LED Bulbs

The LED BOARDS that have INPUT DC VOLTAGE regulator chips installed on the may emit RFI interference that will over ride the TV signal input especially if you are using the OTA antenna.

The boards I ended up do not have the extra chips on them that cause the RFI signals.


The LED BOARDS will most definitely be the problem. I bought a whole bunch of these one brand without trying ONE first and ended up with 12 or so of these in use. Blanked out my HDTV, WX RADIO, and my HAM RADIO VHF ops. The company that made the LEDs told me it was their BUCK BOOST circuit causing the problem but that they were in specs with the FCC as long as they had a statement saying this may happen. Much like the garage door operations using certain cell phone haha...

I ended up wiring in a DUAL SWITCH on my ceiling light where I had one good LED board install in the first position and the RFI ones I already had in the second position. This way I could still use my RFI LED boards when we wasn't watching HDTV... thought they would eventually burn out but all LEDs are still running including the one that emit RFI.

My suggestion to all was only by ONE when you start replacing all of them and try it out. Then go buy the other $150 dollars worth of boards after that.

Roy Ken

Can you name names Roy, on the led boards that caused such horrible interference?

FCC Part 15 class B does allow for devices like radio and tv must accept interference that may cause adverse operation, but the flipside of that is consumer grade devices must also comply with part 15 class B and not cause undue interference to other devices. perhaps these led you had were listed under a different regulation, such as industrial (class a) or scientific (ism) devices, which are allowed to cause interference with class b consumer grade devices.

Its no big deal for me.... I am living with the problem just fine here... I will have to dig back several years where I and a few others were originally having these problems and were actually in discussion with the owners about it.. RV NET CAMPERPAUL K9ERG was one...

Paul actually was somewhat successful soldering on miniature 1/8-inch chip capacitors on the lamp connectors center pin and case ground.

I have photo where Camperpaul solder one on the base of a light...


LEDTRAILERLIGHTS was one brand I had but I will have to look back in my email files to get which company and very nice rep Paul and I were communicating with. They was going to do an different type of regulator circuit other then BUCK BOOST that didn't radiate as much. I never really heard much from them since after I got the cheap 4.99 boards from ebay china. Thats what I have mounted now in my RV ceiling lamps.

I'll get back in a few

Here is one post I made on here in 2010

"I recently installed replacement LEDs in my POPUP and got to field test everything this past weekend.

While trying out my new BATWING antenna I could not pick up any HDTV signals. I went back to my original TV antenna that has worked in the past and it would not work either.

It turns out that when I have my recently installed LED lights turned on, my HDTV signal would be blanked. The TV would go into NO SIGNAL mode. Turn off the LED lights and the TV signal would come back on.

I replaced one of the LED lights with my 921 light bulb and this did not do anything to my TV signal... My celing lights are made by COMMAND ELECTRONICS and are the 30 LED circuit board 510 lumens units. I replaced the CE LED with a LEDTRAILER round LED 380 lumens unit and it also blanked my TV signal when turned on.

I changed out the BATWING antenna with another antenna I have used before in this location and it also would not pick up any TV signals when the LEDs were turned on.

The TV antenna RG6 cable runs along side of the LED 12VDC cable so it must be picking up some sort of radio Frequency Interference coming from the LED boards...

All works fine TV wise as long as I keep the LEDs turned off. (Any one of the three LED lights turned on did the same interference to the TV signal...

Has anyone else experienced this..."

SCVJEFF was another RV NET guyt involved in this...

Looks like all of my comments to the manufacturer is on my other older computer since WIN 10 changeover has come out. Will have to fire that up to get the emails I guess...

Still looking...

* This post was edited 10/04/10 07:50am by RoyB *

Roy Ken

No big deal if the info isn't readily available. It's interesting they would design a switcher and not use a decoupling cap on the power input. I guess a penny saved is a penny earned?

GordonThree wrote:
Can you name names Roy, on the led boards that caused such horrible interference?

FCC Part 15 class B does allow for devices like radio and tv must accept interference that may cause adverse operation, but the flipside of that is consumer grade devices must also comply with part 15 class B and not cause undue interference to other devices. perhaps these led you had were listed under a different regulation, such as industrial (class a) or scientific (ism) devices, which are allowed to cause interference with class b consumer grade devices.

Gordon.. Do YOU really think the importers from China REALLY care two bits about some FCC regulations?

Do you really think most Ebay buyers are going to really care if those importers cared about those FCC regulations?

The real answer to both of those questions is no.

Most buyers only look at how cheap they can get something and devices built with a bit better design that is able to pass the FCC requirements is going to cost more than the ones that don't..

Food for though for those folks that buy strictly on price..

I've been running 16 of these 921 warm white LED bulbs for 2 seasons now in my Freedom Express, no issues at all ...



Yep, they're so-called "cheap Chinese junk" :R from this offshore vendor. ~ 300 lumens apiece and don't interfere with the radio or television in any way, unlike the Revolution bulbs that cost 8x more and did obliterate any radio reception. Couldn't be any happier with them. :B

Partner, OPTRONIC led fixtures. I bought 3 fixtures in the summer off ebay for 23.87 w/free shipping, no audio issues whatsoever

SoundGuy wrote:
I've been running 16 of these 921 warm white LED bulbs for 2 seasons now in my Freedom Express, no issues at all ...



Yep, they're so-called "cheap Chinese junk" :R from this offshore vendor. ~ 300 lumens apiece and don't interfere with the radio or television in any way, unlike the Revolution bulbs that cost 8x more and did obliterate any radio reception. Couldn't be any happier with them. :B

I DIDN'T SAY ALL Chinese stuff is "junk", in fact I own multiple Chinese clone generators, bunches of Chinese tools and yes a bunch of Chinese LEDS..

The problem is that not ALL Chinese made stuff is good, high quality or have no problems..

You HAVE to wade through a lot of trash to find the better stuff..

Much of that trash IS peddled on EBay..

Some of the trash is bought by "American" wholesalers (IE "Revolution" Lights) which are resold at a much higher price..

When you are diving into the LED thing you must realize it is a "wild, wild west" kind of thing.. Many of these parts are not regulated, do not follow FCC regs, not UL tested and are not built to any standards.. Quality takes a back seat to the "value" of the purchase. Often substandard parts are used and even the LED color may vary greatly..

You must be willing to say well that didn't work and toss them in the trash and find another set that might work..

Sometimes you get "lucky" the first shot but more times than not it will take a couple of purchases to find ones that are reliable, color is dead on AND they don't cause interference.

I have about 10 LED panels in DIY fixtures in my trailer. All were purchased from E Bay Asian vendors and have no regulator circuit. All cost under $2.00. All are working fine and color is close to the incandescents they replaced. I think the E Bay vendor was " 2011 LED". It's been awhile.

Just lost signal on the TV. But the light in bathroom and back bedroom. Did not effect the TV.