Forum Discussion

waynep10's avatar
waynep10
Explorer
Oct 21, 2019

Interior lights cauing Radio interference

2017 Eclipse Attitude Toy Hauler. Whenever I turn on the interior lighting it kills the radio volume and reception. Very marked. All interior is LED. Changed interior color temp to a brighter 5000k temp LED. Matters not which light circuit is being used it kills the AM & FM. I'm thinking the antenna is not hooked up properly or not at all . Any help is much appreciated.
  • One of our LEDs close to the radio caused interference. We tried several different LEDs with the same results. Finally went back to a standard bulb in that one fixture.

    Bill
  • Did the problem show up after the change? Many LEDs are known to cause interference. May have to change to another type/brand.
  • LED's with a voltage regulator often cause interference. I use the cheapest eBay bulbs with no regulator for that reason.
  • We have also had our led fixture cause interference with our TV.
  • A sign of poor quality LED regulators. Well designed current regulated drivers are interference free. Cheap ones are a toss up. Units w/o current regulation don't interfere, but are subject to thermal runaway when voltage ramps up like when your charger is on in boost mode. I've had non regulated ones actually unsolder themselves.

    But it is hit and miss to find good 12V LED bulbs.
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    Leds come in differing quality.
    Some are very noisy (Technically they are white noise generators)
    Some are filtered.

    Often a small ceramic capicator. say 3 in parallel .1 .01 and .001 mmF as I recall.. may be pF though. across the lights as close to the LED as possible may help.. Actually just one of the 3 will fix it. but it may be one for AM and one for FM.
  • Can you post a picture of your control center? You might be able to loosen a panel to gain access behind your radio and light switches. The wires to your lights switches are probably run next to the radio speaker wires.

    If you have cabinets its also possible to cut a small hole inside the cabinet to access the wires. My trailer had horrible interference. Was able to separate wires and use aluminum foil to try and shield them in spots. Like where the wires enter the roof. My installer ran all my wires through the same hole!!

    Do you like tinkering with electronics? You can buy LED constant current drivers and build your own leds. Its not cheap but it can be fun if you like that type of thing. Most parts are available from supply places like digi-key. Rest comes from ebay. Meanwell makes tiny LED drivers. You can buy CREE brand leds. Ebay has heat sinks and thermal glue. You end up with a very high quality light that is PWM dimmable. I made a bunch around 5 years ago. Gave some to camping buddies for a donation. Still have a lot of leftover material in the garage. Got to think prices have gone down since then. It was around $12 a light in material for a CREE light run off a meanwell driver.

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