Halogen to LED conversion - Radio Interference

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Split Decision

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Last weekend I replaced 3 V-Berth halogen bulbs and 3 galley halogen bulbs to LED bulbs.

I used the Philips Accent LED indoor capsule (170 Lumens 3W 2700K 400mA 12V 50-60Hz) as the replacement for the existing halogen bulb.

The light output looked great, but as soon as you turned on the new LED lights you would immediately get interference sound on the FM radio? The V-Berth and galley lights are on their own switch and when either switch was turned on FM interference started.

We enjoy listening to the FM on the boat, so I ended up putting the halogen bulbs back in. No interference with the existing halogen bulbs.

Would interference occur with most LED lighting conversions, or just some types of LED lighting?

Is there a simple filer or something that would eliminate the FM interference?

Thanks,
Mike.
 
Philips site appears to not address RFI / EMi suppression. You might consider contacting them, as you may have a faulty device.

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Imtra DOES mention EMI suppression. Here is there equivalent product:

http://www.imtra.com/0394d077-360d-4d3d-9574-abcfcac6576c/lighting-bulbs-led-detail.htm

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Placing a clamp-on choke over the power line to that lamp may help. NO guarantee. EMI can be difficult to remedy. Best option is to not generate it, or use a device that has designed-in EMI suppression.

Also: A better FM antenna, or better placed FM antenna might have very positive results. YMMV. Again, EMI control is challenging...
 
quote:
Originally posted by Radioactive

Philips site appears to not address RFI / EMi suppression. You might consider contacting them, as you may have a faulty device.

-------------

Imtra DOES mention EMI suppression. Here is there equivalent product:

http://www.imtra.com/0394d077-360d-4d3d-9574-abcfcac6576c/lighting-bulbs-led-detail.htm

-----------

Placing a clamp-on choke over the power line to that lamp may help. NO guarantee. EMI can be difficult to remedy. Best option is to not generate it, or use a device that has designed-in EMI suppression.

Also: A better FM antenna, or better placed FM antenna might have very positive results. YMMV. Again, EMI control is challenging...

Click to expand...


Agree. Some boats use the railings as an antenna. If you could reroute the antenna cable to an arch (assuming you have one) you may get a twofer.
 
Funny this came up now. A changed one of those little florescent bulbs in the house that went out with a used one. When I turned on the light, it fizzled and crackled and went on. The thing is, it knocked out all my wireless and/or USB connections. It may have just been the 4 connection USB hub. I had to turn off the laptop and pull all the USB stuff. Things started working after re-connecting.
 
The cheap LED assemblies that use resistors for dropping the voltage will not produce interference. The higher quality and more efficient ones with constant current drivers may.

You may be able to filter out the interference with a capacitor wired across the socket. Or, you may need a more elaborate filter.

You might try contacting the manufacturer or seller of the LED assemblies.
 
I never had any interference when I switched to all LED's in my old boat. I always used name brands like Lumatec, Imtra and fixtures from MarineBeam.
Bill
 
quote:
Originally posted by caltexfla

You got that reversed Ron.

Click to expand...

The resistor devices dissipate excess current in the resistor as heat. There is no RF interference. The ones with the drivers regulate the current through the LEDs by turning it on and off at a very high speed. This is what can cause RF interference. Some may have built in filtering, some do not.

I used several of the cheap resistor LED replacements and two of the better ones with drivers on my boat. The cheap ones don't interfere with anything but they don't put out enough light to suit me and will have to be replaced. The ones with the drivers interfere with the VHF TV band and before I installed filters, turning on the light would cause the TV to freeze on the VHF stations but nit the UHF stations. A capacitor in each solved the problem.
 
Ok, so as mentioned in my above posts I tried replacing my halogen bulbs with the Philips brand LED lights. This caused FM radio interference when the new LED lights were turned on. Took the new Philips LED lights out and replaced back to boat's original halogen lighting.

Saw on the iFourWinns forum (my boat is a Four Winns) that some guys found a cheaper LED light (about 1/3 of the cost of my Philips LED) and were happy with it. So I ordered them.

Installed them this past weekend and guess what - No radio interference. I replaced 3 halogens in the V-Berth, 3 in the galley and 2 in the head.

But, when I shut off the 3 V-Berth LED lights, and then turn on the 3 galley LED lights (galley lights also have 3 fluorescent fixtures that turn on at same time), I notice that there is a little bit of light output coming from the turned off V-Berth LEDs. When you turn off the galley LEDs, the little bit of light coming from the V-Berth LEDs goes away.

Would EMI be strong enough when the galley LEDs and fluorescent fixtures are on to cross over and cause the turned off V-Berth lights to light a little? No changes were done to any wiring just simply replacing the current halogens to LED.

Is this an issue at all, except for being just a little bit annoying? I'm guessing the halogeon V-berth lights didn't show being lit a bit when the Galley lights were on because they needed more power to light?
 
I changed all the bulbs in my 12 volt cabin fixtures with LED's I got on Amazon two winters ago. No problems with interference at all.
 
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