Switching off LED lamps

[Jonetc15]

I fear that this post demonstrates how little I know about modern technology.

I have three LED reading lamps. After using them and switching them off, the on/off button shows a constant red light. To turn this red light off I have to switch the lamps off at the main plug. For many years I have wondered what minimal risk there is if leaving them on while we are out for the day/evening. Is it best to have all such devices switched off at the main?

With hesitation I sign and send this question...

Jon

[csearle]

For many years I have wondered what minimal risk there is if leaving them on while we are out for the day/evening. Is it best to have all such devices switched off at the main?

My dad used to switch pretty much everything off because he didn't like the risk of things catching fire.

I am much less worried about it than my father was. Mind you if an appliance is mains powered and an LED light is on, even when the appliance is supposedly switched off, then at least some kind of power supply must still be energised. This might just be a transformer and a rectifier, but more likely these days to be a switched-mode power supply which has dozens of components in it. The risk of failure is related to the complexity of the system so there is an argument to be had for switching off (as well as the environmental one). Not all failures would lead to dangerous situations though. Many would I reckon just cause the supply to fail with no other consequences.

What bothers me more is the accumulation of coloured glows in my bedroom/office. It sometimes feels quite bright.

Regards,
Chris

[Itsallaguess]

I have three LED reading lamps. After using them and switching them off, the on/off button shows a constant red light.

To turn this red light off I have to switch the lamps off at the main plug. For many years I have wondered what minimal risk there is if leaving them on while we are out for the day/evening.

Is it best to have all such devices switched off at the main?

It depends what you mean by 'best'.....

It's certainly the case that from an electrical-safety point of view, isolating any device at the socket itself is the safest thing to do if it's practical to do so, but the question then is around the practicality of always switching something off at the socket, against leaving it on due to the application of the device itself...

It sounds like the lamps you're discussing are actually designed to be left on all of the time - it's clear that part of the actual design is to have an illuminated on/off switch on the lights themselves, so that if you want to turn one on in the dark, you can see the red light of the on/off button to enable you to reach for it....

Personally, I leave things like bedside lights on all of the time at the socket, and isolate them using the local method, which is often either an extra switch in the supply cable just before the light base, or a switch on the light itself.

One thing I am always careful to do, however, is to make doubly sure that the fuse in any device that I leave switched on all of the time at the socket, is rated for the specific device that it's feeding, so that means that I won't put a 13A fuse in a bedside light, and will put the lowest-rated fuse allowable for the device in question.

This means that even in the very rare event of an electrical failure of a device that I happen to leave on, then the local fuse will operate in the quickest time it's possible to. My house socket-circuits are also protected by earth-leakage breakers, which incorporate an additional safety feature over and above the normal 'over-current' protection offered by some circuit-breakers.

So in short, I personally wouldn't isolate your lights at the socket. Perhaps if I was going on holiday for a couple of weeks, but certainly not under normal circumstances, and especially if I often want to put them on during periods where the room would normally be dark - I think it might be very helpful to be able to see the red light on the switch so that I can easily turn one on...

I do appreciate that people hold different views on this. I've got a neighbour who religiously goes around knocking everything off at the wall, only for his wife to follow him round turning stuff back on when she needs them, and then leaving them on, and round it goes.... I actually think they've turned it into some sort of malicious game now, it's been going on for so long.....

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[Jonetc15]

My dad used to switch pretty much everything off because he didn't like the risk of things catching fire.

I am much less worried about it than my father was. Mind you if an appliance is mains powered and an LED light is on, even when the appliance is supposedly switched off, then at least some kind of power supply must still be energised. This might just be a transformer and a rectifier, but more likely these days to be a switched-mode power supply which has dozens of components in it. The risk of failure is related to the complexity of the system so there is an argument to be had for switching off (as well as the environmental one). Not all failures would lead to dangerous situations though. Many would I reckon just cause the supply to fail with no other consequences.

What bothers me more is the accumulation of coloured glows in my bedroom/office. It sometimes feels quite bright.

Regards,
Chris

Very many thanks, Chris. I take the same view as your father - perhaps we were following our parents at a time immediately post-war when electricity was more of a safety issue. I'll leave our lights showing red at night but continue to turn them off before any prolonged absence.

All the best

Jon

[Jonetc15]

It depends what you mean by 'best'.....

It's certainly the case that from an electrical-safety point of view, isolating any device at the socket itself is the safest thing to do if it's practical to do so, but the question then is around the practicality of always switching something off at the socket, against leaving it on due to the application of the device itself...

It sounds like the lamps you're discussing are actually designed to be left on all of the time - it's clear that part of the actual design is to have an illuminated on/off switch on the lights themselves, so that if you want to turn one on in the dark, you can see the red light of the on/off button to enable you to reach for it....

Personally, I leave things like bedside lights on all of the time at the socket, and isolate them using the local method, which is often either an extra switch in the supply cable just before the light base, or a switch on the light itself.

One thing I am always careful to do, however, is to make doubly sure that the fuse in any device that I leave switched on all of the time at the socket, is rated for the specific device that it's feeding, so that means that I won't put a 13A fuse in a bedside light, and will put the lowest-rated fuse allowable for the device in question.

This means that even in the very rare event of an electrical failure of a device that I happen to leave on, then the local fuse will operate in the quickest time it's possible to. My house socket-circuits are also protected by earth-leakage breakers, which incorporate an additional safety feature over and above the normal 'over-current' protection offered by some circuit-breakers.

So in short, I personally wouldn't isolate your lights at the socket. Perhaps if I was going on holiday for a couple of weeks, but certainly not under normal circumstances, and especially if I often want to put them on during periods where the room would normally be dark - I think it might be very helpful to be able to see the red light on the switch so that I can easily turn one on...

I do appreciate that people hold different views on this. I've got a neighbour who religiously goes around knocking everything off at the wall, only for his wife to follow him round turning stuff back on when she needs them, and then leaving them on, and round it goes.... I actually think they've turned it into some sort of malicious game now, it's been going on for so long.....

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

Thank you very much indeed Isallaguess for such a long and interesting reply. I really appreciate your time and effort, not least because it more than justifies my original question! I intend to check the fuses in the plugs, but they ought to be okay as the lights are new. In fact the best safeguard that we have is a very sensitive mains trip which switches off the electricity to various parts of the house even if a light bulb fails.

This may be a short answer to a long post, but I really am most grateful. I think that many others will also find the replies to my original post very interesting.

ATB

Jon

[csearle]

One thing I am always careful to do, however, is to make doubly sure that the fuse in any device that I leave switched on all of the time at the socket, is rated for the specific device that it's feeding, so that means that I won't put a 13A fuse in a bedside light, and will put the lowest-rated fuse allowable for the device in question.

Bit of luck you don't live on the continent then, as they don't bother with fusing down in their plugs and just have everything on the (e.g. 20A) circuit breaker. They also don't bother with the polarity of their supplies so the switches (if single pole) might not actually disconnect the line from the device.

Regards,
Chris
PS Did you know they are introducing anti-arcing trips? It is advisory for now but the direction of travel is inexorable.