surge protector problem

[mrweirdo]

Ok so today I hapened to look over at the surge protector power strip thats under my desk and for some reason I find that the red on/off rocker switch with what I assume has a red led in it is flickering on and off every couple of seconds. There is anouther LED on the surge protector that has a label right next to it that says surge protection and that one is fine. Does anyone know what would cause the LED in the switch to flicker? Is it bad to still use the surge power strip? could it pose a fire hazard flickering like it does? unfortionently I dont have a spair on me atm till i can pick one up at a local electronics store tomorrow :/ Btw I discovered the the surge strip is at least 10 years old mayby older so its about time to replace the thing anyways lol.

 

[Heisenberg]

Could just be a bad circuit in the strip to the light. Some of those power strips use an LED to indicate the ground status though so it might mean that's a little flaky. In any case, I wouldn't get super worried over it.

 

[SparkyJJO]

actually those switches don't have LEDs in them generally, they are some strange type of bulb. They go bad after a bit and start to do that. Don't worry about it, its just a light in the switch. I got a brand new surge protector that started doing that only a few months later.

 

[jlee]

I seem to recall some of ours flickering constantly, and they still seemed to work fine.

 

[mrweirdo]

ok good it doesnt seem to be that big of a deal. I still might replace the strip anyways tomorrow though because of its old age.

also now that i think of it I used to have anouther surge protector device in the house that has a seperate switch for each plug and some of them didnt light up at all. I guess they go out after time and i bet this one would go completely out eventualy like those.

 

[jlee]

Originally posted by: mrweirdo
ok good it doesnt seem to be that big of a deal. I still might replace the strip anyways tomorrow though because of its old age.

also now that i think of it I used to have anouther surge protector device in the house that has a seperate switch for each plug and some of them didnt light up at all. I guess they go out after time and i bet this one would go completely out eventualy like those.

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[Eli]

Originally posted by: SparkyJJO
actually those switches don't have LEDs in them generally, they are some strange type of bulb. They go bad after a bit and start to do that. Don't worry about it, its just a light in the switch. I got a brand new surge protector that started doing that only a few months later.

They're little neon bulbs.

 

[Pepsi90919]

man they all do that