Switch lighting dilemma

[Mishael]

I have a switch from radio shack that i bought (about a year ago) and when i first started using it, i had a green LED indicator in the switch working and when it was off, it was red. after a while the green light only stopped working so i thought it was my questionable wiring. today i bought the same switch and wired it properly and the same thing happened. red when off, nothing when on. i thought it was because i swapped hot and load but when i switched them, the green was always on (when the power was off to the load) and the red didnt work except the green turned off when my load was on. i grounded it properly too. now, the diagram of pins was incorrect on the old packaging and it was changed on the new one with the same incorrect information. i know both LEDs work in the switch, i just dont know why one works and the other doesnt when it should. one final odd thing, every once in a while i can turn on the switch and the green LED will flicker for a second or so and then it goes out.

switch is rated 16A 125VAC and my load is 5, 23W compact fluorescent 100W equivalent on 10 AWG stranded copper wire

 

[audioguru]

I think if you bought a high quality name-brand switch at a lower cost then it would not be intermittent like the Radio-Crap no-name-brand junk switch you bought at a higher price.

 

[Mishael]

yea well i have a significant budget. high school does that to you. also, to add to my laundry list of annoyances, its got a noticeable voltage leak. i can watch the first light flicker every half second or so, and the third every 2nd first light flick. they are all wired parallel