I changed out the bulbs to LEDs. Now they flicker after a few minutes of operation. The flicker is steady. Incandescent bulbs do fine.

Figured a bad converter (Progressive Dynamics), so I swapped it out for new. No change. Unplug the shoreline and all is well so I know it is converter power and that also suggests AC ripple in the line, but my Fluke shows 0 VAC on the DC line. Checked all connections and can not find anything loose.

Batteries new and fully charged, converter floating at 13.3 VDC, DC output is steady on the meter, not showing converter is switching stages. I am out of ideas at this point, but find it is a common complaint on the Internet with no common solution.

Steve

 

Bad LED bulbs? Or maybe just one bad LED bulb that is affecting the rest?

 

I had a few do that.. not all.

electronic noise from converter... switching/regulation....
some brands of lights are more sensitive then others.

might try a part like this...


not at converter.. but down stream...

 

All eight bulbs, two different circuits. Bulbs from Amazon.

 

Sorry, I skimmed over the part where you disconnected from shore power and it worked OK. Selective reading, kind of like the Selective Hearing Disease I have but only when my wife is around.

 

It seems like after a while the bulbs "warm up" and things settle down a good bit. I agree it is noise for the converter. I will have to filter it out somehow, although given the quality and cost of the converter, it should not necessary.

Steve

 

In 99% of the time I've been in my trailer I have not been connected to shore power. I'm not seeing any flickering from my LED bulbs or LED strips.

 

yeah, I'm fine on just the batteries.

 

LED bulbs are really picky about power, particularly cheaper ones. I have no advice for fixing this, but just wanted to chime in anyway.

 

One of the thoughts I had is these bulbs were darn cheap. I wonder if it is a quality control issue. My converter certainly was not low dollar.

Steve

 

I had some LED bulbs years ago that were insanely cheap that flickered no mater what the power source. Bought better bulbs and that wasn't an issue. Not sure how to make sure they are "good bulbs", I just go by seller rating/reviews plus a "goldilocks" price point.

 

same type of battle for radio noise in a car/truck


filters .. chokes .. r/c filter. its not AC.... just switcher noise.. and bulbs being sensitive

filter the DC power.. or replace bulbs... Sorry .. no better advice.

Human eyes can detect flicker at 20 cycles per second... or LESS.. a few at 30..

 

X-2 on the capacitor. Or get another set of LED's from a different manufacturer. Whichever is cheaper / most convenient

Had the same thing with CCFL's and a capacitor fixed it.

 

I would second the change in bulbs to different brands as I have experienced the same flickering (but on exterior clearance lights). I changed them to a different brand and higher quality (more $$) and it seemed to have fixed the problem.

 

message received!

steve