LED aquarium light (a bar with many small bulbs) with manual switch built into cord; Customer requested automatic timer. Placed automatic timer between LED's plug & wall outlet. Functioned well for 2 months. Now, when the timer clicks to ON, the LED won't light fully: one end of the LED light's bar glows, but the rest is dark. BUT…
If I switch the built-into-cord switch off & on, the LED lights up! ??
If I remove the timer, the in-line switch & light function normally.
I plugged an incandescent light into the timer and the timer functions normally.
Any ideas?
Best Answer
Into the trash it goes
The timer is almost certainly malfunctioning and not providing "clean" voltage & current to the lighting.
This surely has something to do with "leakage current" as we often see with devices working fine with incandescent and then choking on LED. However there's no reason for a timer to be built that way. Further, the fact that it started doing this now proves it's some sort of electronic degradation.
Look at the timer; if "CE" (Chinese Excrement) is the most prominent listing agency mark, then waste no further time on it. Amazon Marketplace, eBay or Aliwhatever are not reliable sources for quality parts.