I just went in to check my plants trichomes since they are near the end of week 9. My light schedule is of course 12/12 with lights on from 11 p.m.-11 a.m. so obviously I am at lights out right now. The room my tent is in is absolutely pitch dark so the only light used was from my loupe and for less than 30 seconds. My question/concern is when I opened my tent, my HLG 260 xl was on though very, very dim. This is the first time I opened my tent in the dark, so the first I have noticed it. Is this normal operation? If not ???
It is not normal. I have seen it on cheap led fixtures. Usually the switch allowing small amount of current to flow. Do you have a potentiometer/dimmer connected to the driver?
I forgot to mention when unplugged from timer goes completely dim. I suspect I have a bad timer. It is a Blueprint Controllers BTE-1 approximately 1.5 years old.
I mean when it is plugged into the timer it still has extreme low power supplied to light. When unplugged from timer and wall no residual power to light. When plugged directly into wall without timer it gets the full 120v and is very bright as is to be expected.
Check it on a power strip with a switch. You likely have found your issue but could still have another issue. This is a seed starter LED turned off but plugged in directly to an outlet.
Hey buddy I sure appreciate you looking at yours also but did not mean to worry you. I didn’t think that it was normal but with the tech nowadays one can never be sure. I am going to get another timer tomorrow but until then I will plug/unplug directly from socket. I am just glad I very accidentally found it. I don’t think it was enough light to screw up flowering as it was very dim but I will never truly know because what’s done is done. Thanks again BD!!
I’m sure you’ll be fine. I used three of those seed starting LED’s for side lighting up until week 4 of flowering until I discovered that 2 of them didn’t turn off completely. The plant never hermied and they were real close to the flowers. Here’s a pic of how they were set up. The backside led and rightside led were the ones that didn’t completely turn off
Double check your Acl wire goes to black wire on power cord, and Acn wire goes to white wire on power cord.
If those look good, check to see if your timer is polarized. If it’s not, flip it over so the prongs go into opposite holes in receptacle. If it is polarized, power down the wall circuit and check that line and neutral aren’t crossed on back of receptacle. The gold screw should have black wire, silver screw white wire.
This is usually a polarity issue, any of the above could be culprit.
Thanks buddy. I have a really busy day ahead of me but I will check everything you mentioned a.s.a.p. and will let you know what I find. Sorry about the late reply, been hectic around here lately with sick family members, grandkids etc.
OK, got it. I mean, I used the Mars hydro reflector 480, but now I see a lot of people using QB, or Mars hydro SP, so I am not sure which one is better for me?
Hey buddy, I think you hit the nail on the head. I just opened up the receptacle in question and the white and black wires were crossed. I swapped them (black to copper, white to silver) plugged everything back in through same timer and problem solved. dbrn32, this is why we ask questions, for these excellent answers. I have wired entire homes and new better but my mind was on the timer. It took a different perspective, yours, to get me to keep it simple again. I truly thank you buddy!!!
No problem, glad I could help. Most household appliances will work either way, so it’s kind of a unique issue. Most led drivers are multi input voltage capable. This requires some additional electronics that can be phase sensitive. It’s not the only issue that can cause an issue similar to what you had, but it is probably the most common.
