LED Bulb RF Pollution - Elektor Magazine investigates

LED Bulb RF Pollution - Elektor Magazine investigates

DARC, the German national amateur radio society, are requesting amateurs to send LED bulbs which pollute the RF spectrum to the magazine Elektor for investigation

A Google English translation reads:

Elektor-Verlag GmbH calls all readers and especially all radio amateurs to send non-compliant LED bulbs including power supplies. Elektor wants to investigate this EMC-technical and then forward it to the competent market surveillance of the BNetzA.

The reason for the action: As a result of a press release of the DARC in September 2017 on the significantly increasing interference of radio communications, other radio services and the DAB reception by non-EMC compliant LED bulbs Elektor had investigated such lamps (as well as LED strips). The result showed a progressive electromagnetic pollution.

The Federal Network Agency as competent authority for market surveillance in accordance with the EMVG has welcomed the call for the submission of suspicious copies. In addition, the Federal Agency would like to be informed if disturbing lamps attract attention. She then wants to investigate this situation and take the products out of the market, if they are still offered.

Please send suspicious copies

Elektor-Verlag GmbH
Kackertstr. 10
52072 Aachen

Please enclose a note with the words "EMC LED lamp" so that everything runs correctly in the inbox. You can also announce your submission via e-mail to redaktion@elektor.de with the subject "EMC-LED-Lamp". Elektor Verlag GmbH then checks the lamp, publishes an update if necessary and informs the Federal Network Agency.

Here the link to the Elektor article from 23.04.2018
https://www.elektormagazine.de/news/bundesnetzagentur-zu-schicken-sie-uns-verdachtige-led-lampen

Source DARC http://darc.de/

2017 RF pollution from LED bulbs in Elektor Magazine
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2017/september/rf-pollution-from-led-bulbs-in-elektor-magazine.htm


http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2018/april/led-bulb-rf-pollution-elektor-magazine-investigates.htm

 

Good to hear the EU is looking into this and hopefully they will take a stand and require manufactures to correct the issues. I don't hold out much hope for the FCC to do anything in the US.

 

Theoretically we enforce local interference personally. I'm not comfortable telling my uptight neighbor his (technically illegal) architectural lighting is making my weird pursuit of squeaks and whistles more difficult. It's easier for me to use phased receiver noise cancelling, loops, etc., than to fight Ebay and Amazon about non-compliant bargain lights, which do have massive environmental benefits. just my $0.02

 

Indeed.

Which is a shame, because by Congressional mandate, FCC is the only group in the US who can do something about it.

Hey look, the German counterpart to the ARRL actually cares about RFI enough to do something about it. Are you paying attention, ARRL???

 

http://www.arrl.org/lighting-devices

Light Bulbs and RFI — A Closer Look. New high efficiency light bulbs put out plenty of light, but hams wonder what else, by Mike Gruber, W1MG. QST October 2013, p 42.

 

I have replaced my bulbs with LED's and do not detect any interference on amateur bands. I have a desk lamp very close to my radios and do not experience interference. It could have something to do with the manufacture. If I bring a AM radio next to the bulb, then I detect interference.

 

I found a LED bulb made by Phillips 2 houses away that was knocking out my 2 Meter radio. Noise was half scale on 146.520 with my omni outside antenna. I gave him a couple of CFL bulbs and he willing swapped the LEDs out for me.

 

I have LED bulbs all throughout my home. They screw directly into a 120 Volt AC socket, and I have no RFI from them at all. I even have a LED bulb lamp on my desk at my operating position and no RFI. LED lamps do not oscillate so they should never cause interference. Then there is the low voltage LED that required a power supply to convert the 120 Volts AC to the 5 volts at 1 or 2 amps to power the string of LED bulbs. That switching power supply was the culprit that was generating all of the hash on the HF bands. In changing the power supply from the switching type power supply to a linear power supply, the noise hash went away. It's these switching power supplies, made very cheaply, that are causing the RFI. More stringent regulations need to be placed on these devices to clean up the hash they generate. It is possible to design a switching power supply that is clean from RF hash. Until this is done, more and more of these switching power supply LED fixtures will flood the shelves of the stores and consequently in to our homes.

 

Is there a US address to ship the offending bulbs to? Perhaps someone will collect in bulk and forward them to Germany? I have installed a number of Feit bulbs in the house and I can hear them even on 2 meters FM!

 

A few years ago, I submitted a "Hints & Kinks" article to QST about noisy LED lights. They were VERY interested in the article and ultimately published it. I purchased 5 LED tubes from an Ebay vendor and installed them in the fixtures in my radio room. Totally bombed my HF receiver on 20 meters with S9+10 trash. When I figured it out, I sent a message to the vendor who had a policy where I could return them. Interestingly, they offered me a 5% refund if I kept the bulbs. I told them "No thank you"....if I got the refund, I would STILL have the interference. I have since found some RF quiet LED tubes. A few months back, I was in Lowe's looking at LED tubes and noticed a substantial price difference between two tubes that were for sale. The cheaper one had a disclosure in TINY letters on the package about not using it around radio equipment as it may cause interference to receivers.

 

I know there are some bulbs that produce Interference on several bands and i would be nice if the FCC would take a serious look at this problem. If these bulbs interfere with us it surely would stand to reason it could interfere with other Radio services ( Feds) as well. My station here is solar powered and all lighting in the house is Led. I currently have not found any culprit bulbs. I have been lucky so far. Plasma tv's and power company sub stations are my issues. If you find a bad one trash it or return it. For me its trash it and get out of circulation.

 

I have Sylvania branded non-dimmable LED bulbs throughout my home and have no noise from them. I do get noise from many of the usb phone chargers.

 

Is the EU producing a list of the ones that aren't compliant that they've tested?

I spent about $300 last year converting over all our lights to LED. I even have 3 above my ham desk, and I haven't had any increase in my noise that I can detect.
Just turning them off and on is the best test for me.
But I don't buy anything off of Ebay, mine are all from recognizable vendors like GE and Sylvania. I think they hold their products to higher standards, but that's just my opinion.

 

Your loss OM...
Stand up and be heard or be lost in the noise.
Your choice

 

Nothing says we can't have compliant, electrically quiet LEDs AND the environmental benefits. The two are not mutually exclusive.