Key Takeaways
- Dimmable LEDs offer the flexibility to adjust lighting for aesthetic purposes and reduce eye strain, but they can flicker and flash, which can be disorienting.
- Common causes of LED flickering include loose wiring, using a non-dimmable LED light, using an incompatible dimmer switch, or having a faulty LED light.
- To prevent flickering, replace any faulty LED lights, check wiring and dimmer switch compatibility, and consider investing in reputable LED lamps and dimmers for a better experience.
Dimmable LEDs are far more useful than they appear to be. Having the ability to adjust the lighting to exactly the brightness you want can not only be aesthetically pleasing and great for your room's ambiance but also help reduce eye strain in the absence of natural light.
However, dimmable LEDs do have their downsides. Most notably, you might catch them flickering and flashing at times—something that can be rather disorienting.
Dimmable LED Flicker and Flash Explained
Since LEDs require a constant voltage to provide light, any fluctuations can cause them to start flickering or flashing. Other light sources like halogen or incandescent bulbs don't suffer from this problem as they maintain enough heat in the lighting element to maintain brightness during small gaps in the provided voltage.
Generally speaking, these fluctuations can happen for a number of reasons. That said, here are four of the most common reasons why your LED lights might be flickering.
- Loose wiring
- The LED light or lamp you're using isn't dimmable
- Incorrect dimmer and light pairing or the dimmer switch isn't LED compatible
- Faulty dimmable LED light
Anything as simple as a loose wire, an incompatible dimmer switch, or even a faulty LED lamp itself can cause flicker. Depending on how severe the problem is, the flickering can be barely noticeable or totally disorienting, so it's best to fix the problem as soon as you can.
How to Prevent Dimmable LEDs From Flickering?
Luckily, fixing dimmable LED flash is a rather easy thing, at least as long as you have an idea of what's causing the flickering and flashing in the first place. If only one of your LED lamps is flickering, a good place to start is to replace the light to isolate the issue to a faulty product.
If the replacement lamp continues flickering, it's time to get your wiring and dimmer switch inspected. We recommend getting professional help here as you're dealing with live electricity.
As mentioned above, a common reason why dimmable LED flash happens is incompatibility between the light and the dimmer. Not every dimmer will work with every light. So, if you're using new LED lamps with older dimmer switches, you might be in for a flickering nightmare. It's best to get PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) dimmer switches for the best experience.
Finally, we recommend buying LED lamps and dimmers from reputed companies, even if they might cost you more. We've covered some handy LED desk lamps in case you're looking for those, but you can always 3D print your own lamps if you're more of a DIY person.
Dimmable LED Flash Is Easy to Fix
As great as dimmable LED lamps are, their flickering issues can be extremely annoying. Luckily, fixing them isn't much of a problem. With some thoughtful purchase decisions to ensure that the lamp wiring is done properly, dimmable LED flash can be easily prevented.