[RFI] Looking for low-RFI high efficiency lighting
Jim Brown
jim at audiosystemsgroup.com
Tue Jul 8 02:10:29 EDT 2014
On 7/7/2014 10:20 PM, Kelly Johnson wrote:
> Since this is a brand new kitchen, I may have more options than just
> looking for low-RFI bulbs. All of the electrical will be getting done from
> scratch. Are there things others have done in their new construction to
> use high efficiency lighting without an increase in RFI? I'm looking for
> known solutions. I'm looking for people that have actually installed
> things that work.
Now that I understand your application, I have more suggestions. There's
a vendor (Wired Communications) of LED lighting in various forms,
including strips, that exhibits at Pacificon and Visalia. They run on a
wide range of voltage, are pretty efficient, and put out a lot of light.
My shack is 12VDC from solar power, and I'm lighting it for routine
operation with four of their strips with a total current draw of 1.25A.
Give them more volts and they'll draw less current. You would, of
course, want more in a kitchen than what I used, but you get the idea.
The strips work very well for under cabinet lighting, and I have four of
them on the ceiling to do my shack lighting. My neighbor, W6GJB, has
used them in the under-cabinet configuration in his shack. Very nice.
I'm getting the 12V from the batteries charged by the solar cells, but
it's easy to run the lights from a generic wall wart. One thing I've
done to reduce RFI in my place is to replace all switch mode power
supplies with old linear wall warts. I buy them cheap at ham fests (you
call them swap meets out here), typically a buck apiece or less. I've
got a box full. One or more of those wall warts will run one to four
strips of lights, depending on the wall wart voltage and current rating.
The strips have built-in regulators that adjust the current to drive the
LEDs depending on the DC volts. The same vendor also sells nice
connectorized inline switches. I remove some of the connectors and
install Power Poles.
73, Jim K9YC
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