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On 5/30/2011 7:18 PM, Jim Sanford wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:4DE44FF7.9030305@wb4gcs.org" type="cite">
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All:<br>
<br>
I, too have suffered the premature failures. So many, that on top
of the onerous mercury disposal rules, I'm over CFLs -- bought a
lifetime supply of incandescents while I could, and slowly
converting to LEDs Adding insult to injury, the CFLs are very RF
noisy -- so noisy, that my X-10 remote controls can turn one on,
but never off, not matter how much filtering I put in upstream of
the noise generator.<br>
<br>
<i></i><br>
</blockquote>
<br>
I've had the same issues with X-10 controllers, both from CFLs and
some switching power supplies. The "magic" fix I've I've found is
ferrite-core inductors in series with the offending lamps. <br>
<br>
When X-10 modules or wall switches go bad (they tend to pop with
lightning hits on the power grid), crack 'em open. Each one has a
1/4" dia ferrite rod about an inch long, wound with turns of #18
enameled wire - it's an EMI choke. Remove this inductor and place
it in series with the hot conductor of the line going to the
offending power supply or lamp, either inside the lamp fixture or in
a short male-to-female extension cord. Or cram them inside an
outlet strip that the offending devices are plugged into. Works
like magic to stop the noise issues. The 100uh RF chokes that
are a standard item at Radio Shack also work, but they are wound
with much finer wire - suitable for a single CFL but not much more.<br>
<br>
If you want a rather pricey solution, the original Tripp-Lite
"Isobar" surge suppressors (the ones that have regular household
double outlets in an extruded aluminum housing - not the cheap
consumer ones in plastic housings) are incredibly effective. These
devices actually have honest-to-god pi-network LC RF low-pass
filters made with ferrite toroid inductors and silver-mica caps in
them, in addition to the usual MOVs found in most so-called surge
suppressors. Each pair of outlets is isolated from it's neighbor(s)
by such a network. You can plug an electric drill, a small
refrigerator or a high-power laser printer into one outlet pair and
a PC in to the next pair and not get random reboots from motor
starting transients. On the "8-holer" (four double receptacles) the
final pair farthest from the power cord end has FOUR of these
pi-networks in series for 90-100 dB RF attenuation at 1 MHz. <br>
<br>
I find them invaluable on field day to stop the AC line running to
the generator from becoming a counterpoise for vertical and
half-assed end-fed wire antennas. And they work in the other
direction to stop electrical hash and ignition noise from the
generator from conducting up to the operating position. They also
stop all kinds of EMI/RFI problems at home, caused by ham shack RF
backing up into the household wiring when using end-fed unbalanced
HF antennas - just plug all the ham-shack power strips into the last
pair of outlets (the one with the most filtering) on the Isobar, and
then plug the Isobar into the wall. <br>
<br>
<br>
<hr size="2" width="100%"><br>
--<br>
<br>
Stephen H. Smith wa8lmf (at) aol.com <br>
EchoLink Node: WA8LMF or 14400 [Think bottom of the 2M
band]<br>
Skype: WA8LMF<br>
Home Page: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://wa8lmf.net">http://wa8lmf.net</a><br>
<br>
===== Vista & Win7 Install Issues for UI-View and Precision
Mapping =====<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://wa8lmf.net/aprs/UIview_Notes.htm#VistaWin7">http://wa8lmf.net/aprs/UIview_Notes.htm#VistaWin7</a><br>
<br>
*** HF APRS over PSK63 ***<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://wa8lmf.net/APRS_PSK63/index.htm">http://wa8lmf.net/APRS_PSK63/index.htm</a><br>
<br>
"APRS 101" Explanation of APRS Path Selection & Digipeating <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://wa8lmf.net/DigiPaths">http://wa8lmf.net/DigiPaths</a> <br>
<br>
<br>
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