LED undercover puck lights blinking

[jeffmattero76]

About 5 years ago, we did a new kitchen with undercounter LED pucks controlled by a Lutron Maestro dimmer. They have worked fine up to now.

The issue is that, when I have the lights on full, after a few minutes, they will begin to blink off and on. If I dim them to about half, the blinking stops.

Any ideas? My guess is that it is the driver, but I am not sure how to test that. I do plenty of electrical work, so I have testing equipment.

Thanks in advance.

Sent from my SM-G530T using Tapatalk

 

[SGKent]

something is heating up and causing a failure. It could be anywhere from the connection at the breaker box to the LED system. The fact they all blink would make me think that it is not the lights themselves unless they are somehow wired in series, or if one of them causes the LED driver to protect itself. I guess even a bad breaker could cause it if it was heating up. Were it me, I would watch the voltage going into the driver to be sure it is stable. Beyond that, the only thing I can think is to start swapping components. You can also Google the model and see if anyone else has had the issue, or call the manufacturer to see if they have encountered it before.

A can of freeze spray may let you find the component that is failing but I would just cool things a little and not a lot less you change working voltages. If for example you cool the dimmer and the problem ends then replace the dimmer. If you cool the driver and it stops 30 seconds later it is inside the driver container. Beyond that I can't think of anything due to the circuits involved. You already know that you will see a voltage drop on the LED side.

 

[Citation]

Is it possible you have too many lights on a power supply?

 

[jeffmattero76]

Is it possible you have too many lights on a power supply?

Thanks, but I don't think that is the problem, because they worked fine for 5 years.

Sent from my SM-G530T using Tapatalk

 

[jeffmattero76]

SGKent - thanks for the suggestions. I will do some experimenting and take some voltage readings, and see if I can figure it out.

Sent from my SM-G530T using Tapatalk

 

[pioneer1]

My vote is on the dimmer switch. I have had a couple of them start doing the same thing over the years. They where the Lutron toggle switch with the slider on the side.

 

[CJ7VFR]

My vote is on the dimmer switch. I have had a couple of them start doing the same thing over the years. They where the Lutron toggle switch with the slider on the side.

I would also agree with this. Some of the newer LED compatible dimmer switches do not seem to last very long.

If you have any regular old On/Off switches, you could remove the dimmer and install the regular switch in its place, and see if the lights flicker then. If they keep flickering, then it is not the dimmer switch. If they stop flickering, then it is probably the dimmer switch.

That would at least let you know if the dimmer switch might be the problem without spending a lot for a new dimmer when you didn't have too. And it can also let you know if something else is the issue, like the wiring or even the actual light fixtures.

Jim

 

[gte718p]

Switch would be my first guess, followed by the driver.

I would start with CJ7VFR and then open the power supply. To really do a deep diagnose it requires an oscilloscope, you can look for the obvious and ever popular swelling capacitor, burned component or discoloration on the board.

LED drivers are pretty generic. If your driver is bad you can get or make a new one incredibly cheap.

 

[Citation]

Are these 12v or 120vac lights?

 

[jeffmattero76]

Are these 12v or 120vac lights?

12 volt.

Sent from my SM-G530T using Tapatalk