led bulb radio and tv interference

[jared herbert]

I have bought 3 led flood light bulbs, all from menards. Two of them are FEIT brand and they cause interference on my fm radios and the third one causes no interference. I also discovered that they were causing lines on my tv. I turned them off and the interference went away. Does anyone else have this experience and is there some solution to it? Do other brands work better? I think I may try to return them even though I dont have the original packing material. I like the idea of LED bulbs because they are so efficient and dont generate excess heat and I think they are close to being worth the extra cost. Thanks in advance Jared Herbert

[ray hampton]

what are the change of them causing a electric fire

[Lee Schierer]

WE haven't encountered any problems with our new LED light fixtures, but they have LED arrays and are not a bulb.

We used to have problems with some of the early CFL 3 way bulbs when they were operated on the high setting, they apparently emitted enough IR spectrum to saturate the electronic eye on our TV so the remote would not work to change channels or volume. We haven't had the problem with the newer CFL's we have.

[Lee Reep]

Home Depot used to carry FEIT, which is a budget brand. I suspect if they are dimmable models, the dimming electronics are the cause of the RF interfernce. We have dimmable LED floods and regular A19 lamps in a number of locations throughout the house, and no issues with interference.

I'd try to take them back as defective, and then try another brand. Many of the name brand models are coming down in price,. but I've had good luck with the cheaper ones from Walmart - I think they were "Great Value". Of course, it is hard to know what "name brand" means anymore, since they all come from China. But, the comapines liek Philips and GE are hopefully demanding better products, ot at least demanding higher quality.

I prefer the "Daylight" versions of the LEDs, and it seems Walmart and a few other chains have standardized on Warm White, which are too yellow for my taste, but they do tend to match the color temperature of incandescent lamps better. Home Depot seems to carry the full range of color temperature options, and even has graphics depicting what each bulb willl look like lit, and in many instances, has lighted demo displays for the bulb.

[Curt Harms]

As I understand it - I'm no expert - all LEDs operate at low voltage, perhaps 12 volts or less. LED bulbs that screw into 'standard' bases have a transformer and perhaps other components built in. I wonder if this is the source of the interference.

[Brian Elfert]

This is disappointing to hear about FEIT as they have the best light distribution of any LED light bulb I have seen to date. They look almost exactly like a regular light bulb. The Switch ones are also really good from what I have read, but $40 each is too rich for me.