LED light problem

[osprey877]

I recently installed an LED light fixture in the aft cabin on my 40' racer/cruiser. The light is a flat rectangle about 3" by 6" with a push button in the centre that cycles through a red night light and four strengths of white light. It's a pretty common fixture I think. It seems to work fine except for one annoying problem: It turns itself on full power as soon as the circuit breaker it's on is turned on, even though it was turned off when the breaker was turned off. ie. When I leave the boat, the light will be off when i trip the cabin lights breaker on the DC panel. The next day when I turn the breaker on, the light comes on by itself and I have to remember to go in the cabin and turn it off. After that its fine until I turn the breaker off. The power for the light is on my "cabin lights" circuit (15 amps dc) and there are just two wires into the light fixture. Anybody heard of this issue before or have any ideas??

[rwidman]

You have installed more than an LED light. You need to check the instructions that came with it and see if there's a way to disable this "feature".

[osprey877]

I'm afraid I didn't keep them, although I'm pretty sure they simply said to connect the two wires to a power source. I will see if I can find a similar fixture somewhere.

[Nicor]

Actually sounds like that may be the intended way to work.

Find the instruction/description of operation from the manuf website or seller.

Or post brand/model and i'll find it for u.
Need something interesting to do today and might be something i would use.

[osprey877]

Originally Posted by Nicor

Actually sounds like that may be the intended way to work.

Find the instruction/description of operation from the manuf website or seller.

Or post brand/model and i'll find it for u.
Need something interesting to do today and might be something i would use.

Unfortunately I cant remember the brand or model and won't be down to the boat for a week or so. I'll see then if I can find a brand/model name and then post it. I've scanned the Internet, including Defender, West Marine, and the store I bought it at, but can't find an image or brand.

[LongRange]

To me it sounds broken, or a bad design, and I doubt there is much that can be done short of replacing the light.

The fact that the light always comes on when power is restored suggests that the switch is 'logical', and not a physical switch which simply cuts the power. There is likely to be circuitry behind that switch, and its logic determines when the light should be on and when it should be off, when it should be red and when white... the mechanical switch itself is probably just a button which sends a signal to the circuitry.

Unfortunately, it appears the logic of the circuitry has a defect - it always defaults to the ON state whenever power is restored. It would take a soldering iron and fiddling with electronics to fix something like that, and unless the light is valuable it is unlikely to be worth the time and effort.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by LongRange

It would take a soldering iron and fiddling with electronics to fix something like that, and unless the light is valuable it is unlikely to be worth the time and effort.

Or possibly just inserting an inline switch by the light?

[osprey877]

Originally Posted by StuM

Or possibly just inserting an inline switch by the light?

I think LongRange is probably correct and there is some flaw in the switch circuitry which I will not be able to fix. The inline switch idea is a good one, and i may try this out.

Thanks all for the help.

[hellosailor]

That doesn't sound like a flaw. A lot of small LED flashlights also use a "5 way" controller chip, designed so that every time it sees the power switched off and on, it cycles through to the next default setting. And apparently the default "start" setting on yours is just full power white.

You'll have to shop for a new light to change that, and read the incredible fine print about features and options. Seems like some makers have quirky ideas about what MUST be had and done.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by Nicor

Actually sounds like that may be the intended way to work. .........

That would be my guess.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by rwidman

That would be my guess.

My guess too. Maybe there's some internal jumper or DIP switch for setting the default turn-on state.

[Nicor]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

My guess too. Maybe there's some internal jumper or DIP switch for setting the default turn-on state.

That sure seems like that would be case.

Other thing about red led coming on is not destroy any night vision you may have. I can see when that would come into play.