quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
If 550,000 volts in close proximity to an LED won't turn it on , your distribution line sure won't do it . Believe what you want .

Actually, if the power draw is the same, 550kV is less likely to light the LED than 110V. As maladat said, it's the current flowing that produces the EMF & higher current = stronger field, which can induce voltage in objects farther away. Easiest example is a non-contact voltage detector.

2 specific cases I've seen - radar sweeping across vehicle going down highway causes it to shut off ONLY when low headlights are on. <$0.01 part would have made it impossible.

A vehicle parked in a specific spot, the door would power open seemingly randomly. Move it 2' L or R, no problem. Likely a power line running under that spot -decently sure, didn't pursue it, couldn't capture the event causing it, just threw parts at it & it went away. Never found a specific defect.

quote:

Part of me wondered if the LED's sitting in the sun all day would be enough to make the phosphor glow after dark. Lots of UV to charge the phosphor. But I can't imagine it still glowing hours later. Perhaps possible?

I once had a CRT style Oscilloscope which had sat outside in the sun for an afternoon. When I brought it inside, to dark room, that screen glowed for a long time from what the sun had done to it. Of course, this wasn't very good for the CRT, but oh well.

I used to install LED video screens (what most people call a Jumbotron) in sports stadiums and on buildings and such for advertising. I’ve also done countless outdoor live events with LED screens. I’ve never seen an LED glow after having sat in the sun all day.

I’ve seen something similar to what you saw with your o-scope though.

quote:

Originally posted by snidera:

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
If 550,000 volts in close proximity to an LED won't turn it on , your distribution line sure won't do it . Believe what you want .

Actually, if the power draw is the same, 550kV is less likely to light the LED than 110V. As maladat said, it's the current flowing that produces the EMF & higher current = stronger field, which can induce voltage in objects farther away. Easiest example is a non-contact voltage detector.

2 specific cases I've seen - radar sweeping across vehicle going down highway causes it to shut off ONLY when low headlights are on. <$0.01 part would have made it impossible.

A vehicle parked in a specific spot, the door would power open seemingly randomly. Move it 2' L or R, no problem. Likely a power line running under that spot -decently sure, didn't pursue it, couldn't capture the event causing it, just threw parts at it & it went away. Never found a specific defect.

Now we've gone from fluorescent tubes to Radar and power door locks . Our subs ranged from 550kv down to 4kv . Pick a voltage . Been there . Saw some crazy shit , Vehicles parked under the bus that would charge up and jump an arc to your finger when you reached for the door handle .Phantom LED's ? No .

The OP said the line only feeds two houses . At distribution voltage levels , how much current is flowing on that line ? Less than 10 amps ? Not much of a field .

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

quote:

Originally posted by maladat:

<snip>

However, it’s certainly possible in principle. There’s plenty of energy in the electromagnetic fields around power lines carrying a lot of current. The mechanism is different and doesn’t apply to LEDs, but as an example, you can go stand under transmission lines with a bare 4’ fluorescent tube that isn’t connected to anything and it will glow. It won’t “turn on” like it is plugged in, but it will glow enough that you can see it.

The guy in the video myrottiety posted on the first page does it with both a fluorescent bulb and an LED bulb and both do it because both bulbs have a phosphorus coating that fluoresces in the presence of certain wavelengths of EMR. I just learned this today: white LEDs are actually blue LEDs with a lens coated with a yellow, green, and/or red phosphorus coating. Link

The OP probably really just wants to know why his lights appeared to be on and asked if the power lines had something to do with it. Seems like they could.

Phosphor coatings emit light when hit with light (or sometimes other things like electron beams).

In a fluorescent tube, ultraviolet light is emitted by the mercury vapor in the tube, the UV absorbed by the phosphor coating, and then the phosphor coating emits visible light.

In the LED case, visible light is absorbed by the phosphor and then different frequencies of visible light are emitted.

To the best of my knowledge (although I am not an expert on this), the phosphor coatings are not directly interacting with the field from the power lines.

In one explanation I have read, the field causes the mercury vapor in the tube to emit some UV photons, which are then “converted” to visible light by the phosphor coating.

I am not sure what exactly would cause some (disconnected) LEDs to light. I can think of a few possibilities but don’t know which is the actual cause (or if it’s something else I’m missing).

There IS also some corona discharge on transmission lines, possibly there are some free electrons interacting with the phosphor.

Again , this is not about transmission lines .

Corona discharge is unique to transmission lines, but nothing else being discussed here is.

When the trailer is parked elsewhere the lights are never lit. Disconnecting the brake battery doesn't impact lights being on. Standing out there last night in the quiet and I could hear the transformer buzzing. It has to have something to do with the lines, transformer, or radio signals communicating with our meters form the pole.

These lights are DOT rated and are visible from quite the distance when powered by the vehicle. You have to be within 10 feet or so to notice they're on in their current state. Very dim, but also noticeably glowing.

Nobody’s going to miss the big picture now.

I’d move the trailer closer to the transformer and see if the lights got brighter. Or, I might try covering a light with a metal pot and see if that had an effect.

Is that the right shape for an LED?

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
The OP speculated that the overhead distribution lines may be causing the LED's to light up . In my experience I say it won't . This has nothing to do with florescent tubes .

These are two completely separate things. Fluorescent and LEDs work completely different.

I don't think the LEDs are glowing from proximity to the transmission lines. My guess is an induced current in the wiring of the trailer is causing them to glow. Easy enough to test. Remove the lamps and see if they still light up shen not connected to the conductors of the trailer. You could also remove the trailer from the electrical field to test.

An LED can light up with no ground. May be forgetting the correct term. I think it's because the circuitry is high impedance.

I know from personal experience RF-EMR can affect LEDs. I've got a little LED desk lamp. It charges by plugging into a USB port on the computer. Charge lasts pretty long so it's usually unplugged and I only use it when needing to read small print and such. My little Ham radio 2m/440 transceiver sits on my side board and I usually have it set to low power (5 watts). If I key it to transmit, the light glows a bit.

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My guess is an induced current in the wiring of the trailer is causing them to glow.

Induced from where?

quote:

Originally posted by kkina:

quote:

My guess is an induced current in the wiring of the trailer is causing them to glow.

Induced from where?

Transmission lines. The ones at work yo can feel the electricity. The reservoir I used to hang out at as a kid if you stood under them you could not only feel the electricity but you could also shock your friends by touching them after standing under them for a few minutes.

OK. That's one of my theories as well. I think induction may be acting on the trailer wiring, not on the LED directly.

When I was a small boy, for a short time I listened to AM radio at night in bed, through my tooth. I kid you not. I could feel the buzz and hear and understand the transmission clearly. Being a science nerd even at that very young age, I knew it was related to physics and radio waves, and was thoroughly entertained by that short lived phenomenon.

^I've heard of that. In fact, a whole episode of Gilligan's Island was based on that phenomenon.

Any government labs near your place? See any kids riding around on bikes, looking for a gal named L or Jane?

But in THIS case there are no transmission lines . Or ham radios .

Is there any way to check for any of these things without any extravagant equipment?

Well, I was going to ask a similar question a few days before this post.

On two occasions in the past month I have walked into my garage at night and a set a multicolored Christmas lights have been glowing. But only the red and blue colored lights.

These lights haven't been plugged into anything since January 15 when they were taken down.

They had a faint glow, but it was coming from them. The garage was absolutely dark.

So, this is something.

Also in the past I have seen a set of lights, that I have strung on my back deck glow, but they were/are plugged in and I figured that there was some kind of "leak" of power from the receptacle.

So, I'm kind of interested in was is going on.


ARman