[RFI] Quiet Dimmers For 120V Incandescents

[Dale]

Jim,

Full disclosure: I have not purchased dimmers in at least 5 years or so.  OTOH, my house has 4 dimmers for incandescent lights and 3 speed controls for ceiling fans (these are wall-mounted like a lamp dimmer - not remote controls).  I have had zero RFI from these units, and they are all Lutron brand, Decora style, with internal neon lamp illuminator and a very small slider (for the dimming action or speed control).  I had to replace one that was original to the house (now 13 years old) and the other was for a ceiling light I added.

I have 2 portable AM radios that I use around the house.  Neither of them has heard a peep from any of the dimmers or speed controls.  I also have an AM/FM tuner that is part of the stereo system, and it has a loop antenna for AM.  That loop sits close to the wall, and I believe that there are Romex power wires in that wall.  If I am listening to a weak AM station, I can hear a small amount of buzz from 1 dimmer or speed control, but that's it.  The AM radios are my best RFI indicators, since the HF antennas are far away from the house.    

I had several Lutron dimmers in my house back in IL.  All of those were the rotary knob type.  I managed to burn out a couple of them, but again, no RFI to radios.  

As I recall, in all cases, the packaging on the dimmers I bought said that they had RFI suppression.  My guess is that it is pretty simple L-C filtering, but it seems to be effective.  I would suggest that your neighbor go buy one dimmer that says "RFI Suppressed" on the package and try it before buying many of them.  The decors style Lutrons are not cheap - I think they are around $30 or so these days.  However, they seem to be worth the cost.

My 2 cent's worth and of course, your neighbor's mileage may vary.

73, Dale
WA9ENA        


-----Original Message-----
>From: Jim Brown <jim at audiosystemsgroup.com>
>Sent: Aug 24, 2013 10:05 PM
>To: Rfi List <rfi at contesting.com>
>Subject: [RFI] Quiet Dimmers For 120V Incandescents
>
>I'm looking for some of these for a neighbor ham.  Looking for first 
>hand experience from someone who knows for sure. :)
>
>73, Jim K9YC
>
>
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