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LED lamps and interferance

Jan 14th 2012, 20:53

n1naz

Joined: Apr 4th 1998, 00:00
Total Topics: 0
Total Posts: 0
Hello Everyone, I was wondering if anyone else has experienced any HF interference from the new crop of LED lamps/bulbs on the market. My fiancée (kb1fem) and I purchased one and it is giving out hash on particularly 40 meters. Could these have switch mode supply's in them? I have tried suppressing the hash with all the usual methods but with no luck. Anyone have any suggestions?



George - N1NAZ
May 26th 2012, 17:05

0008435846H80

Joined: Apr 4th 1998, 00:00
Total Topics: 0
Total Posts: 0
I've had this problem. I have 2 sets of track lights in the shack, each using 3 PAR20 type bulbs. I decided to replace the old halogen bulbs with new LED bulbs but due to the cost factor I began replacing them 2 at a time as the old one burnt out. The first 4 new LED lamps I purchased (on-line) worked fine; good light, ran cool, long life, no rfi. These were made by Optic Power Corp. (China). Recently the last two of my old halogens expired so I tried to order 2 more of these LED lamps. I couldn't find the Optic Power bulbs anymore so I had to go with a different brand, Eco-Lite (China) again ordered on-line. I installed them, one in each set of the track lights. They seemed to work fine, till I turned on my radio. Loud rf hash throughout the house, from 550khz to 30mhz. Took me a minute to figure out it was coming from these two new lamps.
I maybe wrong, but I think these LED lamps fall under FCC part 15 rules but I didn't see any labels as such on either of these brands. I see no way to externally filter these bulbs. I ended up pulling the offending bulbs and putting in 2 new halogen bulbs as I'm afraid to try another brand of LED's unless I can be assured they're rfi free.

Kit - KD0DI
May 30th 2012, 18:30

W1MG

Joined: Apr 4th 1998, 00:00
Total Topics: 0
Total Posts: 0
From what I've seen so far, there can be a wide range of conducted emissions from LED bulbs, depending on model and manufacturer. I plan on testing a number of them in the near future.

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