LED lights glow when off

[The Dude Inhales]

What up dudes and dudettes, I have a situation which surely everyone growing with LED lights has encountered. I'm not sure its a problem however my LED lights have a slight glow to them when powered off via a wall outlet timer.

The outlet timer is nothing special, a 25 dollar digital chunk of plastic and clearly its passing enough current to illuminate my lights when off, but I'm looking for some possible solutions to eliminate this. The solution I'm leaning towards is wiring in a solid state relay however if anyone is using a digital outlet timer which provides total isolation I would prefer that.

On another note I have completed one crop with no perceived side effects, ideal growing conditions would be those that imitate an outdoor grow and a light glow at night would be comparable to the moon or stars in the sky, any thoughts?

 

[Chris Scorpio]

Get a new timer

Sounds likeime it's busted

 

[Old Salt]

I use the Woods 50009 timer. It seems to have a mechanical relay rather than SSR.

 

[The Dude Inhales]

Get a new timer

Sounds likeime it's busted

Yeah, could be defective or just the wrong type for the application...thanks for the reply.

 

[The Dude Inhales]

I use the Woods 50009 timer. It seems to have a mechanical relay rather than SSR.

Thanks for the suggestion, are you using this for LED lights?

 

[Chris Scorpio]

I use a basic $10 timer from Home Depot, simple and effective

 

[Old Salt]

Thanks for the suggestion, are you using this for LED lights?

Yes, a King X6 Dimmable 1800W COB LED Grow Light for now.

 

[The Dude Inhales]

Nice, I'm growing with 2 x 2000 watt BESTVA Elite LED's....no glow what so ever when your lights are out?

 

[Old Salt]

None at all in over three years.

 

[The Dude Inhales]

I use a basic $10 timer from Home Depot, simple and effective

Are you growing with LED lights as well?

 

[The Dude Inhales]

None at all in over three years.

Sounds to me like my timer is shyt...I'll try the woods.

 

[Chris Scorpio]

Yup..all led QB lights

It's yer timer bud

 

[Old Salt]

My light will soon be veg only. This is the replacement.

 

[The Dude Inhales]

My light will soon be veg only. This is the replacement.

Nice setup, wireless control would be cool too.

 

[Old Salt]

Nice setup, wireless control would be cool too.

Maybe later I'll add that. I need it up and running by the end of the week.

 

[Edzzed]

I'd say you have an electrical leak somewhere in the timer. If you bypass the timer by plugging straight into wall do you get a glow or not.

 

[Pisuzu]

Is it just a defective light when it glows when timer and or power strip turned off? When the two switches on the light itself are manually turned off it does not glow. I guess I will have to turn it on and off manually each time ?

 

[Pisuzu]

Forgot to also ask: is it a high probability that plants would be ruined if I were to let the one light continue to faintly glow during dark period?

 

[Old Salt]

If your lights glow with the timer off, and your power bar is turned off, both are defective. They both should be replaced.

The timer is critical, so if you suffer from lack-o-funds disease, replace it first. As mentioned above, I use the Woods 50009 timer. It seems to have a mechanical relay rather than SSR. Mine have been in service for over five years without a problem. That's longer than I've been growing cannabis. They were re-purposed when I started.

Another very flexible timer I've been using for about two years is Permanent Industries' "Multi Function Programmable Timer outlet Count Down on and off timer." It has time of day and interval capabilities. The intervals can be in hours/minutes or minutes/seconds. I use it for my automatic watering systems.

I recently replaced my power bar. Most of them need to be mounted vertically, with timers and wall warts hanging down the bar. I recently found the "STANLEY 31610 SurgeMax Pro 9 Outlet Metal Surge Protector, Black." It mounts horizontally, with the timers and wall warts hanging off of the bar.

Just some food for thought.

 

[SmokingWings]

I use a basic $10 timer from Home Depot, simple and effective

Right now the Christmas rush means that Home Depot, and probably the other big-box stores, have the basic timers for about $5 for those with a single outlet. The double outlet ones were costing $10 when I was there last week. Most local hardware stores should be close in prices and probably closer to home than driving and burning gasoline to get to the big store. Even cheaper are the basic ones at Harbour Freight, especially if a coupon is used.

The plants and the LED lights I have are not complaining. In over two years of daily use not a single one of these inexpensive basic timers has stopped working. If one did and I had to buy another one it still would be cheaper than buying an expensive digital one that I really do not need.

Have a great day.