Vibrating downlights?

irlrobins

Hey all,

Recently got a kitchen extension built, which featured 6 LED downlights. Ever since we moved back in, there's a noticeable soft hum (especially in the evening when house is quieter) whenever the lights are switched on. They're not on a dimmer switch, just a simple 1 way switch. The hum was definitely coming from the downlights so tonight I finally got up a ladder to try and see what was going on. After some trial and error with removing the lamps in various combinations, I came to realise the the hum occurred for about half the downlights, but only when I reinserted the lamp and the faceplate back into the fitting. When hanging loose on the wires, there was no hum.

It's as if there is a vibration occurring between the face place and the housing, although it isn't an obvious vibration in so far as I can't feel anything. But as soon as the lamp and face plate go back into the housing, the hum/vibration can be heard.

Anyone got any ideas and/or solutions?

I've attached some pics of the downlights for reference.

autumnalcore

Bend the clips so the bulb is held tighter or better replace them with a decent brand of bulb light is probably mawkish off them anyway.

irlrobins

The bulbs are Philips CorePro 4.6W. Would have thought they'd be decent enough?

autumnalcore

irlrobins wrote: »

The bulbs are Philips CorePro 4.6W. Would have thought they'd be decent enough?

Susprised at that the philips ones are usually well potted internally to eliminate coil whine, buzz etc. That being said CRI is low at 80 though and very little in the red spectrum so would be washed out compared to a halogen or high cri LED.

irlrobins

So switched all the lamps out for ones by Energetic and seems to have done the trick. On closer investigation it looked like the Philips lamps were making a low hum noise that was amplified when inside the downlight, rather than vibrating. Just glad the issue is fixed though!

Switch mode carrier frequency.
I have phillips MR16s they put bleedin' fans into! They're one of these companies that think they're great because they believe their own press.
Change lamp manufacturer.

Chicoso

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

Switch mode carrier frequency.
I have phillips MR16s they put bleedin' fans into! They're one of these companies that think they're great because they believe their own press.
Change lamp manufacturer.

Were Phillips ever that great?

Believing their own hype like u said I think

autumnalcore

Chicoso wrote: »

Were Phillips ever that great?

Believing their own hype like u said I think

Their PL flourescents were fantastic for the time, you could get a really good spectrum from them that was consistent over many thousands of hours. They were used to adjust the white balance on cameras in a place I worked. Other than that they once made good valve radios

Chicoso

autumnalcore wrote: »

Their PL flourescents were fantastic for the time, you could get a really good spectrum from them that was consistent over many thousands of hours. They were used to adjust the white balance on cameras in a place I worked. Other than that they once made good valve radios

They were a big name in radio and TV back in the day

They belly flopped into theatrical lighting, they bought the at the time market leaders, released a new generation of console under their banner that was glitchy and unreliable, made a loada plastic fixtures then realised 50% of rock and roll was the roll part and plastic isn't truck turnaround proof. Reinvented the Fresnel...the original was better.
Their consoles are mostly doorstops these days.

Chicoso

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

They belly flopped into theatrical lighting, they bought the at the time market leaders, released a new generation of console under their banner that was glitchy and unreliable, made a loada plastic fixtures then realised 50% of rock and roll was the roll part and plastic isn't truck turnaround proof. Reinvented the Fresnel...the original was better.
Their consoles are mostly doorstops these days.

Which console?

Strand series