Hi everyone,
A few years ago, I installed potlights under the eves of my house. I installed a Zenith Heath 5100 Dual Brite motion detector to run them. On one side of the house, I have 3 potlights and on another, I have 4. When I installed them, I lamped them with off shore 5 watt LED GU10 lamps. Everything worked beautifully.

Fast forward 5 years, and 2 of the lamps quit working. I had picked up a whack of Globe 5 watt lamps that Wally-Mart was clearing out. They are labeled as dimable. I figured while I was at it, I might as well relamp the other two. When I powered them up, they immediately started to flicker. When the motion sensor has the lights off, the lamps are definitely off, so the triac in the sensor seems to be loaded enough. When the sensor turns the lamps on half bright at dusk, they come on at about 50% brightness, but they are flickering. When the sensor detects motion, the lights come on at full brightness, but with a flicker. The flickering is truly random and not rhythmically. Some days the flicker seems worse that others.

The triac in the sensor is a SanRex T10E6F and is a T-220 package. I have not been able to locate a spec sheet for it.

One interesting detail, before I relamped the first 2 fixtures that were burned out, the other two off shore lamps did not flicker. When I relamped the first fixtures, I noticed the flicker, but it wasn’t as noticeable. It got worse when as I replaced the last two lamps.

Any idea on how I can fix this? I would prefer to not have to add resistors, as if the new lamps are more efficient, I don’t want to piss that energy savings away in turning it into heat. Either way, I need to do something, as my daughter has a seizure disorder that is triggered by flashing lights.
Thanks
Ted

 

... assuming that the bulb socket is the threaded screw type. Maybe the interior of the socket has acquired surface corrosion or something related to outdoor exposure. So, verify that the power is off and then use an old toothbrush along with contact cleaner or a similar solution to restore the conductivity between the bulb base and the socket. Be sure to allow sufficient drying time.

 

Corrosion of a contact somewhere in the system seems the most likely culprit. Or if any of the wiring can move due to bad weather then a fractured wire is a possibility.

 

... assuming that the bulb socket is the threaded screw type. Maybe the interior of the socket has acquired surface corrosion or something related to outdoor exposure. So, verify that the power is off and then use an old toothbrush along with contact cleaner or a similar solution to restore the conductivity between the bulb base and the socket. Be sure to allow sufficient drying time.

The lamps are a GU10 bi-pin twist base. The sockets are in great shape and are making good connection. Also, it there was a bad connection, all of the lamps would not be flickering simultaneously together. Only the ones with the bad connection would be flickering and if there was more than one flicking, the pattern of the flickering would not be perfectly in sync.

 

Corrosion of a contact somewhere in the system seems the most likely culprit. Or if any of the wiring can move due to bad weather then a fractured wire is a possibility.

I have been over the system and there are no bad connections. I proved this by connecting the input of the motion sensor to the output and the lamps come on full brightness and with no flickering.