Adapted from TheSpruce.com, written by Elizabeth McGrath
Five reasons your LED bulbs might be flickering
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n general, flickering lights are caused by a simple drop or fluctuation in household voltage that causes the lights to dim momentarily. A variety of common issues can cause your lights to flicker, and understanding the specific causes will tell exactly what to do to solve it.
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BULB TYPE Fluorescent light bulbs are more prone to flickering than LED and other bulb types. Low or high temperatures, aging bulbs or tubes, and normal warm-up cycles can all cause fluorescent bulbs to flicker. Small amounts of flickering aren’t a cause for concern, but if constant flickering or dimming are occurring, replace your fluorescent bulb to correct it. If the new bulb or tube still flickers, it is likely that the fixture has a bad ballast. You can replace the ballast on old fixtures (upgrading to an electronic ballast in the process), but it's usually simpler to replace the entire fixture. OUTDATED DIMMER SWITCHES Dimmer switches are a common source of flickering with LED (light-emitting diode) bulbs. Older dimmer switches and current conventional dimmers are designed for use with standard incandescent light bulbs, and they often don't work well with LED bulbs. If your LED is controlled by a dimmer,
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the easiest fix is to buy a good-quality "dimmable" LED bulb. If that doesn't solve the problem, replace the old dimmer with a new dimmer designed for LED bulbs. You will still need to use dimmable LEDs with these dimmers, but the new switch will be optimized for LEDs and likely will give you better performance.
LOOSE LIGHT BULBS Bulbs that aren't screwed in all the way or are otherwise attached incompletely can make for a weak electrical connection with the light fixture's contacts, resulting in flickering. Simply tightening the bulb usually solves this problem. If this occurs with a fluorescent tube, try rotating the tube in the fixture mounts to make sure the metal pins on the ends of the tube are making good contact. In older lamps or light fixtures, the sockets themselves may wear out so that the bulb can no longer make good contact with the metal tab in the bottom of the bulb socket. In this instance, you will need to replace the socket or the entire light fixture. FAULTY LAMP SWITCH OR CORD PLA bad connection in your lamp or fixture’s on-off switch can result in flickering. Troubleshoot the connections by wiggling the on-off switch. If your lights dim as you do this, you
