LED lights interfere with TV

[jhardin]

Asking for a friend, he installed LED lights throughout his camper. Now he has interference on front and rear TV's. He ran a coax cable from outside straight to TV and signal is perfect. Anyone else have this problem? Any suggestions what to do, other than put old ones back? All input appreciated.

Jerry

 

[jbeletti]

Asking for a friend, he installed LED lights throughout his camper. Now he has interference on front and rear TV's. He ran a coax cable from outside straight to TV and signal is perfect. Anyone else have this problem? Any suggestions what to do, other than put old ones back? All input appreciated.

Jerry

Consider checking and if need, changing all the coax connectors as they may not have been crafted perfectly.

 

[danemayer]

There've been some previous discussions on LED interference. As Jim mentioned, it could be problems with the coax where the signal to noise ratio is poor.

Another possibility is that the selection of LED device may be part of the problem. LEDs have to manage fluctuating voltage and some LED control boards do so by rapidly changing frequency, which can produce interference.

 

[sengli]

My coach does this same thing, but only when my bedroom lights are turned on. Turn on the bedroom lights, and the signal dies to both TV's. I have checked most of the coax connections I can get to, so far the issue continues. I will figure it out eventually, just not a huge issue at this time.

 

[JohnD]

What I've found with our trailer is that if I have the living room TV on, and turn the FM radio on (Jensen unit mounted in the wall next to the TV), the radio looses all reception . . . both AM and FM.

I still have the diapole wired antenna on the Jensen . . . the the King Jack TV antenna on the roof.

I'm thinking that the antenna booster for the roof antenna is the cause . . .

 

[wdk450]

Classic Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) techniques call for reducing/eliminating the electronic noise AT THE SOURCE. To begin with, any device that emits enough radio energy to cause interference with another electronic device is probably in violation of FCC rules on all digital devices. Unfortunately, the FCC is a relatively tiny government agency in a vast sea of digital electronic devices. The offending device manufacturer should be called, along with telling them that you are considering reporting them to the FCC. These LED driver circuits put out rapid short pulses of digital electricity which is a prime way to generate electrical interference, along with having long wires (like long transmitting antennas) to the LED light fixtures. Even if the LED driver box is at the lamp, the pulsing current draw on the supply wires can radiate RFI. If I was designing one of these lights with the RFI problem in mind, I would put a small ceramic capacitor across the power source wires right at the box (.001 microfarads, 16 volt). I would have the box output as close as possible to the light. I would use grounded shielded cables to connect the box to the lights. Beyond that might be a very fine wire mesh that light could penetrate around the LED bulb (much like a microwave glass door is RFI shielded with perforated metal).A websearch after my initial post composition came up with these 2 informative posts:

http://prudentrver.typepad.com/leds/2011/03/our-leds-do-not-emit-radio-frequency-interference.html

http://prudentrver.typepad.com/leds/2011/03/reasons-an-led-light-might-emit-radio-frequency-interference.html

 

[happykraut]

I've had the same issue for two years now. I lose audio and video on both TV's when the bedrom lights are turned on. It only does it on the weaker TV stations. I keep hoping that someone will find a fix.

 

[branson4020]

I've had the same issue for two years now. I lose audio and video on both TV's when the bedrom lights are turned on. It only does it on the weaker TV stations. I keep hoping that someone will find a fix.

The fix is to use led lights that do not have active current-regulation circuitry. For instance, THESE flat panel led retrofits use only simple ballast resistors and will not cause any interference.

 

[JohnDar]

Guess I don't understand. I changed every bulb in our rig to LED, and have not had a problem with the TV. OTA channels still pixilate if a mosquito flies nearby, even with a Jack antenna head, but the satellite feed is fine.