LED Lights Staying Slightly Lit When Timer Switches Off!!!

You've got a bad timer. To meet UL the timer has to completely open the line side of the circuit at the switched outlet. Even an analog timer doesn't switch the neutral as I've been told the bleed through current that causes this is a result of the neutral not being switched. That's the case on either analog or digital though.

I use an analog timer by Intermatic no T101. Those fuckers are bullet proof.

yaunch77 said:

Yes, there's a very noticeable difference between on and off. I can barely stand to look at the lights when they are fully on. It's more like sunset or a moonlit night when they are "off."

I've determined that my problem is either reversed polarity or a bad ground. You should try moving your lights to a different socket and see if they go completely of there. Mine do.

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awesome! glad u got the problem solved =D

The Problem is bad ground as I just had this issue. I just layed a 120V line (cheap extension cord) with no ground and removed the "ground stick" from the power strip. Plugged Blackstar to the timer, problem solved.

Just noticed this tonight. I'm in day 26 veg.... Yikes what to do.....prob gonna have hermies. Bugging out right now.

my BS500 does the same thing but I don't mind... it is so faint that its less then moonlight. should not cause hermies. I have 4 fem seeds and all are still female.

thatsmessedup said:

my BS500 does the same thing but I don't mind... it is so faint that its less then moonlight. should not cause hermies. I have 4 fem seeds and all are still female.

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glad to hear it, I will leave it be plants are looking good under my bs240. Btw your bs500 grow looks great nice work

Cutting the ground off is not a good idea and could get you killed.

The reason your lights are staying on IS because your electrical outlet is not wired properly.
If you put your own in, etc. you probably hooked up duplex outlet worng.
Black wire to Brass colored screw.
White wire to Silver colored screw.
Green or bare wire to Green screw.

There are contactors and stuff that cut both lines from the wall; but most only cut the Black lead.

Now understand that the White Lead and the Green/Bare lead are CONNECTED together at the fuse panel.
They are in fact the same electrically in your home wiring.

So if the Black wire is not attached to the Brass colored screw on the outlet it is not going through the relay in the timer to be cut.
Therefore it appears that leakage from filter caps or similar is backing in through the circuitry.
That can't be good for the equipment either.

With two and three prong plugs you can always tell which should be which wire by the size of the blades:
The smaller spade of the two is always the Black wire. Same on the duplex socket.

Overgrow used to have this thing that screamed about electrical safety on the faqs dealing with electricity;
When I saw the post above about cutting the ground prong off I wanted to scream!
Be safe man. Water and electricity do not mix.

It is a problem with the ac socket being wired incorrectly. I know for a fact that mine are correct. I was using a multistip with no ground. When I replaced it with a unit with a ground it worked. You can buy a cheap device that checks polarity on you outlets. With lots of appliances it will work if it's wired wrong. Leds and a 10 buck timer do not tolerate incorrect wiring.

i fixed it by simply by just putting in the power plug with 180° into the socket/ turned the timer by 180°...changed N and L of the AC

i had same problem but only one brand of led by luck i fine out if i put a watts metter after timmer it fix it , i mean one theo thing tell u how many watts you are using from wall just plug in ,, hope that helps someone

I purchased 2 LED lights to help save some electricity instead of the HPS's and to reduce heat in the tent. I was only using them for a few days and went into room during lights out and noticed both LED lights were dim lit, but not all LED's and I would describe the light as cloud covered moonlight. The white LED was mostly noticeable even though some blue and red were dim too. The first thing I did after reading feedback was plug timer into surge protector but no fix. Then I changed digital timer to another digital but different brand and it fixed problem. Even though problem now fixed I thought I'd try one more thing and tried using a smart timer https://www.kmart.com.au/product/mirabella-genio-wi-fi-1-usb-adaptor/2326810 and again when timer set to off no dim LED's. Timer that didn't work: https://ibb.co/KrJF6cf Timer that did work including Genio above: https://ibb.co/p1gVVd9

Beefbisquit said:

The timer is a switch. When it's open current cannot pass through, obviously it's not open all the way.

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Hes onto it!! He is right!! My 3 mars hydro led lights are slightly glowing when off and this only just started to happen, i tapped my timer just then with a hard item and they went completely out as well as turn back on if i hit the other side of the timer (broken switch) ! Meaning the current switch must have been jamming inside the timer, faulty timer it is!!!!! I messaged mars hydro and all , dude youre a life saver only use super good quality timers its not worth the risk .

Its your timer! Tap the side of it with a hammer and see if anything happens

This can also happen if you have your timer connected to a socket which has something else on while your timer is off. Make sure your light and timer is all on its own socket.

yaunch77 said:

I have three Blackstar 240W lights and I've just switched to flower a few days ago. I've been checking each night when the lights are supposed to switch off and my LED lights are staying slightly on, even when the power timer has switched off. I had a GE digital timer that I assumed was the cause of this problem. However, I put in a mechanical one today and I just found it doing the same thing.Has anyone else experienced this problem? Can anyone recommend a timer that will completely shut the LEDs off? Like 5 mins after and 5 mins before the live wire timer comes on.

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Yep I've got this occurring with a mars ts1000 it also did it with a viparspectra p600....so if we've got a trickle voltage thru the neutral could we break the neutral wire, put a plug on the two ends and put it in another relay timer to flick the neutral off ? Then set the neutral timer 5 mins before and after the live wire timer.

Seems ive got a trickle charge thru the neutral which is keeping the leds on low when the timers off ( none of my timers are double pole switch off)....i was wondering if I could break the neutral wire on the lamp power lead, connect the ends to a mains plug and put it in another timer set to come on. Say 5 mins before and after the live timer switch flick over.

yaunch77 said:

Thanks! I'm going to order one now.

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It might have been said, I've read about this before fairly recently, what some members thought was that the live and neutral are back to front in the wall or in the unit?
The timer is shutting down the neutral so there's live still leaking in?
I've a led with a digital timer and it goes off completely.

Star Dog said:

It might have been said, I've read about this before fairly recently, what some members thought was that the live and neutral are back to front in the wall or in the unit?
The timer is shutting down the neutral so there's live still leaking in?
I've a led with a digital timer and it goes off completely.

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I'll have a look at the wall connections..if there good I'm temted to try the double timer method. Just thought id ask for some opinions....ha! yeh there's seems to be a lot of this occurring. I read some were unaware till late in flw. I've tried my other 6 various working timers so it's annoying the crap outa me.

Gumpf said:

I'll have a look at the wall connections..if there good I'm temted to try the double timer method. Just thought id ask for some opinions....ha! yeh there's seems to be a lot of this occurring. I read some were unaware till late in flw. I've tried my other 6 various working timers so it's annoying the crap outa me.

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Yes that would annoy me to but at least there is a simple fix.

I don't anything about electricity but I was able to run a pump slowly with a neutral and earth, presumably the live was leaking into the neutral it's worth testing for it though it would probably trip the circuit breaker, or it did with me.
Best of luck!

Theve got these in oz but in the UK its 80 quid for somthing that looks like its been salvaged from Frankenstein lab