LED lites and Television

Parcany · 09-21-2011, 01:15 PM

Put led lites in our old trailer,[heartland], and also in our new trailer; [see below]. The same thing happened. While watching channel 9 on antenna, with lites off we get a good signal. Turn on the lite with the leds and we loose channel 9. Turn off the lite and we regain channnel 9. While the lites are on and channnel is off we turn the antenna for maybe a better signal but still channel will not come in. Change out to the regular lites that came with the trailer and we get a good channel 9. Only seems to affect channel 9, no problems with any other channnel. With the heartland if we were hooked up to cable then there is no problem, channel 9 comes in great. Not only did that do it in Arizona but also in Carlsbad,NM, I have fixture for 2 lites and replacing 1 led with a regular bulb then leaving 1 led lite the same thing happens. loose channnel 9. Anybody have any suggestions. Thanx in advance Ernie

**Crabman** · 09-21-2011, 01:58 PM

That is a strange one. Perhaps some of our more tech savvy members can help. I`m clueless.........

Lady Fitzgerald · 09-21-2011, 02:17 PM

Many, if not most, of the cheaper LEDs pump out a large amount of RFI (Radio Frequency Interference) which can be enough to drown out a radio or TV signal. Try a different brand to see if it won't jam your signal. Generally, the more expensive LEDs are less likely to generate RFI.

**Crabman** · 09-21-2011, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

Many, if not most, of the cheaper LEDs pump out a large amount of RFI (Radio Frequency Interference) which can be enough to drown out a radio or TV signal. Try a different brand to see if it won't jam your signal. Generally, the more expensive LEDs are less likely to generate RFI.

See, I knew one of our tech savvy members would know! I didn`t know that, but then again I`m fairly new to LED lighting. Still have the old style in the trailer. I did have a set of LED`S on a boat trailer and they did not last 2 yrs. The problem is on those lights it is a sealed unit and you have to replace it not just the bulbs. So I went back to the old style lights and bulbs on the boat trailer, I can always change out a bulb on them without spending 70 bucks for 2 new lights. But I know the advantages in a RV are less power use and less heat.

CityFarmer · 09-21-2011, 02:36 PM

Lady Fitzgerald · 09-21-2011, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CityFarmer

If you could be a wee bit more specific about what your question is, I'll take a stab at it if I know the answer.

Lady Fitzgerald · 09-21-2011, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crabman

See, I knew one of our tech savvy members would know! I didn`t know that, but then again I`m fairly new to LED lighting. Still have the old style in the trailer. I did have a set of LED`S on a boat trailer and they did not last 2 yrs. The problem is on those lights it is a sealed unit and you have to replace it not just the bulbs. So I went back to the old style lights and bulbs on the boat trailer, I can always change out a bulb on them without spending 70 bucks for 2 new lights. But I know the advantages in a RV are less power use and less heat.

Not all LEDs are built the same. Among other things, voltage is what determines the brightness, color, and life of an LED. Each LED package has several LEDS burning together. The quality of those individual LEDs will vary from brand to brand. Generally, the more expensive packages have the best LEDs but one can't always count on that.

Also, all LEDs have an electronic package that regulates the voltage. Again, the quality of those electronics varies from brand to brand. The degree of regulation may be pretty tight or may be really sloppy. The poorer quality electronics may also emit unacceptable levels of RFI. The quality of the electronics also determine the life of the overall package.

LED packages (generally referred to as just LEDs) have a range of advertised life which can go from 10,000 hours to as high as 60,000 (possibly more). Some vendors (such as Camping World) do not state expected life and sometimes offer a timed guarantee (CWs is two years). Again, the higher priced LEDs tend to have the longest life but, again, one cannot always count on that.

Crabman, what brand of LED were you using?

**Crabman** · 09-21-2011, 06:51 PM

"Crabman, what brand of LED were you using?"
__________________

I truly have no idea. They were the tail lights on an EZ Loader boat trailer. Supposedly sealed and submersible, but I`m betting salt water got to them. I took them to the dealer and he said sorry, nothing can be done with them so toss `em.

Parcany · 09-21-2011, 08:30 PM

Lady Fitz, makes sence on what you are saying. I think I paid $16.00 each or close to that price. To me that is not cheap. Thanx Ernie

CityFarmer · 09-22-2011, 07:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

If you could be a wee bit more specific about what your question is, I'll take a stab at it if I know the answer.

My post was a response to Parcany question meaning I had no idea

Lady Fitzgerald · 09-22-2011, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parcany

Lady Fitz, makes sence on what you are saying. I think I paid $16.00 each or close to that price. To me that is not cheap. Thanx Ernie

$16 each is about mid-range. I've seen them run from $6 to $35 each. Sadly, the technology is still in it's infancy so there will be a lot of bad mixed in with the good and reasonably priced mixed in with the total rip offs.

Take CFLs, for example. Even as long as CFLs have been around, there are still a lot of them out there that are pure garbage. Even some of the past leaders in past lighting technology are putting out garbage CFLs. Some just don't last long, some take forever to fire and get fully bright, some have a bad hum, some crank out RFI, or any combination of these factors. Again, price isn't always the best indicator of quality. The best generic 60w and 75w lamps I have found for the money are the Eco Bulbs. I do have one fixture in my hallway at home that requires an extra small 60w CFL to fit in it. The only one I've found that fits is made by GE. It costs considerably more than an Eco Bulb (some of that cost comes from the tighter manufacturing tolerances that allows them to shrink the lamp and base) and yet it takes a tad longer to fire and doesn't last as long. Fortunately, I don't burn the hall lights all that much. Still, I'm considering replacing the fixture.

It's going to be a while before LEDs completely replace incandescents. It's only recently that they have started becoming cost effective. So far, the market has been concentrating on making replacements for existing fixtures. Once the market matures enough, I'm thinking that the fixtures themselves will contain the electronics package, where quality intead of miniaturization can be concentrated on, and the enclosure can take advantage of the directional characteristics of the LEDs themselves instead of having to work around it. By then, the LEDs themselves should be lasting long enough to allow installing them permanently instead of needing to make them replaceable.

RoyBraddy · 11-02-2011, 06:28 AM

I tried several LED brands early on and found that the ones that have built-in regulators called BUCK BOOST which allows the LEDs to operate over a range of different input DC voltages give off RFI. In my case it blanked out my HDTV when operating off the OTA antenna, Blanked out my NOAH WX Radio operations, reduced my VHF/UHF Ham radio operations etc. Many discussions on this on the RV.NET

I ordered the cheap $4.99 LEDs from ebay (china Brand) which do not have the BUCK BOOST regulator on the boards and all is fine with those. This was several years ago and i dont know if anything new is out now that gets around the RFI problems or not. Back then it didnt matter who the manufacturer was - If they used the BUCK BOOST regulator method then they had RFI. My operations was in my POPUP trailer which probably got more RFI problems than a hard walled trailer???

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