Misbehaving LED Lights

It sounds like you have a partial short...You should get an electrician to sort it out ASAP...

I would guess you have an unstable mains voltage. The easiest way to deal with those for your application would be buying a Switched Mode 230Vac/12Vdc rectifier and replacing the 230V lights with 12V ones.

What is the approximate frequency of the blinking?

I have noticed this phenomena when the voltage is too low...It happens when you put a dimmer on non-dimmable LED's, at least some of them....When you turn the dimmer down it starts to blink on and off...If you have a multimeter or voltage tester you could test the voltage to see if this is the problem quite easily..an incandescent bulb would still work on low voltage, just not as bright.....On the hallway lights, the glowing lights when the switch is off suggests the switch is bad and the contacts are not separating properly...

"On the hallway lights, the glowing lights when the switch is off suggests the switch is bad and the contacts are not separating properly..."

NO! We had a rather extensive thread on this here on CR4 a few years back. Capacitive coupling between a hot wire and a floating one can transfer enough energy to make the LED Glow dimly. Hall lights are especially susceptible, since they have switches at both ends, which can easily leave one wire floating. In fact, as I sit here, I can see my hall light glowing just enough to act as a nightlight. It's been doing that for quite a few years now.

I'll see if i can find that thread...

I found that thread, titled LED light bulb, of February 2013. Specifically look at posts #26 and #61.

This should be a link to that Thread: https://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/82870/LED-Light-Bulb#comment920170

I have this problem in one room. The light is 3 feet (1 meter) above the light switch so not enough wire to have much capacitive coupling. The other day I noticed what is actually causing the problem: the switch lever has a neon bulb in it to make it glow when the switch is off. Just enough current flows through the bulb and limiting resistor to make the LED glow dimly!

Perhaps OP has such switches in his hallway?

Thanks! That definitely sounds reasonable. I'm certainly aware of that kind of switch, although there aren't any in our house.

Three feet isn't much length, but my hall is only slightly over 10 feet from switch to switch, plus about 4 vertical feet on each end, and there is enough capacitive coupling to make all 54 LEDs (18 each in 3 lamps) glow quite perceptibly. These are the same Lights of America 120V 4W lamps I used in my experiments 6 years ago.

I just changed out the old incandescent lamps in my small (≈ 4x7 feet) front entry room, and put in the same kind of LED lamps that have been in the hall for about 7 years. It is only about 3.5 feet vertically and 4 feet horizontally from the switch to the fixture.There is only a single switch controlling this lamp fixture, yet the LEDs all glow dimly when the switch is Off, just like in the hall.

I haven't yet investigated the wiring, but I plan to do that. In fact, I really like that tiny glow at night, It is just enough to let me navigate that area without having to turn lights on. Now I like almost total darkness for sleeping, so if it were in my bedroom, it would bother me enough to make me change the wiring...

It can be nice as long as it's not due to a wiring fault like a missing ground, partial short, arcing connection, etc.

At the time this house was built ('62), ground wire was only used for outlets near water (kitchen, bath, laundry). None of the lights have grounded connections. I have added ground connections for several of the more frequently used outlets, but no changes have been made to light switch wiring.

If there were arcing, I'm certain my wife would smell it, even if I didn't.

First problem:- Some LED globes have a thermistor in the circuitry to prevent them overheating (LEDs get really hot in service), I suspect that your globe has one and it is more sensitive to heat in the horizontal position and therefore switches off and on with rising and falling temperature. Many of these globes rely on the metal base for heat dissipation which will not be as effective if the globe is not mounted base up.

Second problem:- This phenomenon sometimes occurs due to mutual induction where a voltage lower than the supply voltage is induced into the switched active to the light by an adjacent live conductor. The induced voltage is generally too low to cause the light to glow more than very faintly and is normally not visible other than when the area is dark and, obviously, the switch is off.

The problem often occurs when the lights have been wired with "active centres" ie. actives and neutrals to all lights, and then a two core active and switchwire down to the switch, this method results in an unswitched active being in close and continuous proximity to the switched wire for a considerable distance, thus producing the induced voltage in that wire.

Some methods of wiring for two way or intermediate switching circuits can also cause this to a higher degree as the switched wire can be close to at least two live conductors for even greater distances.

The problem is rarely encountered with "neutral terminal" wiring where the active and neutral go via the switch as there is no continual closeness of switched and unswitched conductors.

The problem was often seen with older fluorescent lights and could be reduced by connecting the switched wire to the ballast rather than to one end of the tube in the essentially series circuit, or by introducing a capacitor to the circuit, the problem was not often seen where the luminaire already incorporated a power factor capacitor.

The problem can also manifest with the the newer CFLs but is not so easy to eliminate. Separation of the switched and unswitched wires appears to be the only way to solve this one.

I have no experience with the problem as could occur with LEDs, but see no reason why it would differ from that with CFLs, and the same remedy may be required if it is a real concern to you.

<...Does anyone have any ideas...> Yes: if farting around with it doesn't work then it's time to call a qualified local Electrician.

There is probably no circuitry associated with the range hood or switch, but IS with the LED bulb. Switched neutral and ground should make no difference as they are connected to the same busbar in the breaker panel. You could check to see if they are all tight. It could be capacitance to the hood affecting the bulbs' electronics. Try an incandescent or cfl to see if it still works with that. Try an LED of a different brand. Good luck.

Try using one LED bulb and one incandescent bulb together.

I know there is only one bulb in hood but you can buy an two socket that allows one socket on two bulbs, I suspect that the switch does not have enough loading on it.

Being LEDs draw very little current this happens when the switch is not for use with LEDs.

I had a similar event. After changing an incandescent lamp to an LED type [this one is dimmable on a dimmer switch]; the LED lamp blinked. LED did not blink in another fixture. It took dismantling of the fixture [vaulted ceiling] to find corrosion in the bulb sockets. Replacing the sockets fixed the problem, I can only guess that the higher draw of the incandescent lamps heated up the area enough to force a good connection due to materials expansion at the higher draw [scary]. I had fixed a roof leak in the area many years earlier.

I replaced an incandescent lamp in my ceiling fan with an LED flood facing down. It has been working for 3 years and now just started blinking; very annoying. I'm guessing it has reached it's life span, so I guess I will have to replace it. The switch (a pull chain type) doesn't work so I have been screwing/unscrewing the lamp.

"Well, THERE'S yer problem!"

Thank you everyone who answered. As I said, neither of us is overly worried by this but are curious as to what causes the behavior. We certainly have enough thoughts to be going on with. A few simple tests might be in order. Again, thanks for all the help.