paulinlapine Posted January 25, 2018 Posted January 25, 2018 I have several 2473 Outletlinc receptacles that seem to function fine. Two of them have LED Christmas light strings connected to them. They turn ON just fine. When they are turned OFF they seem to go off, but the LED lights still stay on, although very dim. It's as if there is a small leakage in the 2473's. Anyone else notice this behavior and is it normal. I'd really like them to turn 100% off.
ronvond Posted January 26, 2018 Posted January 26, 2018 That's normal operation if you have only LED Christmas lights on the circuit. Plug in a small, 7 watt incandescent into the same circuit and everything will be fine.
paulinlapine Posted January 26, 2018 Author Posted January 26, 2018 (edited) That's normal operation if you have only LED Christmas lights on the circuit. Plug in a small, 7 watt incandescent into the same circuit and everything will be fine. That does indeed cause the lights to go out. The drawback is that the 7 watt bulb is ON when the LED lights are ON. :mad: This issue is puzzling to me as I would have thought that the receptacle would be controlled by a simple relay which would have a positive OFF. Does anyone know what is really going on when the 2473 is in the OFF state? Also does the newer 2663 exhibit the same effect? Edited January 26, 2018 by paulinlapine
mwester Posted January 26, 2018 Posted January 26, 2018 Load sense. Various Insteon modules will send a very small trickle of current downstream after the relay, so that they can sense when the load is turned on or off (or plugged in or out, in the case of xmas lights). This allows them to turn on when a user (for example) turns on the floor lamp with its switch - a nice feature. It can then send a signal to other nodes in a scene informing them as well -- another really nice feature. Alas, to make this work, it is necessary to run that trickle of power. And it turns out that up to a few years ago nobody would ever notice that, and then we all installed those highly-efficient low-current-draw LEDs, and suddenly that teeny trickle of power is enough to make the lights actually stay on! There's no setting to change - you can turn off the load control feature in the settings menu, but that just changes the logic - it does not (and cannot) remove that trickle of power you're seeing. Sorry.
Brian H Posted January 26, 2018 Posted January 26, 2018 Can't say about the outlets. I do know some of the modules also protect the relay contacts. With a resistor/capacitor snubber. When off there is a small current through the snubber. Can keep small loads like Christmas lights glowing when off.
paulbates Posted January 26, 2018 Posted January 26, 2018 (edited) Our LED Christmas tree lights do this. Plug in an old unused phone charger along with the lights. It takes 3 - 5 seconds, but the bulbs will stop glowing after turned off. You might have to try a couple to find one that works right. I also use one with detachable cable so there is no cable to deal with. Paul the LED lights still stay on, although very dim. It's as if there is a small leakage in the 2473's. Anyone else notice this behavior and is it normal. I'd really like them to turn 100% off. Edited January 26, 2018 by paulbates
paulinlapine Posted January 26, 2018 Author Posted January 26, 2018 Thanks for the suggestion to use the phone charger, Paul, that works. I don't use the load sensing feature of the Outletlincs and had forgot about it. It all makes perfect sense now. Paul
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