[RFI] Fluorescent Light RFI

[Roger (K8RI)]

On 10/25/2012 12:05 AM, Tony wrote:
> 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.

I use both 4' and 8' with absolutely no RFI.  In the shop I have 11 
fixtures, or 22, 75W, 8' long tubes.  These are commercial fixtures with 
external starters. As are the 4 footers.

In the Garage I have 4, 150 to 200W equivalent CFLs.  The only thing I 
don't like about the CFLs is they will take several minutes to come up 
to full brilliance until the end of April, or first part of May.
Of course as soon as we get close to freezing at night they have that 
problem.  This time of year we might get a week of them coming on like 
summer followed by a few nights that take minutes to warm up. IE very 
unpredictable.
In the cold the big CFLs now only seem to last a couple of years, if 
that. While in the house I've lost track as they appear to be quite long 
lived.  Part of that may be related to the vibration of the garage doors.

OTOH I've not heard any RFI out of even the CFLs...So far!

I much prefer the 8' tubes to the 4', and any more I purchase the full 
spectrum and by the case.
I've found their life is very predictable and it is only about half of 
the advertized 5000 hours. I've also gone to changing them all out  at 
once even if they are still good because after this many years, I know 
that after the first one goes the others will be gone within 2 or 3 
months.  It's a lot less work to change them all at once. With a helper 
we can do them all within an hour.  One at a time I have to get the tall 
stepladder out, move it though and around a lot of *stuff* with it 
taking at least 15 minutes per fixture, for a total between 3 and 4 hours.



73

Roger (K8RI)

>
> Tony
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