Silence LED interference with VHF with capacitors ?

[SvenG]

Some (not all) of our LED reading lights put out enough interference to wreak havoc with our VHF scanners. We have to turn up the squelch way too high before they will quiet down and then we won't hear any of the traffic we are monitoring.

I'm wondering if putting capacitors across the power leads at the fixtures is likely to help and if that case how should I size them ?

Since not all the "identical" LED bulbs have the problem I worry that the interference is "bulb" internal and won't be fixed by caps but I'd be happy to learn differently.

Thanks,



-Sven

[GeoPowers]

Have you identified which LEDs are causing the problem? I'd first try something simple like moving the culprits to a different spot. Then see how the VHF behaves. That will tell you if it is the specific bulb or type of bulb at a certain location (assuming they are all the same model). Who know, you may even get lucky and the interference will go away!

Frank

[SoonerSailor]

It won't hurt to put a cap across the power lead, as close as possible to the LED module, and it may well help. Something in the .01 to .001 uf range should be enough if its going to work.

[DeepFrz]

I doubt that a cap across the power leads will work (although it could surprise me). Ferrite beads near the source of radiation may be more effective. However I think that Frank's idea of finding out which ones are causing the problem and moving or eliminating them would be more effective.

[S/V Antares]

Along the same line.....We have an LED tri color/ masthead light. When I turn on the masthead (Anchor light) it interfears with the masthead mounted TV hoop antenna. It causes the picture to pixalate. Clears up when I turn off the anchor light.

Any thoughts?