CFL's & Electronic Ballast bad???

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- ABLE_1
  
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posted
16 years ago

Wed, Jan 2, 2008 6:02 PM

Hello all,

Looking for a little insight. I heard today from an electrician that there is some issue with CFL's and Electronic Ballast in that they are causing reception problems with radios.

What he has told me is that at some another location after installing some new lights that use electronic ballast, the employees there cannot get the radio to pull in any stations with out turning off the lights. He said that he has heard that CFL's do the same thing.

Soooooooooooooooo since this is the first time I have heard of this I thought I would post the query here. Because if anybody know anything about this phenomenon somebody here will post back some input.

It is very possible that this is well known and I did not get the memo................................

So the floor is open for discussion.

Thanks in advance to all.

Les

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- Dave Houston
  
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posted
16 years ago

Wed, Jan 2, 2008 6:32 PM

My guess is he was talking about a commercial installation. Newer high-efficiency electronic ballasts used with straight fluorescent tube lights can put out a lot of EMI/RFI but these are not all rated for residential use (per the FCC).

While there have been many reports of conducted CFL noise interfering with X-10 and Insteon lights, I haven't seen any reports of radiated noise causing significant interference to radio reception or blocking IR remotes. Of course, given the lack of enforcement of FCC technical rules, it's always possible that there may be some CFLs that do put out high levels of EMI and RFI.

Anyth>Hello all,

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snipped-for-privacy@yahoogroups.com

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- Ghost
  
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posted
16 years ago

Wed, Jan 2, 2008 7:05 PM

U¿ytkownik "ABLE_1" napisa³ w wiadomo¶ci news:R42dnc_CUMIBTObanZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com...

Just try to avoid cheap chinese lights and all should be OK. They cut costs in way that causes more noise etc. However I don't think that there could be problems with radio reception - even with cheapest products. Your electrican probably has no knowledge in this area.