tv reception and led lights

[bobrizer2]

I changed all of my incandescent lights to led. Now when I turn on a light my tv picture disappears. It doesn't seem to matter which light, they all do it. Turn off the light and the picture comes back. I am using a Winegard over the air antenna. I was told that this is caused by the voltage regulator that is built into the led bulb and the only cure was to use the very cheapest led bulb made in China with no voltage reg., but in an rv they wouldn't last very long due to voltages higher than 12v during bulk, absorption, and equalization charging.

I know that others are using leds in their RV's and I haven't heard about others having this problem. After investing $300 in leds, I am hoping that someone has a better solution other than watching TV in the dark.
Bob

[CC-skipjack]

I have had no reception problem using the cheap LED's but I have had issues with the glue backing on the LED's remaining stuck. They keep falling off the backing and they create enough heat (why???) I'm a little concerned of melting some of my light covers.

[mowin]

My Laredo came with LED's. I have no issues with my TV, but the radio definitely doesn't like it when those lights are on.

[netjam]

Did my whole rig with $1 leds off of Ebay. Also replaced all flourescents with leds (cost about $20 for those 18"ers. Its been over 3 years, no tv problems, no burn outs, very happy.

[Crazy_Ray]

Never had a problem with my LEDs.

[RoyB]

There was alot of experiments ongoing back in the 2008/2009 era... Most were not successful..

One Ham Radio RV NET guy (CAMPER PAUL) had some luck using the miniture circuit board small strip chip capacitors and solder then across the 1156 sockets of the LED fixture like shown below...



Others tried ferrite beads everywhere around the 12VDC leads etc...

maybe some success...

I tried the easy ferrite beads on my setup like radio shack had and may have decreased it some but still had the interference...

I used to pull up close to the rear trailers that the big trucks had the new LED LIGHTs on them and it would blank out my ham radio haha...

Its kinda like the garage door electronic... FCC says they are in spec and may interfere with things when they are operated... As long as they make their claim all is good...

I would have thought by now the manf would have dropped the BUCK BOAST chips for regulators... I'm sure they all know about the problem...

Getting elcheapo LEDs from ebay china was my answer to the problem haha

This reminds me I haven't heard from Camper Paul in a couple of years or more... Hope all is ok We were both Illinois Ham Radio guys from the mid 50s...

Roy Ken

[N-Trouble]

WHen I run my big LED outside floods my radio goes to complete static. Haven't noticed any issues with my TV.

Any way to fix this?

[RoyB]

This happens when you purchased the expensive LED BOARDS that have the BUCK REGULATORs on the them to make them operate in a wide 12VDC Voltage range.. The regulator emits a RFI signal strong enough to interfere with VHF/UHF radio frequencies.. This includes your HDTV, WX Radios, Ham Radio, Scanners, etc...

I made that mistake as well and have a $200 invested in the new LED lights...

I then went and got the $4.99 LED LIGHT boards from ebay china and bought several extras. The ceiling lights I saved the High Dollar boards and only replaced one of them with the cheap board. My ceiling light fixtures have an ONE SIDE-OFF-BOTH SIDES switch positions so when I am not using the RF electronics I can have both sides ON. When using the RF Electronics I just turn on the cheap LED BOARDS from ebay china.



I thought the boards without the DC VOLTAGE Regulator chips installed on them would burn out with my DC VOLTS going as high as 15VDC some times. Out of the four boards I am using in the ceiling light groups that have the dual boards, one board has a three segment led light group off. The others are still all working. I installed mine in 2009...

Your new board are most likely within FCC specs on the amount of RFI being present so it may be hard to request a return.

My HDTV really was bad when using the crank up OTA BATWING antenna picking up the HDTV signals from the local towns. The strong signal coming from the CABLE TV connections usually was strong to override the RFI signal for me... My other items I listed above however always got interfered with...

Lots of information on this subj on RV NET...

Roy Ken

[rwbradley]

I did my LED's 2 years ago with the cheap China eBay bulbs. No issues with the TV when they were on. However I did consider this issue but the bulbs were so cheap I was getting them for about a dollar a bulb when buying in batches of a dozen to two dozen. I got enough to do the whole trailer, with almost a dozen spares just in case they did not last long but in two years I have not replaced a single one. Even if I have to replace them 5 times vs the good ones, they still work out cheaper.

[laknox]

I know that my daughter and s-i-l have issues with OTA reception at their house when they have their kitchen lights on, which are LEDs. Their OTA antenna is in the attic, right above the kitchen.

Lyle