of the switch, the backlight can simply be pulled out of the socket.
4. Replace the LED or energy-saving lamp with a regular one (incandescent lamp)
P.S. Above is advice on how to eliminate the flickering or glow of a light bulb when the switch is off for those who understand little about electrics, but can fix it themselves without resorting to the services of an electrician. Other methods with installing resistors, etc. I won’t discuss it here; call a specialist for that.
Today, LED lamps have become the most popular light sources and there are many explanations for this: they are economical, fireproof, have the longest service life and also create the most comfortable lighting for vision. However, as with other alternative light sources, LEDs have their own problems. The most common is when the LED lamp glows after being turned off. We discussed the reasons for this phenomenon and ways to eliminate the glow in this article.
Review of causes of glow
What to do if the LED lamp is on? There are several reasons why, after turning off the lighting device, the LED lamp continues to burn, even dimly or weakly:
Is this glow dangerous? This problem does not pose any danger to the wiring, but the service life of LED bulbs will be noticeably reduced if they constantly flicker or glow dimly.
If the switching device is in the off position, and the emitter still glows and burns, then it is best to check the last three factors first. This is explained by the fact that it is very difficult to find weak insulation areas in electrical wiring.
In order to do this, it is necessary to create special conditions, as a result of which a high voltage is applied to the circuit for one minute to cause a breakdown. The section of the circuit that causes the lighting element to glow after the switch is turned off will need to be opened. Moreover, if the electrical wiring was installed in a hidden way, then opening it will lead to damage to the integrity of the wall.
It is important to know! There are many situations where when LED light sources are connected to a backlit switch, they function differently. This occurs due to the fact that the lighting element, which is installed in the switching device, closes the circuit and, accordingly, passes a small current. This is what charges and allows the light bulb to glow when the switch is off.
Another problem why an LED lamp glows in the dark is the low cost of the product. If you purchased a poor quality LED light bulb, this can also lead to a similar phenomenon. This is due to the fact that there is some kind of error in the board. But it also happens that the emitter burns dimly due to the fact that it has its own peculiarity in the functioning of the structure.
We are talking about the processes that occur in capacitors when a load is applied to the lighting element. When electric current passes through the circuit, the capacitor stores energy, and then after the load is stopped, it continues to keep the elements glowing.
Another fairly common reason why LED lamps glow when the switch is off is incorrect connection. You can learn more about this from the video:
How to fix the problem?
If the LED lamp lights up when the light is off, how to fix it? There are different solutions. It all depends on the nature of the problem itself. For example:
- A cheap, low-quality LED lamp always glows in the dark after it is turned off. To eliminate this problem, it is necessary to replace it with quality products from a trusted manufacturer.
- If the lighting element is on because an illuminated switch is used, then this problem can be solved in different ways. For example, the easiest way out is to change the switch in the house to a regular one, without backlighting. You can simply cut off the specific wire that powers the backlight. This can be done after opening the switching device. But there is another way out - to preserve this function, it is enough to place a resistor in parallel on a certain section of the electrical circuit.
- If the LED light is on and the reason is in the wiring, then it will be extremely difficult to solve such a problem. To eliminate it, you need to find a place. But this may entail certain difficulties. But when the light turns off, the bulbs will not light up. We talked about this in a separate article. There is another way, simpler. When the lighting element is lit, it is necessary to connect a load (relay, incandescent lamp or resistor) in parallel with it. You just need to take into account the fact that the resistance in the connected load should be lower than in the light emitter. And as a result, the leakage current will flow to this load, but due to the fact that the resistance is insignificant, it will not light up.