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I have been searching the internet and StackExchange for a couple of weeks now and have not found anything that fixed the issue. I recently added a room in my basement, all new wireing, lights, switches. when i turn the breaker on to that room all of my led lights glow when the switch is off. when i turn the switch on the light come on as expected. i have read where people say this is due to the minimal current that is usually in your circuits when off, and they said to put a regular light bulb in one of the sockets and it will act as a resistor and dissipate the remaining current. i just tried that tonight and the leds still glow( all 4 lights) Below is how they are currently wired for reference. Any help or ideas is appreciated.enter image description here

ag93
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    what kind of a switch are you using? .... is the outlet really switched? – jsotola Mar 15 '18 at 03:54
  • Are you sure the wires are all inclusive as drawn? Doy ou have anything plugged into the socket? (Outlet one) – noybman Mar 15 '18 at 04:29
  • PS... Per recent code, does your switch have a full romex in and out? You'll want that for example if you ever tapped off, or wanted a smart switch – noybman Mar 15 '18 at 04:30
  • thanks for the replies. the switch is just a standard 2 way switch, i have tried at least three different ones with the same results, and yes it is a switched outlet. all of the lights are Sylvania flush mount led fixtures, so the lights are built into them. As far as the wiring to the switch it is just a single romex, no plans to tap into it or install a different switch. – ag93 Mar 15 '18 at 12:58
  • I am glad you added what brand the LED's are - get rid of them. Normally I like them but in some situations they tend to glow. I think it has to do with frequencies that exists on the line (Noise). You might get away with putting a filter on the Line In at JCT Box 1. – Ken Mar 15 '18 at 13:20
  • Thanks for the information ken, but on the switched outlet in the middle i have a 4ft led shop light connected and they also glow, so im not sure if the brand has anything to do with it. When you say "put a filter on the line in" what do you mean by filter? – ag93 Mar 15 '18 at 13:50
  • That added info was important the 4 foot LED shop light (sometimes these are fluorescent style or LED's in a fluorescent fixture) and they introduce RF noise - disconnect it what happens ? As for the line filter here is a 20AMP line filter. https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Schurter/55002097?qs=sGAEpiMZZMt5zLV74dRd3ek9%2fRy8ohC0KHDCr8tq1II%3d

    Also use the @ symbol when using a name in the comments as that alerts my inbox that a reply has been made directly to me.

