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LED Lighting Interferrence

 
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colbysmith



Joined: 02 Oct 2011
Posts: 4522
City/Region: Madison
State or Province: WI
C-Dory Year: 2009
C-Dory Model: 25 Cruiser
Vessel Name: C-Traveler
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 18, 2018 9:19 am    Post subject: LED Lighting Interferrence Reply with quote

Recently one of our fellow C-brats emailed me the following link. Thought it would be worthwhile posting here. I do have LED cabin and nav lights. Did the check mentioned in this article with no problem. (Turned on all my lights at the same time.) Of course my LED lighting only involves 4 small cabin lights, and 3 nav lights. The Anchor Mast light being the closest one to my VHF antenna's. I suspect this is probably only a problem for larger ships with a lot more high powered lighting. Otherwise, both my VHF's and my AIS appear to work well. (When I speak up, with regards to my older radio. Mr. Green ) Colby

http://gcaptain.com/u-s-coast-guard-warns-of-led-lighting-interfering-vhf-fm-radio-and-ais-reception/
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ssobol



Joined: 27 Oct 2012
Posts: 3358
City/Region: SW Michigan
State or Province: MI
C-Dory Year: 2008
C-Dory Model: 22 Cruiser
Vessel Name: SoBELLE
Photos: SoBelle
PostPosted: Sat Aug 18, 2018 12:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have all LED lights. I've never noticed any problems with them. However, we almost never use the lights and the radio at the same time.
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thataway



Joined: 02 Nov 2003
Posts: 20778
City/Region: Pensacola
State or Province: FL
C-Dory Year: 2007
C-Dory Model: 25 Cruiser
Vessel Name: thataway
Photos: Thataway
PostPosted: Sat Aug 18, 2018 2:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here is the reply I sent to the e-mail which I also received.

This is a well known problem. There are a number of things which can be done—one is to twist the wires together from the power supply to the LED.

2 use ferrite beads on the power leads

3. A small capacitor between the leads

4. Some suppliers use RF radiation free LED’s—Such as “Superbright” bulbs. The radiation is from the driver circuit on the micro circuit boards. Better and higher cost LED’s will cause far less problem.

I noted the problem with some ham radio gear when LED's first became popular. I have always been able to get rid of any interference. My current boat is 100% LED lighting.

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Bob Austin
Thataway
Thataway (Ex Seaweed) 2007 25 C Dory May 2018 to Oct. 2021
Thisaway 2006 22' CDory November 2011 to May 2018
Caracal 18 140 Suzuki 2007 to present
Thataway TomCat 255 150 Suzukis June 2006 thru August 2011
C Pelican; 1992, 22 Cruiser, 2002 thru 2006
Frequent Sea; 2003 C D 25, 2007 thru 2009
KA6PKB
Home port: Pensacola FL
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hardee



Joined: 30 Oct 2006
Posts: 12632
City/Region: Sequim
State or Province: WA
C-Dory Year: 2005
C-Dory Model: 22 Cruiser
Vessel Name: Sleepy-C
Photos: SleepyC
PostPosted: Sun Aug 19, 2018 10:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I converted to all LED lights (except an aft facing cockpit flood light)several years back and have not had a problem, but I was aware of the possibilities and looked specifically for non-RFI LED lights. I think all except the anchor/all around are from SuperBright.

Harvey
SleepyC Moon

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Though in our sleep we are not conscious of our activity or surroundings, we should not, in our wakefulness, be unconscious of our sleep.
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