Motion Activated Floodlights - Bulbs are Glowing

[AdamMopar]

I have a rather strange problem that I'm having difficulty diagnosing, and it actually appears to be getting worse over time and has me a little concerned.

I installed two motion activated floodlights on my garage around 6 months or so. The installation went fine and they work fine. Shortly after they were installed, the bulbs in one of the lights started glowing orange very faintly at night.

Shortly thereafter the second the bulbs in the second light also started doing this same thing. At first the glowing was small, but now it appears to be getting brighter over time.

If I shut the wall switch off, the glow goes away, but as soon as I turn the switch back on and they are under control of the motion detector, the glow comes back.

The lights seem to function fine with the motion detector; they come on and go off fine.

I'm just a little concerned what the issue may be, and so far I haven't been able to find anything to point to anything.

All the wiring in the garage was done less than a year ago so everything is new.

Any thoughts anyone would have would be appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[mrb]

are the lamps standard floodlights or CFLs?

 

[djjsr]

If they are Heath/Zenith lights, they may have an "accent" setting that turns the lights on at low power unless motion is detected. There's a switch marked "DualBrite" to shut it off.

 

[AdamMopar]

Thanks for the replys.

They are Heith Zenith lights, but I do not believe they have the DualBrite as I was reading about that earlier. I'm going to verify that tomorrow though.

They are standard flood light bulbs, not CFLs, but they are Sylvania night chasers I believe, which I can't find much information on.

I'm a little puzzled by what is going on.

Thanks again for the replies.

Adam

 

[rodm1]

Is it cold where you are at? Just a guess they could be bulb warmers?

 

[Gary S]

Motion activated lights have to be electronic to work. Electronics doesn't have a hard switch like a mechanical switch. They have a solid state switch that is prone to leaking down as it fails. It sounds like the electronics in your lights is dying. It is cheaper to buy a complete new fixture than try to fix yours. All electronics today is throw-away like a Kleenix.

 

[scooby074]

At first guess il go with the dualbrite. I think most (all?) heath MA lights have it, I know mine do.

 

[Matt M PA]

These lights are likely equipped (like mine are..and I'm not sure what it's called) with a feature that causes them to slightly glow...then when they turn on...the come on slowly as opposed to "popping" on. This feature prolongs bulb life..and it's normal.

In other words, instead of flipping on as though a switch was thrown...they ramp up to full brightness in about a second.

 

[AdamMopar]

Thanks everybody, and Merry Christmas!

If they have Dual Brite, they don't appear to have the switch to change the settings.

On the box they do say they have Bulb Saver, which is supposed to increase bulb life and apparently come on quicker. It doesn't really say much about it and I can't find anything about it on their site.

Maybe it is normal and hasn't gotten worse. I haven't been around much in the past 3 months, so maybe I'm just thinking they are glowing more now than they did before.

I may try talking to Heith Zenith and see if they think this is normal.

I also have a second set I'm going to install in the next week, so I guess I can see how they behave.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[Matt M PA]

Bulb Saver! That's right. Dual brute is where they light at say, 50 percent from dusk to dawn...then go to full bright when motion is detected.
Bulb Saver is when they have that slight glow.

I'm sure that yours are fine...with the Bulb Saver...no worries.

 

[AdamMopar]

Matt. Thanks.

That sounds right, I think everything is OK.

Thanks again for the help everyone and for putting my mind at ease.

Thanks.

Adam

 

[Torque1st]

"Bulb saver," -an energy wasting "feature" to cover up poor electronics.

 

[tcianci]

Well, it's good to see that after only about 150 years, someone has finally figured out how to screw up a simple incandesent lighting circuit. Is there no end to the complexity we can engineer into the simplest of things?

 

[AdamMopar]

Well here is the odd thing. I installed the second pair and right now I'm not seeing a glow, so maybe I wasn't imagining it changing over time.

I'm going to monitor it this week and see if these new ones are beginning to glow.

Thanks.

 

[Aceman]

They sound like a junk fixture, I'd probably replace them before I wasted any time screwing with 'em. I bought a couple of unknown brand from HD for my own house and they've worked perfectly for the last 3 years, with no funny half-glow when they're off. What a silly feature that is....