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20-03-2011, 20:53
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#1
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Marine Service Provider
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 482
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Led lights flicker
My saloon led lights in saloon flicker when batteries in bulk charge. As soon as it goes into float charge , they stop flickering. Bulk charge- 14.4-14.5v
Led are Quick 10w G4 led. Is this bad for the led ? is it normal to flicker when charging. Led rated 10-15 Vdc. I connected Xantrex Rc/gs 100amp charger/2000w inverter directly to pos and neg of battery bus bars close to batteries. Is this correct
Many thanks
Chris
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20-03-2011, 21:19
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#2
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cat herder, extreme blacksheep
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: furycame alley , tropics, mexico for now
Boat: 1976 FORMOSA yankee clipper 41
Posts: 18,967
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Re: Led lights flicker
mine flickr all the time. i changed them out to zenon. i like these better. good luck.
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20-03-2011, 21:32
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#3
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Marine Service Provider
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 482
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Re: Led lights flicker
These are Made by Quick , italy and are 50 bucks a pop. Were yours the same brand ?
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20-03-2011, 21:57
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#4
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cat herder, extreme blacksheep
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: furycame alley , tropics, mexico for now
Boat: 1976 FORMOSA yankee clipper 41
Posts: 18,967
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Re: Led lights flicker
amnot sure who made this one i have left--it flickrs most of the time----only on th white light aide--the red is fine. was 60 something dollars new in san diego.....
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21-03-2011, 04:26
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#5
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Moderator
Join Date: Jul 2007
Boat: Bestevaer.
Posts: 14,678
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Re: Led lights flicker
They should not flicker. I suspect its a fundamental design fault of the circuit that close to the maximum voltage the PWM is a slow enough frequency that it is visible as flicker.
Exchange them for another type there are plenty available. Many will cope with 30v max which would give you more margin at the bulk charge voltage. Sensibulb seem to have the best output and reliability.
If you cannot exchange them, someone handy with electronics could put in a diode after the circuit breaker to the lights. This will drop the voltage by 0.6V no matter how many lights are on. The diodes are cheap and its not a difficult job, but it should not be necessary.
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21-03-2011, 10:03
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#6
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Tavernier, Fl
Boat: Outremer 50
Posts: 750
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Re: Led lights flicker
Do you have a dimmer in the circuit? If so take it out and that will solve your problem. If you have many LEDs on the same circuit you could replace one bulb in that circuit with a halogen, you would loose some of your energy savings but that can also solve the flicker problem.
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21-03-2011, 10:18
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#7
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Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: W Florida
Boat: Still have the 33yo Jon boat. But now a CATAMARAN. Nice little 18' Bay Cat.
Posts: 7,086
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Re: Led lights flicker
On my 6 LED flashlight one started flickering. Then it went out. Around the circle it went. One left now. So much for the 400,0000,0000,00,0,0,0 hours of life advertised.
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21-03-2011, 10:49
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#8
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Cormorant Island, BC, Canada
Boat: Lancer 44 Motorsailer
Posts: 1,877
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Re: Led lights flicker
I have 5 LED lamps in the salon, each has 21 leds in them, 4 in the bathroom, one in the nav station. All of these were installed into modified fixtures that used to hold halogen. I paid $10 a piece for these at RONA. I am in the process of changing everything to these. The only time I see a flicker is when I start the main engines. I think an electrolitic capacitor across the input wires of each light circuit would stop the flickering. 470uf 25vdc should work.
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21-03-2011, 10:56
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#9
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Boat: 1990 Caliber 38
Posts: 108
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Re: Led lights flicker
Conventional incandescent bulbs brighten and dim with voltage changes. An LED requires a very steady voltage within a narrow range. Its brightness is controlled by amperage applied to it.
When your bulk charger comes on you are probably applying greater voltage than the range the LED was designed for. This goes a long way to explaining why you can't just put an LED in an incandescent socket. The LED is also very sensitive to heat. When you go to Lowe's or Home Depot to buy an LED for your home the bulb will have really strange fins on it for cooling it in an incandescent's socket.
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21-03-2011, 11:33
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#10
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 7
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Re: Led lights flicker
Depending on the type of charger you are using the flickering that you are asking about could be due to the way your battery charger operates, not all chargers put out pure DC current, many provide a square wave, which in simple terms is a pulsed signal. Because the output voltage from the battery charger is higher than the output from the batteries you could get a flicker from the higher voltage square wave levels from the charger. when the charger goes into float mode it is not supplying a charging voltage all the time so the lights stop flickering, a capacitor across the circuit should fix this problem
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21-03-2011, 12:00
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#11
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Sai Kung, Hong Kong
Boat: FP Lavezzi 40 / Hatteras 48
Posts: 775
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Re: Led lights flicker
I had a similar problem until I changed all the lights on the same circuit to LED. Mine would momentarily dim when one of the other light switches was turned on. After they were all changed over the problem ceased.
I think (being an electrical novice) that it was a voltage fluctuation. Wiser heads should comment!
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21-03-2011, 14:00
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#12
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֍֎֍֎֍֎֍֎֍֎
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 15,136
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Re: Led lights flicker
Could we just say it is a "power" fluctuation, and whether that is voltage or amperage really doesn't matter, LEDs really should be fed a fixed voltage at a fixed amperage. If you have cheapo fittings that just use an LED with a dropping resistor, that would be enough to make a problem right there. LEDs work best off a regulated power supply, and these days they are sold as "LED controllers" which regulate both the voltage and amperage being fed to the LED, so you get an optimal combination of brightness and longevity. And spike protection, because spikes can kill LEDs very quickly.
Find you what you've got, then find out what you need. LED controller modules are available from most of the same places that sell LEDs, matched for the voltage and power consumption. Or you can use cheap regulator chips, all depends on what you've got and how you plan to abuse, ergh, use them.
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22-03-2011, 00:04
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#13
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Moderator
Join Date: Jul 2007
Boat: Bestevaer.
Posts: 14,678
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Re: Led lights flicker
Quote:
Originally Posted by hellosailor
. LEDs work best off a regulated power supply, and these days they are sold as "LED controllers" which regulate both the voltage and amperage being fed to the LED, so you get an optimal combination of brightness and longevity.
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Regulated Leds are much better. Don’t buy them if there not regulated. I think however both of the problems mentioned are caused by, a poorly designed, regulation mechanism reather than no regulation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chris smith
My saloon led lights in saloon flicker when batteries in bulk charge.
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This is caused by the PWM part of the regulation circuit. It is turning off too long at high voltage producing flicker.
Quote:
Originally Posted by muskoka
. Mine would momentarily dim when one of the other light switches was turned on.
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When the voltage drops when another light is turned on the regulation mechanism needs to adjust to compensate for the lower voltage. The regulation mechanism is not acting fast enough so the LEDs dims until the regulation mechanism catches up.
(This also suggests the voltage drop in the lighting wires may be a bit high)
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