[RFI] Fluorescent Light RFI

[Mike King - KM0T]

Tony, brand name of the light fixture is not really the issue.  

You need to open up any fixture you intend to purchase and look at the
ballast.  Typically, in the big box stores, if it says its rated for
residential 120V, the ballast inside the fixture would also have a label on
it that says rated for "residential applications" or something similar.  If
not, you may get a commercial ballast, and those may be rated for 120-277V
service.  I.E. dual voltage rated input.  Those input switcher ballasts can
be horrible. 

The few fluorescents I have in my house all have 120V residential grade, and
have not been a problem.  I have had the others and as an example, I put 4
of them in my garage without knowing.  I would know immediately when someone
switched the lights on.  If fact, when I pulled in the garage, I could not
even listen to the FM radio in the truck to a radio station 45 miles away,
only the local station could be pulled in.  I checked those fixtures out and
they had a dual voltage commercial ballast by Phillips.  I swapped those
ballasts out to 120V residential grade by "Advance".

Note: this should also apply to CFL ballasts, so look for the proper label.
I had some commercial CFLs in the house that caused problems.  So I just
lived with that and made sure they were note turned on while operating.

Now for a bit of whining and soapbox..delete if you don't care to read the
rest, as this is something I need to get out of my head and on
paper....er...email..whatever..

All ballasts now appear to be rated FCC Part 18, which apparently gives
those manufactures an "out" from getting out of interference issues.  

Commercial ballasts should only be sold to commercial customers.  But, have
you ever tried to listen to a distant FM or AM radio in a commercial office
building?  Its nearly impossible now in a lot of cases.

I was at a big box stores and asked the sales guy about a replacement
ballast, he directed me to a stack of black Phillips ballasts, dual voltage
rated for commercial use.  I said I could not use them in my house.  He
argued with me for a bit and I got kinda pissed and showed him the
residential ballasts that were supposed to be sold to home owners, he
basically didn't give a crap about all that, no education....  So be warned,
your neighbors will more than likely replace their failed ballasts with a
commercial one when it happens, and then your off to the next step of
tracking it down and convincing them that they need to replace the
ballasts...good luck.

I have been doing lighting design for commercial buildings for about 24
years, this is something that I have seen creep up in the last 5 to 8 years.
These new switcher ballasts that are cheap to manufacture with dual voltage
input appear to be the big problem.  All this is due to the updates to the
commercial energy code standards and cost of manufacturing ballasts, because
it is such a competitive and commodity market for lighting products.  I have
argued with ballast manufacturers in the past and actually talked to their
engineers, they all say it's not an issue, which is BS.  It's all about the
money and getting the next bid job and having their equipment in it. 

If I have a building that we are designing, and the voltage in the building
is only 120/208V, then I specify ballasts with only 120V input, no dual
voltage ballasts allowed.  This always causes a problem with suppliers and
contractors and the manufacturers don't care and submit dual voltage rated
devices due to cost.  We have to be diligent in our review process during
shop drawings and construction to be sure we don't have the product
substituted out for the cheaper switchers.  Specifying a 277V only input on
ballasts for 277/480V buildings can be done too, but again we run into the
same problem, they want to provide the dual voltage ballasts.  The single
input ballasts should be better in terms of RFI, but again if it's a
commercial ballast, they are not held to a higher standard for residential
applications.  It may not be long (if its not already happening) before they
will no longer make the single input voltage ballast for commercial use.
More than likely, they will manufacture the same dual input ballast, and
label it with only one voltage input if this ever becomes a problem for
them, which means all the same problems.

LEDs drivers for LED fixtures are not much better and are definitely hit and
miss.  I have numerous LED lamps and fixtures in my new home.  You just have
to be so careful to test these babies out before dropping your coin on them.
I do hear my LED replacement lamps, but it has been somewhat manageable.
Now that I have a tower away from the house, the distance has helped.

I also have a lighting pole with some of the latest LED technology.  I do
hear that on 6M, (have not tested on HF yet) which is a big problem for me.
I need to get into that fixture and ferrite either the power lines or
control lines for dimming them, as they are controlled by a low voltage
dimmer.  We shall see if that helps with the radiation.

I think parking lot lighting may be the next big issue as businesses and
schools replace all their parking lot lighting with new LED heads.  Be
ready.  Its not going to be pretty.    I long for the magnetic ballast and
incandescent lamps days.... :)

73

Mike King, PE
KM0T
www.km0t.com


-----Original Message-----
From: RFI [mailto:rfi-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Tony
Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2012 11:06 PM
To: Rfi List
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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