Tony,
I just this week bought 7 fluorescent fixtures from Lowe's, labeled
'performance shop light plus'. These are the plug in domestic type fixture
and I found them to be RF quiet. They appear to be by a company called
American Fluorescent (made in China). At forty bucks a fixture they are
cheaper then most replacement ballast.
But as Mike - KM0T has mentioned, be very much aware of the comercial broad
voltage range ballast, i.e. types like Sylvinia and Triad (and I am sure
others). I tried the commercial lights with these type of ballast and they
were so noisy the 'damn' things actually wiped out all but the very strong
local FM stations on my shop radio. Interesting, I did not find them to
cause any problems on my HF gear, but my Ham antennas are located away from
the shop.
One thing about the big box stores like Lowe's and Home Depot, they take
items back if you find they are not what you want. In fact, I simply bought
several different fixtures to try and took back the ones not suited for the
job and as the case of the commercial units unfit for use around a radio.
Mike has detailed a post on commercial fixtures, in short, I echo his views
and like him found most sellers could care less. I did have one person tell
me to buy a better radio... no I did not hit him, I did come close though.
Eric - VE3GSI.
PS.
I did have an electrician offer me all the magnetic ballast I want just for
the asking (no fixtures). The ballast are the ones removed from commercial
sites where they are upgrading customers with the electronic ballast to
lower electric costs. I can see in places where there are several hundred
fixtures, or more, it definitely would lower electrical costs. In any
case, for those interested, try your local commercial electrician to see
what they are tossing in the garbage bin.
er.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2012 12:05 AM
Subject: [RFI] Fluorescent Light RFI
All:
The XYL says I've been procrastinating long enough about installing a 48"
fluorescent light in the garage. First thing that came to mind is RFI. Are
there any brands that are known to cause interference? Local stores carry
Metalux, Utilitech and Portfolio.
Tony
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