RFI from Cree LED bulbs?

[ultrarunner]

So far all of mine have been good too...

 

[KubotainNH]

I have a LOT of the Cree BR30's in both soft white and bright white.. So far so good, no failures and they are dimmable. As much as any LED. Of course they won't go down as low as an incandescent, but I don't thing any of them will. About 10 bucks at Home Depot.. i can get them for a little less than half of that in Arkansas where they are subsidized by the power company.

Thanks for the info. None of these lights have dimmers in my house so not a big deal on that part. I see Amazon has these for a bit under $6 a bulb. Decisions....
TCP 65 Watt Equivalent 6-pack LED BR3 Flood Light Bulbs, Non-Dimmable Daylight White (5K) LBR35KND6 - - Amazon.com

 

[k0ua]

Thanks for the info. None of these lights have dimmers in my house so not a big deal on that part. I see Amazon has these for a bit under $6 a bulb. Decisions....
TCP 65 Watt Equivalent 6-pack LED BR3 Flood Light Bulbs, Non-Dimmable Daylight White (5K) LBR315KND6 - - Amazon.com

Give em a try, it is all a crapshoot. I don't know how long any of them will last. One thought I had is that the non dimmable ones might have a simpler power supply inside. That could be a good thing as there might be less to fail. Buy some and let us know what you think.

 

[dmccarty]

No, it's only when there's lotsa wind. It happens to the whole neighborhood.

DM, good idea on the dating of the bulbs. Time goes by faster than we think. I recently lost a recessed bulb that I think is a CFL. Any advice on LED bulbs of this type and the cost? They used to be quite expensive.

The LEDs we bought hare 60W equivalents that use 9W and produce 800 Lumens. I think they bulbs are made by Feit electronics. The CFLs I have been buying are 60W equivalents using 13W and producing 825 Lumens. One of the CFLs and a new LED are installed in a walk in closet and the LED is brighter even though it is supposed to have less Lumens.

We are not using R30/R40 bulbs in the cans. Those bulbs have just gotten too expensive. We can buy 8 or more CFLs for the price of a CFL R30/R40. We have not noticed any difference using "regular" bulbs in the cans vs R30/R40s. I have been waiting for the prices of LEDs to drop and the ones at Costco were cheap enough for us to buy and try. Having said that, the CFLs are still much cheaper to buy even when you consider the lifetime of the bulb but I figured it was worth a try.

Later,
Dan

 

[Redneck in training]

LED seems brighter because they project all the light in one (desirable) direction while incandescent or fluorescent are omnidirectional.

 

[k0ua]

Update. Nearly the entire house is LED now, Mostly Cree, except for the 4 foot tubes in the kitchen and garage. They are Hyperikon bought from Amazon, and they are the kind that run off of 120 volts directly so you have to remove the ballasts in your old fluorescent fixtures. That is no big deal. There is also a couple of no name fixtures and a screw in "batwing" type of LED bulb 10,000 watt equivalent downstairs in the craft room. man is that thing bright. No failures with any of them except the original old Cree bulb number 1 in the lamp upstairs that became flakey as noted back in 2016. So no failures, No RFI, just lots of light so far.

I guess some of these are nearly 7 years of use, so I think I have gotten my money's worth in electricity savings. Of course by now most of you have likely put in LED and this info is not nearly so interesting, but I though I would give an update.

 

[RickB]

Updates are always good. Thanks.

 

[Oaktree]

Update. Nearly the entire house is LED now, Mostly Cree, except for the 4 foot tubes in the kitchen and garage. They are Hyperikon bought from Amazon, and they are the kind that run off of 120 volts directly so you have to remove the ballasts in your old fluorescent fixtures. That is no big deal. There is also a couple of no name fixtures and a screw in "batwing" type of LED bulb 10,000 watt equivalent downstairs in the craft room. man is that thing bright. No failures with any of them except the original old Cree bulb number 1 in the lamp upstairs that became flakey as noted back in 2016. So no failures, No RFI, just lots of light so far.

I haven't noticed any RFI from LED bulbs in the house/shop, but automotive ones (work lights, fog lights, etc.) are a different story, even interfere with FM reception. Putting a ferrite bead in the 12V wire does help a lot.

None of the replacement T8/12 tubes I've used require removal of the ballast.

 

[ovrszd]

I haven't noticed any RFI from LED bulbs in the house/shop, but automotive ones (work lights, fog lights, etc.) are a different story, even interfere with FM reception. Putting a ferrite bead in the 12V wire does help a lot.

None of the replacement T8/12 tubes I've used require removal of the ballast.

James can better talk this point than I. What I understand is some types of LED replacements don't require removal of the ballast. What I understand about that type is the savings is less and RFI is more likely.

I converted my shop 6 bulb, 4ft bulbs to LED with ballasts removed 3 years ago. Total of 24 bulbs. I replaced 2 this Fall.

 

[PILOON]

I replaced my car headlights with LEDs.
Inexpensive ones from China.

Great lighting now but one problem pops up from time to time.
When radio is on AM I occasionally get interference, at least I believe it from the LEDs but it might also be from the alternator as it is not constant.
Does seem to be shortly after starting so could be charging circuit related however it only started at the time I installed the LED's. Simple coincidence?