In my home, electricity passes through a bulb holder even when the switch is off. I heard that happens due to 3-way switches. Could anybody tell me if it is okay or worth worrying?
Update
Let me explain it in detailed:
I use that holder for LED bulb which glows (no issue with plastic frame of the holder) even when the switch is off so I ran the following tests by taking out the bulb.
1) Normal Line Tester – When I test with line tester, one of the two pins, i.e., line pin indicates that the electricity passes through it slightly when switched off.
2) Digital Teser – Digital tester indicates as following:
- Line test – 12v 36v 55v 110v
- Inductance break point test – 12v 36v
Here is the screenshot of the switch:
One of them located at the beginning of staircase (in the main hall) and another at the end of the staircase on the first floor​'s hall. It's a duplex building.
Best Answer
Look closely at that light switch. See the two switch blocks (one blank) and the almost-square translucent fringe around both of them? That lights up. That is a backlight designed to help you find it in the dark. You may have known this and forgot to mention it, or maybe it doesn't work for a particular reason. Here is how those switches are wired internally.
As you can see, power flows through this circuit at all times. If it's not going through the switch, it's going through the backlight. Incandescent bulbs are quite low resistance when they are not burning (their resistance increases greatly as they heat up). These backlights exploit that by leaking a tiny amount of current through the incandescent bulb, too little to make it glow, but enough to light the backlight.
Well, LED bulbs monkeywrench this arrangement. They aren't low resistance when off. If current will go through the LED bulb with the backlight impeding flow, it may make the LED bulb function. It might even make the LED bulb work, and the backlight not. And that kind of thing is what you're running into.
Solution: