Is there anything I can do about the humming of an LED?
I just installed this cheap LED with a brightness of 4600 lumen, which is really great. Now I can finally work without falling asleep.
But.
It's humming, faintly. Which is annoying. Any ideas on how to rectify this?
28 replies
The LEDs do not hum. Their power supply does. Usually, it is caused by bad coils. I'd check which one is humming, and just replace it, but this might not be a method recommendable for anyone.
Coils as in the transformer's?
Sounds like the LEDs are doing a great job of that already
You answered your own question
The humming is going to be its power supply, either a transformer-to-rectifier or switched mode power supply.
You could open it up and see what psu it uses, swap it out for one of same voltage but higher quality. If it's a transformer sometimes you can self-pot them in hot glue to cut down on vibration but you do so at your own risk when working with 240 mains.
Sweet! Unfortunately I have secured it to the wall with semipermanent double sided tape, and I'd rather not pluck it down at the moment. But if the humming will interfere with my work, I'll check out the insides! Duly noted on the safety risks! 🫡 Thanks!
Before you dismount it from the wall, have you tried turning it on, then applying physical pressure at various parts of the outside of the light to see if the sound changes or disappears? Make sure its not a vibration that could be solved with a tiny bit of padding between two hard surfaces.
Excellent advice! Thanks! I'll try this tomorrow after work. 🫡😊
If you get tinnitus, this little guy won't bother you at all.
Or it will make it worse.
It looks like a florescent tube, not LED, but I guess it's just a diffuser over LEDs?
Florescent tubes can definitely make noise though...
Have you tried humming along with it?
It's messing with my head because it sits RIGHT between a G and a G#. Fuck me.
Sign it up for music lessons?
Any specific genre? 🤔 Don't leave me with a half assed suggestion PLEASE. 😂
barbershop quartet. Lots of humming in that genre.
Just put an envelope on it and it should decay, then you'll get your release
...wow
It may operate quietly closer to one of it's operating temperature extremes. Have you tried heating or cooling the room? Maybe try -10 or 35°C?
Gonna try -10 tomorrow and also push that IP65 rating to its limits with a water canon. Yay or nay?
I say it never hurts to try!
Err... isn't the noisy PSU helping you achieve your goal? :P
Yes, but I don't want to be talking to my projects saying: we are getting aggravated 💀
Are you one of those albino ghost dudes from The Matrix?
Get a few CRT TVs. After a while you won't be bothered by background noise 🫠
My housemate didn’t believe that his TV whistled. It was so loud I could hear it inside my car as I was pulling into the driveway.
1960s BBC TV license van teams would like to make you a job offer.
My bathroom ceiling light was doing that also when it was installed. Then they replaced the power supply to a different kind and it stopped.
Though in this case the electician bought a wrong kind power supply - it didn't come with the light fixture.