LED flicker

I saw a review on Amazon.com that had the same type of complaint about an AC powered rope light. DC powered lights would not have that problem. Could you convert them to DC only?

Sounds like you have a bad converter or charger that's putting electrical noise on your 12v line... ac ripple, emi, rfi, take your pick.

with the generator off, you're on pure DC from the battery. generator on, converter / charger takes over with a higher voltage, and not a clean signal.

you mention other bulbs, but what about other strips? flicker might just be more noticeable on the strip since there's lots of lights close to one another.

Install an electrolytic capacitor across the output terminals of your converter.

As big as a salt shaker. Two #10 screw terminals on top. 10,000 uf (microfarad). This is a simple and effective fix. It dampens RIPPLE from the converter.

Do not wire the polarity backwards. Gob on a glop of silicone over the two screws on the capacitor. No 14 wire is fine.

25 or more volts rating on the capacitor

And it's going to give a brief spark if you do not kill the battery and converter power while installing. Please chop battery power first.

I've had flicker problems with both 12v and 120v LEDs. They're just that way, sometimes. Defective I guess.

Sorry Mex, need something a little more simple than that for me. Just wonder why all the other light fixtures work ok. This new little strip is on only about 12" long.

Go to converter, see + wire going to battery

Look at - wire. Negative the other wire that goes to the battery.

Look at the top of the capacitor it has two phillips head screws.

One is marked +

The other is marked -

Think you can undo one nut on the converter and hook + to + ?

Then undo the other nut on the converter and hook - to - ?

Means buying a length of twin wire, two #10 X blue insulator ring terminals

And two bigger hole ring terminals for the converter studs.

Heck you can even connect this direct to the battery if you want to.

This is pretty basic and the capacitor makes a great ripple suppressor.

Some LED's flicker when they see a certain amount of NOISE in the 12 volt supply. You proved that yourself.

Fixing a flat on a bicycle tire is 100 times more complex than this capacitor and twin lead install.

tarnold wrote:
Sorry Mex, need something a little more simple than that for me. Just wonder why all the other light fixtures work ok. This new little strip is on only about 12" long.

LEDs have a very fast turn on/off, incadescent bulbs take a longer time to ramp up from off to full brightness and from full bright to off..

Incadescents tend to hide small voltage changes.

Some LED modules include a built in current regulator and some do not.

The ones with a built in current regulator tend to have less to no variation in brightness due to small voltage changes.

LED modules without current regulator will produce noticeable changes in brightness with small changes in the voltage.

For whatever reason your converter is producing what is known as "ripple" which is another way of saying small voltage changes.

What Mex has suggested might fix the problem but in reality it may be hiding a problem with your converter and or batteries.

Modern day converters tend to produce extremely stable voltages with extremely low ripple..

Older linear converters use the battery to smooth out the ripple and regulate the voltage. When no battery was connected or the battery was bad the output ripple was extremely high..

Perhaps post the model of your converter.

The strip light drops 12v across a string of diodes and is not using voltage regulation..that is built into the square replacements you put inthe other fixtures
Did the strip light come from an RV store or an automotive store ?

Usually "that much ripple" is caused by a failed rectifier or transistor and a failed rectifier or transistor will reduce converter output potential to the point of flickering LED's would be perhaps No 16 in a long list of complaints about power problems.

I've got smd panels that the WFCO loves to hassle. But only when the battery is fully charged. Trashy product forced me to consider the 10 watt chips. The quality of the light rendered is a world apart, but then the ugly proposition of heat sinking jumps up. Light emitting diodes need to improve their efficiency to 30-40% before I will be impressed by the concept. I am using conventional "heaters" because of instant-on and daylight rendition which CFL cannot match. Also Mexican power loves to play whips and chains with CFL lamps.

I don't think there's enough room in the fixture "base assembly" to hide a 47uf 25 volt cap. So that's why I recommended a KONI grade shock absorber right at the converter. Cheap, fast, effective fix. If the converter is bad, somehow, the cap will give it a shot of morphine and it may last awhile longer. But usually a bad converter really messes with TV and radio - just think of all that lovely antenna structure in walls and ceiling.