     – Ken Mar 15 '18 at 14:49
  • It happens rather frequently around here that an OP will swear on a stack of Bibles that it is a plain ordinary switch, but deeper inquiry reveals that it's an active switch that powers itself by flowing a small amount of current through incandescent bulbs. The dead giveaway is replacing one bulb with incandescent cures the problem. Yours are hardwired but you have a switched socket. Plug in something that acts like an incandescent, such as a heater, hair dryer or any other heating/resistive load. If turning that on extinguishes the LED glow, voila. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Mar 15 '18 at 15:05
  • @Ken that is terrible advice, they can't glow if they're not getting power. They should not be getting power. That is the problem on the table here. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Mar 15 '18 at 15:09
  • @Harper you got me laughing this morning so thanks. I have noticed helpful information gets left out quite a lot as well. – Ken Mar 15 '18 at 15:12
  • @Harper I know they can't glow if they are not getting power.. they are. I had LED's in a ceiling fan stay lit if I either mixed or matched LED brands, or LED's and Incandescent or had a particular brand. Swapped LED brand and used in all lamp sockets and it works fine. Now why that was - I am not going to re-engineer my ceiling fan to figure it out. – Ken Mar 15 '18 at 15:14
  • @Ken I would... I do not like "electrical mysteries" like that. They have a funny way of killing people or burning their house down. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Mar 15 '18 at 15:46
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    thanks all for the replies, @Harper i doubt that the switch is anything other than an ordinary switch. The first one i used was a simply 2 pole switch from Menards(cost like$1.50) usually a smart switch will cost more. Also i think that i already said somewhere that i plugged a incandescent work lamp into the outlet and the LEDs all still glowed.@Ken the 4 foot shop light is the Walmart brand shop lights, i dont think that they are made on an fluorescent fixture, but the other light still glow either way. – ag93 Mar 15 '18 at 15:50
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    Does the switch have an illuminated toggle? – Jeff Cates Mar 15 '18 at 18:05
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    The switch does not have a illuminated toggle. As stated a few times it is just an ordinary single pole switch – ag93 Mar 15 '18 at 21:26
  • @ag93 What many people do not realize is that LED's have a driver circuit and operates in the RF range of frequencies. They can also have phosphorescent coatings depending on brand. When people mismatch LED's the driver circuits might affect one another or another device might affect them, this is why my remote ceiling fan behaves the way it does. With out getting into details, RF circuits can oscillate from certain excitation's you might have something else generating a frequency causing a poorly designed LED to glow. A bad neutral with 2 VAC can cause issues. – Ken Mar 15 '18 at 22:06
  • @ken. I was going to pick up a filter as you recommended, anything else you could recommend? – ag93 Mar 15 '18 at 22:47
  • I would test my neutral to ground voltage and anything over 1.0 VAC I would look into (normally you might see .7 VAC or less). One test you could try is to turn off all your breakers except for those lights - leave only one connected. See how it behaves, if it is ok connect the other lights, if ok again, flip the breakers on one by one and test, if you get to one that causes the same effect you will know where the source is. This is how I would approach it process of elimination and to know more about the problem. – Ken Mar 15 '18 at 22:59
  • @ken I'm assuming that when you say test neutral to geound you are talking when the switch is off correct? – ag93 Mar 15 '18 at 23:11
  • @ag93 yes check it with the switch off - but you should not see anything even with the switch on. Use an Analog Meter ($3 to $5) not a Digital Meter - the Analog Meter has a lo impedance, your Digital Meter is a high impedance device and might show phantom or stray voltage. Do not use a 'voltage tester' Use an analog meter. – Ken Mar 15 '18 at 23:23
  • @ken. Thanks ill do some testing and update when completed – ag93 Mar 15 '18 at 23:25
  • @Ken: what are you referring to when you say that LED drivers "operates in the RF range"? Cheap ones are capacitive droppers that operate at 50-60Hz, really cheap ones just use resistors and many series LEDs, while nicer ones use an SMPS driver that typically operate at 20-100khz. where's the RF come in? – dandavis Mar 16 '18 at 23:54
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    @dandavis LED lighting solutions for the home use a Power Driver that controls current , much like a resistor would but resistors have several issues which is why they are not used. Your LED's in the home like the op's normally have internal power drivers which can range in frequencies even up to 2MHZ. While they might be plugged into a 50-60hz source they do not operate at 50-60hz internally they rectify that AC into DC and the power driver then uses FReq and PWM to control the current and voltage supplied to the LED's -many reasons why this is, far too much to discuss here. – Ken Mar 18 '18 at 05:01
  • @Ken sorry its been a few days finally found time to mess with it again. So upon thinking I decided to rewire the room now the power goes through the switch first. My 2 4ft led shoplights from the center outlet no longer glow and the 4 sylvania flush mount led are barely glowing now. I tried to seperate the "main line" as much from the lines feeding the lights and it seems to have worked for the most part. Still have the 4 led lights faintly glowing though. – ag93 Mar 21 '18 at 03:07
  • @ag93 your wiring diagram shows power going through the switch first. So I am not sure what you mean when you say you rewired it to go through the switch first. I think a new drawing of what you have now is needed. BTW where is the ground from your main - I don't see it in the drawing .. – Ken Mar 21 '18 at 09:00
  • Do the bulbs glow if you unplug them? Do you detect a voltage on the receptacle? My hunch is some kind of leaking switch... – rogerdpack Sep 29 '18 at 19:01
  • This sounds like the effect described in this Steve Mould video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uEmX5XClPY – bdsl Sep 09 '19 at 17:15

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LEDs need very little power (that is the point after all). In fact, if you have a live cable running next to a cable feeding the light, then there can be enough inductive coupling between the cables to cause a glow.

The fact that you say "I tried to seperate the 'main line' as much from the lines feeding the lights and it seems to have worked for the most part." makes me think this is the explanation.

Martin Bonner supports Monica
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I have it happening with certain (probably very sensitive/efficient) LED bulbs in the house. My guess is that there are very small amounts of current leakage in electrical systems (even switches). Certain LEDs can give a bit of light using that current. I just accept it...it's a bit of nightlight in the room and added electric bill has to be extremely minimal.

Larry Sarbey
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