I have two ceiling lights in my lounge which are controlled together by the same switch. I currently have a dimmer switch and a dimmable LED bulb in each fitting. They work fine although when i switch them off one of the bulb still has a very low glow, and therefore must be getting some power. Any ideas?
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Does the dimmer have a neutral wire connected to it? How old is the dimmer? What is the make and model of the dimmer? Does the dimmer have a light or anything special on/in it?– Tester101Aug 14, 2014 at 18:35
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Its a "Superswitch 2701" touch dimmer. It has no nuetral connected to the switch itself– SteveAug 14, 2014 at 18:57
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4 Answers
I can't find any information about the Superswitch 2701 touch dimmer but from the name alone I'm going to make this guess.
It sounds like the dimmer uses some electricity to operate. And in order to do this, is just lets some current pass through the switch for it to work. Normally, an incandescent bulb would just let this low current pass through it and not visibly light up.
That first LED bulb is bleeding off the current from the switch and it has enough current to actually cause visible light. You can either live with it, or change the dimmer to one that doesn't use any power to operate. Or you can also look for dimmers that will use the neutral if they need power to operate.
When you turn them OFF (switch physically off) or when you turn the dimmer down to minimum? That's an important distinction. The dimmer may always allow some small current through it. If you're getting some small but distinct glow when the power switch is turned off, though, you're getting some sort of parasitic power or drain from SOMEWHERE. I'd suspect (USA assumption here) that the switch isn't switching the hot leg, but is switching the neutral leg instead, and condensate or other leakage at the light is permitting some power to leak to ground. In the case of 240VAC, something similar may be true if the switch doesn't turn off BOTH wires.
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It is actually UK and yes it is when the switch is completely off. It only affects one of the lights ever, the closest to the switch. It is actually considerably dimmer than the lowest setting of the dimmer switch and actually barely imperceptible in very good light.– SteveAug 14, 2014 at 17:51
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OK, then... does the switch control BOTH wires or only one of them? If both, then I'd suspect leakage inside the switch (it wouldn't take very much to barely light an LED). If it's switching BOTH, then there's leakage somewhere else... and it may be very difficult to track down, for the same reason - that LED won't require much to barely glow. Aug 14, 2014 at 20:37
Check the wiring carefully to make sure that the neutral is not switched by the dimmer and the hot run continuous to the fixtures. I was just looking at the type of dimmer you have. Very few good reviews on this product.
Your dimmer needs to be adjusted. Check the manual that came with it for instructions. This is usually accomplished by turning an adjustment screw somewhere.
