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Flourescent Lights

K

Kyle in KY

Member
Wondering what/if there could be a wiring issue or what would cause interference in the shop when the fluorescent lights are turned on. No matter if its the stand alone radio or a radio in the tractor or trucks, when the fluorescent lights are on, there is a terrible buzz that comes over the radio. The buzz is so bad that the radio will not pick up a station. If I turn the lights off or back the truck out of the garage, the radio signal is fine. Does anyone else experience this inside a metal sided shop? Is it a wiring issue? I even hung new lights and they still create a buzz over the radio.
 
A resonance between the truck metal and the lights and the radio. Use a external antenna with a coax connection to the antenna screws (you might need a better radio or integrated amplifier from a pawn shop. (25 bucks as they are not on millenial radar) Jim
 
Is there a ground rod on the electric panel at the building? If not, it could be a weak neutral, especially if the building is a good distance from the main panel or transformer. A ground rod may or may not fix the buzz, but it would be a good idea for safety.
 
I hate flurrescents. The ones in the barn never would come on, the ones in the utility room came on about 1/4 power, if they came on at all. Have replaced everyone with screw-in bulbs. Stopped putting up with it. Life is too short to mess with them.
 
nature of the beasts. back in the days of plug in radios with tubes they used to make a filter that you plugged the radio in and the filter in the outlet to reduce noise from lights. would not help with battery powered radios, but shows this is an old problem
 
There is not a grounding rod connected to the panel in the shop. The shop is a couple hundred feet from the house where the main power feed is coming and is further from the power pole.
I'm assuming I'd need to bury one grounding rod approximately 8 feet from the shop with the bare copper wire going to the grounding bus in the box? Correct?
 
Just a thought, have you tried the radio in a different area? I use a cd player as there isnt much on the radio to my liking, then I can listen to what I want ;)
 
I think glennster had a similar interference issue with lights somewhat recently. It could be multiple things and as simple as a grounding issue not directing the interference to ground. Could be a poorly designed ballast. Is this a new issue after a new light installation? My uncle has the same trouble but he is using LED tubes in modified fluorescent fixtures. He denies it being a grounding issue even though there is no direct ground connection to the fixture but he does want to try putting out an external antenna using coax cable. In theory the external antenna should cure the issue with the radio.
 
My flourescent lights in the house don't cause a problem with any equipment that I know of. Tv, computer, am radio, all work the same no matter if the flourescents are on or off.
The biggest disturbance in the workshop is when I fire up the 52 Mercury. The ignition noise is just a crackle and roar on the am radio. Maybe a little electrical leakage going on there?
 
Yes, the rod needs to be driven 8ft deep, connected to the ground terminal block with #6 bare copper. Also each florescent fixture needs to have a common ground back to the panel.
 
I vote for both. The ballast which is a transformer, creates all kinds of spurious frequencies, some of which are in the range of the station that you are tuned to. You can buy LED tubes now, which do not use the ballast. Simple rewiring of the fixture is required and also a considerable amount of cash outlay is required but, worth it IMO.
 
Interesting, the answers form others and informative. I have flourescent lights in my shop too and mostly they do not bother the radio. A couple of them do but the worst is the two flourescent drop lights I have. They are bad this way. The LED conversion tubes sound interesting, will have to look for them. Maybe changing over slowly as the flourescents burn out won't hurt as much. How much do they cost? Do places like Lowes and Home Depot carry them?
 

fluorescent lamps are broad band spark gap radio transmitters using ionized gas.
They are noisy by nature. In particular to any harmonic of 60hz.
 
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