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Fluorescent Lights Cause FM Interference

J

jmiles1960

Super Member
I just finished installing T-8 fluorescent lights in my garage; direct wired into a household circuit. When I turned them on, the FM radio (portable) was impacted with distortion from the lights. I read the box and was surprised to see in fine print "these lights may impact consumer appliances".

I had planned to use one of my solid state receivers in the garage soon. Should I expect the FM reception to be impacted as well? Anything I can do about it? What about non-radio audio sources? Will they be impacted? (CD player / tape deck, amplifier, etc...)

Thanks for the help and advice.
 
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Update

FM reception is distorted on the receiver inside my house, about 50+ feet from these lights. This is definitely a problem. I'm going to call the manufacturer tomorrow, but it looks like the balists are commercial grade and this is the issue.
 
I install T8 fixtures in all of our commercial properties and they are a major pita when it comes to fm interference.
I listen to the radio while I'm working and almost always when I get done and turn the newly installed lights on I get some interference on the radio.
They are all properly grounded so that has nothing to do with it.
 
I put T8's in my kitchen. Same deal, I have to turn them off when using the ST-A6B.
 
I spent 1/2 a day putting these T-8 fixtures up in the garage and they mess up FM all the way into the house. Unacceptable. I'm calling the manufacturer tomorrow; I read on a couple of forums they will send new ballists. We'll see.

What irritates me most is the warning was in 8 pt font on the back of the box - hardly noticeable without looking for it.
 
Same problem here. Doesn't seem to matter what tuner I use when I turn those damn flourescents on the reception goes to hell. I thought using an outdoor antenna would help but it doesn't. Good luck to you in finding a solution.
 
Other owners reported they swapped out their ballists with Residental rated ones and this fixes the problem. I have other T-8's that don't have this issue.

I am contacting the manufacturer tomorrow and will post an update.

I'm going to scream if I have to take these lights down! Even swapping the ballists is a PITA with the re-wiring... I never even considered the RFI from these lights.

What's a man's garage without a classic audio system? No FM? No way!
 
There is a reason they don't use any type of florescent lighting in recording studios. :yes:
 
Yep. Right now I'm in a basement apartment and the fluorescent lighting makes FM radio just about unusable. Ever with a powered antenna, (which amplifies the noise too) I can only get 1 or 2 local stations to sound fairly acceptable. Even on my Sony s707 ES tuner. It really sucks.:thumbsdn:
 
That's odd. Floursecent lights have always been a problem with AM reception, but I've never had an issue with FM. Maybe the newer type of ballast is causing interference? Ballasts used to be basically just an inductor...
 
My internet router affects am radio . The dimmer switch on downstairs lights on a separate circuit breaker also affects am radio reception. If I walk out towars the road in front of my house the lines on telephone pole also affect am reception on Sony Walkman.
 
This is the circuitry inside one of those bulbs. I was suprised to find actual high voltage capacitors in there. The big one is a 33uf 200V, but I've seen a 10uf too. Some of the little caps are WIMAs and are rated above 400V, although they are in the pF range. Something to keep in mind if you're really short on parts.

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chicks said:
That's odd. Floursecent lights have always been a problem with AM reception, but I've never had an issue with FM. Maybe the newer type of ballast is causing interference? Ballasts used to be basically just an inductor...
Click to expand...
That's it, exactly. Old ballasts were inductors, transformers. New ballasts are electronic, and IIRC, similar to RFI-spraying computer switching power supplies.
The fluorescent fixture in my kitchen is from the 1960's and there's no FM noise at all.
 
I have a tube over my bench, I had to align my am tube radio in the dark, had zero effect on the fm band of the blaupunkt, weird.
 
I had the same problem with all of the tvs in my house.. Even though I am on cable, the brand new florescent light that I installed in the kitchen, caused interference on the lower channels.
.There were squiggly lines all through the picture. ... After all kinds of tests, I have determined that the interference was caused by the electronic ballast transformer that is inside of the fixture. The interference was there, even if the fixture was turned on without the bulbs in it.... The ballast transformer itself radiates a signal that interferes with tv and radio reception.. Even though the transformer and fixture were properly grounded, it still didn't make any difference..
I thought that I simply had a defective ballast, but now that I'm reading these posts, it seems that this may be a common characteristic of these new type of transformers..
What did I do to solve the problem ???,, I replaced the electronic ballast with the old 'winding type' ballast transformer.. After I did that, the interference was gone ,and the light worked fine. The trouble is that they don't make the 'winding' type ballast anymore. You can't buy them anywhere.. I was lucky enough to have one that I took out of an old fluorescent fixture that just happened to use the same bulbs..
If I'm right,and these new transformers are causing interference, then it seems to me that the FCC should be notified..
 
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