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To: usconservative

Dang! I just installed five Feits in my kitchen... and I am studying for my Tech/General. I suppose the heat pump plus the LEDs will make me a “deaf” ham :-(


41 posted on 02/21/2016 5:30:03 PM PST by LoneBugle
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To: LoneBugle
I've heard from TWO fellow ham's here on FR who've suggested fixes to my LED Light RFI problem. You're not alone on here. At last count, I'm aware of at least a dozen other Ham's here on FR. Anytime the topic of amateur radio comes up on a thread there are some interesting (and insightful!) responses.

From what I've read and received in FR Mail, buying a quality LED light (not the cheap Chinese knockoff's) will make a big difference.

The issue I have with my son's rather large fish tank and his grow lights are that they're (a) LED strips that run the length of his tank and then around the edges of the tank so he has about 20' of LED lights right underneath my fan dipole and (b) the crappy switching power supply that's used to power them generates a crapload of noise by itself. Then there's his reptile tanks and cages with their LED UV lights, heaters, etc.. which all cause their own noise. Uggghhh.

Switching power supplies (or what we commonly call WALL WARTS) cause A LOT of noise when they go bad. Switching power supplies are the DEVIL, IMO.

I had one in my shack that was connected to a NAS Disk Device that went bad. Made 20, 40, 75 and 160m completely useless until I found it. And even then, I was shutting circuit breakers off in the house to narrow down with the device causing the noise. It's a lengthy (and funny) story I posted on eHAM about how I ended up finding it and I can point you to that if you want a good laugh.

The bottom line from that entire story was that I now have a monthly task that I walk around the house and put my hands on all the wall warts/switching power supplies and if any of them feels "too warm" or "hot" they get repaired or replaced. Heat from a switching power supply hanging on the all is NOT a good thing, especially too much heat.

46 posted on 02/21/2016 6:06:46 PM PST by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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