[RFI] Can Fluorescent bulbs cause RFI problems?

Scott Neader KA9FOX ka9fox at qth.com
Sun Sep 25 23:31:42 EDT 2005


Hey guys.  I started getting on this kick of replacing our lights in the 
house with Fluorescent equivalents, to obviously save money and do a little 
thing to conserve energy.  I've replaced about 25 so far.  They were the 
60w and 100w basic light bulb equivalents.  I started looking into 
replacements for some of our most used 65w and 75w floods & reflectors in 
the recessed cans around the house when... whoa, what am I 
doing?!?!?!  Could this be a potential RFI problem?

I searched the archives on this reflector, but not seeing much.  Any input 
would be appreciate.  I'll also try some tests with the existing bulbs and 
see what I can hear, if anything.

FYI, what got me going on this was that I seem to be seeing these things 
everywhere I look.  Home Depot sells a 6 pack of the 60w fluorescent light 
bulbs for $9.95 a pack, and I just picked up a 6 pack of 100w bulbs for 
$15.50 at Sam's Club today.  The draw to saving 75% of the electricity 
costs and lasting 4-7 years is certainly interesting.  I would think we'd 
be seeing a lot of posts if these things were causing RFI problems... but 
maybe I'm the only ham to be dumb enough to bring them into the house?

- Scott KA9FOX



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