Found a weird fix for flickering LED strips in a Denver kitchen reno

Honestly, I was about to rip out the whole run after trying three different drivers, but adding a single 10-watt incandescent bulb on the same circuit actually smoothed the current. Has anyone else tried this trick with modern dimmers?

3 comments

3 Comments

anna_brown18d ago

Oh my god, yes! I did the exact same thing with some under-cabinet lights last year. That old bulb trick is wild, it's like magic for cheap drivers.

diana64118d ago

Wait, is it actually smoothing the current? I always heard the bulb acts as a dummy load to give the dimmer enough minimum load to work right (some of those electronic ones get weird with low power LEDs). So it fixes the flicker, but maybe for a different reason.

clark.kelly8d ago

Read an article that said the filament acts like a resistor, which soaks up those little current spikes from cheap LED drivers. It basically gives the power somewhere else to go so it doesn't mess with the sensitive electronics. Makes sense why it stops that annoying flicker without needing a fancy new dimmer.