Shaver Light won't work with LED bulbs

[Conor o shea]

In our main bathroom, the bulb in the shaver unit went. I bought an LED replacement, (it came with a non-led one) but it wouldn't work.

I figured that the unit itself was broken so replaced it and the LES bulb still wouldn't work. On a whim I tried the non-led one that came with it and that worked.

A while later the bulb in the unit in the other bathroom went and I still had the LED replacement so I tried it and it worked straight away.

Now I've bought another new LED bulb for our main bathroom and that won't work in the unit either. I tried all 3 bulbs in the other bathroom and they all work fine but only the non-led works in the main bathroom. Its the exact same unit in both bathrooms and even a brand new one in the main.

I'm stumped, any ideas? Is it possible that the wiring is wrong in some way that would only affect an LED bulb? I just copied the wiring as is that was there when replacing the unit.

 

[ericmark]

I can only guess. The collar is slightly taller, so bulb does not make contact. Has it will a load of Christmas lights.

 

[fluorescence]

Picture of the unit? My guess is it's fluorescent and has some form of electronic ballast/driver which would need bypassing for a direct-mains powered LED replacement

 

[typonaut]

I have seen something similar to this with auto-switching units, ie those that switch lights on and off randomly.

If they have a standard filament bulb in them they work perfectly, if they have an LED in them they don't work at all - that is to say that with the LED the auto-switching does not work, and you cannot use the unit as a standard light (you switch on the auto function by turning the light switch on and off in quick succession).

I surmise from this that the auto-switching device needs some level of current in order to work properly, and the LED won't allow that. Possible your shaver unit is the same - does it mention anything like that in the packaging?

 

[333rocky333]

Some of the older units also had a safety switch operated by the diffuser, so if the cover was not on properly then the light failed to work