Troubleshooting LED Lighting Fixtures

Troubleshooting LED Lighting Fixtures

Overview

This guide is designed to help you quickly remedy common fixture issues and gather the necessary information to expedite a support case or RMA if needed.

The guide is specific to Digital Lumens fixture models RLE, CLE, DLE and ILE.

Troubleshooting Steps

1. Initial Troubleshooting: Power Cycle

The first and most effective step in troubleshooting is a power cycle. This resets the fixtures and resolves many common issues.
  1. How to do it: Turn off the associated circuit breaker to remove power from the fixture.
  2. Duration: Wait at least 30 seconds before restoring power.

2. Assess Fixture Status

If the power cycle does not resolve the issue, evaluate the following three areas and note your findings.

Light Bar Behavior
  1. Out entirely: Are the light bars failing to illuminate? 
  2. Strobing: Is a single light bar strobing? Are all light bars strobing in unison? 
  3. Unexpected Changes: Are the bars failing to change light output as programmed?
Status indicator behavior
The status indicators are visible from the floor through the motion sensor of the fixture.
  1. Status indicators not blinking: If the status indicators are not blinking, then the fixture is either not receiving power or is malfunctioning/damaged.
  2. Status indicators blinking: If the status indicators are blinking, the processor within the fixture is powered and operating. Details are found in the Status Indicator Behavior for Digital Lumens Fixtures guidance.
Connectivity & Settings
  1. Control Software: Is the fixture managed via SiteWorx or LightRules? 
  2. Communication: Is the fixture currently communicating with SiteWorx, and what are its current software settings? The live communications status is viewable in the Network page.
Hardware Identification
  1. Serial Number: Locate and record the serial number for each malfunctioning fixture. The serial number can be located using the facility map in the Network page.

4. Voltage & Environmental Issues

  1. High Voltage: If light bars are flashing (and daylight harvesting is disabled), the input voltage may be too high. This is the fixtures entering a protective state to minimize damage and the fixtures should be unpowered until the voltage issue is resolved.
  2. Multiple failures at the same time: When fixtures fail individually, the timing and locations of the failures are random. When groups of adjacent fixtures stop illuminating or disconnect from SiteWorx at the same time, there is a common cause. It is usually one of the below electrically related causes:
    1. The fixtures are not receiving power. Are all of the non-illuminating fixtures on the same circuit? Often this can be due to a circuit losing power due to an breaker not contacting properly. If a power cycle does not solve the issue and the status indicators are not blinking, could you have an electrician confirm the fixtures are receiving power.
    2. The fixtures were damaged due to an anomalous electrical event (for example a voltage spike or transient)

5. Contacting Support

If troubleshooting is unsuccessful, please email support@siteworx.io with the following fixture status details gathered during your assessment:
  1. Serial Number(s) of the affected fixtures.
  2. Light Bar status (Off, dim, or flashing).
  3. LED Status Indicator patterns (Color and blink count).
  4. Software connectivity status.