Everyone: Some of us have fluorescent tube-lights in our homes or garages and desire to replace them with energy-efficient LED bulbs. However as weak-signal enthusiasts, many LED bulbs are electrically noisy.
So I set out to identify and test LED bulbs that are both energy efficient and EMI/RFI quiet (starting at 50.2 MHz because I do moon-bounce work there).
This need for electrical quiet applies also to 2m and 70cm and other satellite bands too.
50.2 MHz test findings:
Test site (KJ9I QTH): N5654 County Road F Sullivan, WI 53178
Test location: basement of residence (location of these lights)
Test date: May 2020
Test result: no change in WSJT v10 Rx level with all basement lights on or off (0dB relative signal level both before and after lights illuminated).
Fluorescent light replacement (formerly electronic ballasts) converted to direct-wire, single-end fed LED bulbs.
*Hyperikon SKU: 841000631* (XYL requirement was soft-white, so 3000 degrees K was selected). 18w bulbs.
In May 2020, I installed 14 bulbs (seven dual light fixtures) removing the old ballasts and fluorescent tube lights. I trimmed all unused wires to minimum physical length and removed excess wire from fixtures that had been attached to electronic ballasts.
The fixtures in which these were installed are typical tin metal legacy fluorescent fixtures.
Note: Hyperikon Non-Shunted Tombstones (end mounts) were replaced on only the energized end of each installed LED bulb. The opposite (non-energized) end retained the original tombstone with wires trimmed off as short as possible.
There is no change in my WSJT v10 (nor WSJT-X) signal level with lights all on or off. When Rx level is set to 0dB, it holds at this level.
Test Antenna is 1 x LFA-HZE-10 (2-inch homebrew round boom design) up 88 feet Above Ground Level with HA8ET 50MHz LNA fed into SSB Electronic LT6S transverter (1dB NF) then to JRC JST-245DX 28Mhz transceiver.
Today I received good news that another ham (Frank W3LPL) also installed Hyperikon LED bulbs at his QTH and he also reported 6m RFI-quiet.
I hope this data is useful. 73,
Dave KJ9I
The disclaimer: I have no financial nor any other connection with Hyperikon beyond being a satisfied customer of the above bulbs.