There are a few potential reasons why your LED strip lights aren’t turning off. In this article, we’ll explore each of them and offer some solutions to help you get your lights working properly again.
To Summarize, here’s a list of the things that can potentially cause your LED strip lights not to turn off;
- The Controller May Have Some Stand-by Current
- The Light Itself Stores Energy in a Capacitor
- The Timer Settings Of The LED Strip Light
- Your Power Supply May Not Be Fully Shutting Off
- You May Have a Faulty LED Strip Light
- Your Remote Control May Not Be Working Properly
- You May Have a Loose Connection
- Dimmer Switch May Be Having A Lot Of Stand-By Current
- Cheap LED Strip Lights
Stick around as I share with you the details of each one of these problems and how you can fix them so that your LED strip lights turn off when you want them to.
1. The Controller May Have Some Stand-by Current
One of the main reasons why your LED strip light is not turning off is because it has what’s called “stand-by current.”
Stand-by current is a small amount of current that flows through the controller even when it’s turned off.
In some cases, this will not allow your LED strip light to turn off completely. The ways these stand-by features are intended to work is by allowing your LED light to turn on again quickly after being turned off or allowing indicator lights or other features to work still while the LED light is off.
This type of issue is often diagnosed by looking at the LED light’s power consumption when it’s turned off.
If there is still a small amount of power being consumed, even when the LED light is turned off, then it’s likely that the controller has some stand-by current.
The solution to this problem is to find a professional who can help you disable the stand-by current feature on your controller.
This is not something that most people will be able to do on their own and will likely require the help of someone who is familiar with LED lighting.
2. The Light Itself Stores Energy In A Capacitor
Another potential reason why your LED strip light is not turning off is that the light itself has a capacitor that stores energy.
This is most common in older LED lights, but it’s still something that can happen with newer lights as well.
When an LED light is turned off, the capacitor will release the stored energy back into the light. This can cause the light to turn on again or stay on, even when it’s supposed to be turned off.
The solution to this can also be a little bit tricky for most people, so I would strongly advise you to consult a professional near you.
If you’re up for it, you can just replace the capacitor with a new one. However, in other cases, you may need to replace the entire LED strip light.
Again, if you’re not comfortable doing this on your own, I would highly recommend finding a professional to help you.
This is not a problem that you want to mess around with if you’re not sure what you’re doing.
3. The Timer Settings Of The LED Strip Light
In some cases, the timer settings of your LED strip light may be causing it not to turn off. If you have a timer set for your light, it’s possible that the timer is not set correctly and is causing the light to stay on longer than it should.
A lot of the LED strip lights on the market today have a lot of unique features that allow them to make life very easy. With these highly advanced LED strip lights, we are able to schedule when they should turn on or off.
A lot of these LED strip lights are compatible with sensors and dimmer switches so that they can turn on or off based on when someone enters or leaves the room.
But when some of these advanced features malfunction, the result can be an LED strip light that does not turn off when it’s supposed to.
The solution to this is pretty straightforward, you just need to check the timer settings on your LED strip light and make sure that they’re set correctly. In most cases, you will simply have to reset the timer.
4. Your Power Supply May Not Be Fully Shutting Off
The next potential reason why your LED strip light is not turning off has to do with the power supply.
In some cases, the power supply may not be shutting off completely when the LED light is turned off.
This can happen for a number of reasons, but it’s often the result of a faulty power supply. This happens very frequently and will require the services of an expert to have it rectified.
Generally, what you can expect an expert to do is simply replace the power supply. In other cases, they may need to fix some wiring issues to get the power supply to work correctly.
5. You May Have A Faulty LED Strip Light
Sometimes it can be that your LED strip light is simply faulty and is not shutting off correctly.
This can happen for a variety of reasons, but it often has to do with the manufacturing process or the quality of the LED strip light you may have purchased.
As far as faulty LED strip lights go, you simply want to replace the light entirely to be on the safe side.
There’s not much you can do to fix a faulty LED strip light, and it’s not worth the hassle or the risk to try and make repairs on your own.
6. Your Remote Control May Not Be Working Properly
This actually happens quite a lot, and you would be surprised by how often people overlook this potential issue.
In some cases, your LED strip light may not be shutting off because the remote control you’re using is not working properly.
There are a few things you can check to see if this is the case. The first thing you want to do is check the batteries in your remote control.
If the batteries are low or dead, then it’s likely that your remote control is not working correctly. Simply replace the batteries and see if that does the trick.
Another thing you can check is the distance between your remote control and the LED strip light. In some cases, the signal from your remote may not be reaching the light if it’s too far away.
If you’re still having issues, then it’s likely that your remote control is faulty and will need to be replaced with new remote control from Amazon.
7. You May Have A Loose Connection
One of the most common reasons why your LED strip light is not shutting off is that you have a loose connection. This is often the case with the power supply or the controller.
A loose connection can cause all sorts of problems, and it’s often the result of not having installed the LED strip light correctly.
The best way to fix a loose connection is to simply check all the connections and make sure that they’re tight.
If you’re not comfortable doing this yourself, then you can always call an expert to come and take a look.
In most cases, a loose connection is an easy fix and can be resolved quickly.
8. Dimmer Switch May Be Having A Lot Of Stand-By Current
Similar to the issue with the controller storing a lot of currents, a dimmer switch can also have a lot of standby currents.
The dimmer switch is made to help regulate or control the amount of current flowing to the LED lights and how bright or dim the light will be.
However, some of these dimmer switches need to store up some energy to power some of its features like the indicator lights or displays.
And this stored energy can sometimes interfere with the proper functioning of the LED lights and cause them to stay on even when they are switched off.
Tips To Keep Your LED Strip Light Functioning Properly
Now that we’ve gone over some of the common issues that can cause your LED strip light to stay on let’s talk about some tips to keep it functioning properly.
- The first thing you want to do is make sure that you’re using the correct power supply.
- There are a lot of different types of power supplies out there, and not all of them are compatible with LED lights.
- Make sure you’re using an LED power supply that is specifically designed to work with your LED lights.
- Another thing you want to do is make sure that you’re using the correct controller. Just like with the power supply, there are a lot of different types of controllers, and not all of them are compatible with LED lights.
- Make sure you’re using an LED controller that is specifically designed to work with your LED lights.
- Finally, you want to make sure that you’re not overloading the circuit. This is a common problem, and it can cause all sorts of problems, including your LED lights, staying on.
- The best way to avoid this is to make sure you’re not using more than 50% of the circuit’s capacity.