Flickering Lighting In Caravan

DIY
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1

Does anyone know how to prevent caravan lighting from flickering? Possibly some type of capacitor that I could put across the lighting circuits?

I only ever get it when on battery when using the inverter for something like a coffee machine or occasionally when using the water pump if it is cycling.

Setup:
2 x 200ah Lithium in parallel 12v system
Battery - > Lynx distributor 120mm2 (2m Length)
Lynx distributor - MultiplusII 95mm2 (2m Length)
Lynx → Fuse Panel for the lights 8 B&S (3m Length)
Fuse Panel - > Lights is just the factory wiring loom not sure on size.

2

I find that more expensive type LEDs don’t do the flickering. I have a few at home that do and some don’t. Seems to be price/quality related.

3

Coffee machines can be a harsh load for inverters as a lot of them only use half an ac wave resulting in a higher ripple on the DC.

The inverter has a large capacitor bank on the dc inlet to smooth out pulses and the battery should also do the same. You have good spec wiring and battery capacity so I would not expect this. Have a good check of all your wiring connections etc. for any loose ones or use a meter to check for voltage drop. I have heard cases of this occurring if the manual isolator is not making good contact or is oxidised.

Otherwise, you may be unlucky as noted above and have sensitive LEDs.

I do not know of an over the shelf buffer system, but as the inverter and battery should provide this you would need a large capacitor.

4

Hi pwfarnell yeah I have gone thought all my connections I feel like it’s potentially a voltage drop issue that’s causing them the flicker.

You are correct they are more than likely the cheapest of cheap led lights. The led strips already have diodes that have failed in less than 12 months.

The main interior lights I probably won’t be able to swap them out but the led strip under the upper cabinets I can. This is the main light I use especially when making coffee in the morning so I’ll start with that see what happens.

My understanding of capacitors isn’t great I am an electrician by trade but not overly into electronics. Was hoping for something smallish that I could put across the + & - behind the main 6 plate switch that feeds the bulk of the lights to take up the slack from the drop in voltage.

5

Yes, 470üF should help, but you’ll have to install a diode in series to the supply, otherwise the capacitors will try to stabilize the high loads too.