Submitted by The_Duke_of_Ted t3_116eb3z in DIY
Sluisifer t1_j96av3f wrote
You should figure out what's going on.
First I'd check what voltage you're getting at the panel and at the fixture. Sometimes you're at the end of a run and it's on the low side at the hookup. There could also be an issue with a connection somewhere that's causing voltage to sag. These are simple sanity checks that you can do with a multimeter or have an electrician check it out. If the voltage is below nominal, it exacerbates flickering/dimming issues.
If it's just a one or a few circuits, you need to figure out what else is on those circuits that could be causing the issue. Lights should be on their own circuits, simply so the lights don't go off when a breaker trips, but older homes tend to share. Like I have a room that dims whenever I go to print something. Some devices feed back 'noisy' power back into the circuit which can mess up the little DC power supplies in LED bulbs. You may have some circuits on inadequate wire gauge.
Fixing the circuits is ideal, but better LED bulbs will help a lot. They have more sophisticated DC power supply designs that are less sensitive to voltage sag and ripple. Also, consider dedicated LED fixtures vs. bulbs. The fixtures can have much better thermal designs and don't need to cram the power supply into tiny spaces. They are fundamentally better designs.
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