When I closed my living room curtains this evening, I saw my neighbor’s porch light come on and start strobing - very bright and very fast. I watched for a while, thinking it was burning out. But it kept going. I went over there and knocked on the door and then had to run out to the yard because the strobing made my brain hurt. He didn’t answer. It’s been over two hours and it’s still going strong. What could be causing this? Should I be alarmed? I’d hate for his house to catch on fire. He hasn’t lived there long and I’ve never seen him. One of my neighbors said he is an elderly man. If he is not home at 10 p.m., I’m thinking he isn’t coming home. Is there anything I should do?
Probably just the power supply for the lamp failing. Extremely unlikely to cause a fire.
Tell him about it - the fix is to replace the lamp or the day/night switch.
Thanks! That makes me feel better. It’s just so weird. I’ve never seen a light do that.
Probably a poltergeist.
If it’s LED, just having lower power (which can be a power supply issue or a connection issue) might cause it to strobe. They don’t dim evenly.
There’s a thread about being home alone and having a medical issue or dying alone. I hope it’s not a distress signal.
The last time I saw a porch light start strobing, it was LSD, not LED.
Hmmm, “Light Strobing Diodes”? Don’t see them in the Mouser catalog.
Fun fact: since LEDs, once they turn on, have virtually zero resistance, they would burn out quickly unless you do A: put a resistor in series with it (wasteful) or B: turn them on and off very quickly. I.e., you strobe them.
Some folks install a special switch that flashes the connected light, usually porch, to attract attention if emergency services are called. Give the address and say the porch light is flashing. Makes it easy to find to correct house without searching a crowded residential street.
Or it could be a bad LED bulb.
Handy man here who works for property management companies. I install hundreds of LED fixtures. Some are defective and fail within a year or two. Fail means strobing. I will bet you dollars to doughnuts that is a failing LED bulb or fixture.
A fluorescent light in my kitchen started strobing about a week ago. I replaced it, fixture and all. Cheaper and easier than trying to diagnose the problem.
We put an LED bulb into an outdoor fixture, and the thing flickers dimly when the switch is turned off. Best we can tell, there is still a bit of current running through, even in the off position, but not enough to keep it firmly lit.
We’ve also had a photo-sensor fixture, that was supposed to turn the light on at dusk and off at sunrise. When the bulb was lit it would trigger the sensor and turn off. Off = dark, turn back on. Rinse and repeat. Apparently that was just a dumb design.
I wonder if ambient light is turning the neighbor’s photo light on and off. I saw a neighbor’s motion detection light do that.
Is the switch controlling the fixture one that has a light in the switch itself? You know, so you can find the switch in the dark?
Many of those won’t work with LED lights because they pass enough current to dimly light the LED while an incandescent bulb would not light.
There’s no ambient light in his yard so I don’t think that is it. There’s not even a street light near his house.
I checked a couple times today and the man is not at home. There’s no car in the garage so I don’t think he is in there and just doesn’t hear me. Maybe he is staying with family or in the hospital or something. I watched at dusk and the light came on and started strobing again. It’s pretty dark around here and it’s SO bright. It reminds me of animations of pulsars. I’m assuming it will eventually burn itself out.
If it’s an LED lamp, it could strobe like that for years…
This light is one that comes on at dusk. But the strobing is so fast, I don’t think that could be what’s happening. It hadn’t been doing that until last night and I know the porch light has always been on since he moved in.
Well, I hope he comes home soon! It’s not that it really bothers me but I’m just aware of it. The light bounces off the crystals I have hanging in my windows.
I would call someone. He may have been home invaded and hurt and the bad guys stole his car. The worst thing that would happened is you would be a bit embarrassed.
Actually, it’s pretty likely that’s what is happening.
If the light is bright, and not aimed correctly, it may be turning itself off due to it’s own light reflected into the sensor. Maybe something in the environment has changed, like a spider web or a leaf or something is now reflecting enough light to make the sensor think it’s “day.” If the dusk/dawn controller doesn’t have enough hysteresis, then it doesn’t take much stay light to flip it’s state.