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1-8 of 8 messages
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Chinese flour. floor lamp cranks out RFI
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by W8AAZ on November 2, 2009
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I have one of those Chinese made flourescent floor lamps that I have seen advertised as "balanced spectrum" floor lamp(www.balancedspectrum.com) and it does emit a nice balanced spectrum of noise as well as light. Has a flexible goosenecki and an oval shaped head containing a four piece fork shaped tubular bulb. I had the base open to examine the apparently switching type power supply board. I do not see any obvious way to fix the noise and have not tried any inline filter or ferrites on it yet. Basically I turn it off when I want to use the radio, it raises the background noise floor quite a bit on 40 meters, at least. And well beyond. Just another item to keep an eye on in case of unexplained noise in the home. I think the Chinese hams are making/exporting stuff like this to reduce competition in DX contests?
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RE: Chinese flour. floor lamp cranks out RFI
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by AF6AU on November 3, 2009
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Since the lamp's emission begins at the lower HF frequencies, I would bet that the line cord is needed as the radiator, then the house wiring becomes involved as well.
Best bet would be to add ferrite sleeves or cores to the power cord, right at the lamp base is the first line of defense.
I have a similar lamp, that did the same thing. It made a hissing noise with a squealing sound all over HF up to about 15 meters.
I'm cheap though, and in doing the "Ecology green thing" I tore apart a 17 inch CRT computer monitor to separate the plastics. glass, metal for proper recycling. There was 11 toroids and ferrite sleeves inside, plus a plethora of flex cables, hookup wire, and 150 feet of 26ga. magnet wire in the de-gauss coil. Anyway, these monitor ferrites filter RFI from the 10's of Khz up. They pass 60Hz just fine.
A ferrite sleeve over the power cord in the bulb socket, then a small toroid ring with 5 turns of 18ga twisted pair mounted in the lamp base (connected to the line cord with a splice, heat shrink tubing and 2 3M adhesive wire tie blocks), and no more RFI. The lamp is within 20Ft. of 1 end of my 40m dipole.
In the same room is a touch sensor lamp that RF would trigger it. To me it was a great CW indicator (blinking and changing brightness with each key stroke LOL), but the XYL thought differently. 2 ferrite sleeves, 1 for the line cord, 1 for the sensor wire, no more problem. I wonder how many neighbors have touch lamps? ...He He...
So, solve the problem, and be a "Green Hero" as well with free parts out of an old monitor. Look around after Xmas curbside on trash day, you will find scores of them...
Now my biggest RFI issue is the Plasma TV the neighbor behind me has.
73's
JML
AF6AU
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RE: Chinese flour. floor lamp cranks out RFI
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by KQ9J on November 4, 2009
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My X had a touch lamp that put out a rotten HF signal. Also, it would turn on and off when I transmitted. The divorce solved the problem. (Note: we did not fight over the lamp) :)
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RE: Chinese flour. floor lamp cranks out RFI
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by K5END on November 5, 2009
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Try using chop stick chokes on the lamp. That should wok.
We had three touch lamps in a guest bedroom.
Unknown to me was that they would turn off and on spontaneously when I worked CW, on, off, on, off, dim, medium, bright, all three, and out of sequence.
It was quite a light show late one night when the first overnight guest made the discovery.
That was quite a conversation afterward.
I thought it was funny and had trouble keeping a straight face.
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RE: Chinese flour. floor lamp cranks out RFI
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by N5LRZ on November 5, 2009
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IF you own it as you stated then the solution is simple.
A trip to Wal Mart or your local home impromement store for a lamp that uses a reagular light bulb.
Then throw the RFI light either in the trash.
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RE: Chinese flour. floor lamp cranks out RFI
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by W8AAZ on November 7, 2009
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This lamp was given to me as a gift to replace the other Chinese lamp, that did use incandescent bulbs. That thing was falling apart and looked like a shock/fire hazard to me. But no RFI obviously. This thing at least, seems better made than the other pole lamp. I am content for now, to turn it off when hamming, just thought others might want to know about it. I see them being sold at big lots now, too. I should buy some ferrites I know. I could use them for alot of apps.
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RE: Chinese flour. floor lamp cranks out RFI
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by WB2WIK on November 7, 2009
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A lot of Chinese made stuff doesn't meet Part 15, although to be sold in the U.S. it's supposed to.
Frankly, if it was mine, I'd set it aside and not use it, but also file a formal complaint with the FCC naming the specific brand, model, serial number, etc, and offering it as evidence to get the importer in trouble for selling stuff that obviously does *not* meet Part 15. You know, the part where it says, "This appliance may not interfere..."
:-p
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RE: Chinese flour. floor lamp cranks out RFI
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by WX7G on November 7, 2009
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Soon there will be no incandescent lamps. We will have flourescent and LED replacement bulbs. I notice that the 120 VAC LED lamps have a note saying they may interfere with radio communication.
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