LED lighting causing OTA signal loss

[boatrboy]

A few weeks back I was able to install a new Glomex marine antenna since it was missing when I bought the boat. I also installed the automatic signal amp that came with it. I had already installed a new Visio HD TV earlier this summer. I was thrilled that I got so many channels and many in HD.
So today I prepared the boat for being hauled tomorrow, with the tv on all day.
I poped in every so often with the games on and all perfect.

Well, tonight I show up to spend my last night on the boat and “No Signal” shows on most channels I watched earlier. WTF.

I searched and found a YouTube video where the guy says LED lights cause issues with OTA antennas. He was right. Since it’s night time I had all the cabin lights on and they are All LED. I shut the lights off and the tv comes back to life. I am not sure what the phenomenon is, but it is repeatable, lights on, tv signal off.

So now I’m back to watching TV

 

[Bill Curtis]

I would suspect the drivers for the LED's are making RF noise that is in conflict with the OTA frequency..

Can you narrow which lights are doing it? All it takes is 1 wonky driver.

 

[ttmott]

Somewhere on the forum there is a discussion on the interference as well as fire hazards, polarity, flickering, lumens, and color rendering (CRI) issues on the cheap ebay and amazon LED's. There is actually a USCG bulletin out there on the interference. That discussion drove me to the Marinebeam products. My entire boat is LED and without any issues.
https://store.marinebeam.com/controlling-emi-1/

 

[km1125]

Yea, you definitely have to watch those LEDs. I noticed a huge difference in performance on my marine VHF after I had put in LEDs. Definitely had to have the squelch up higher when certain LED fixtures were lit up.

 

[boatrboy]

I would suspect the drivers for the LED's are making RF noise that is in conflict with the OTA frequency..

Can you narrow which lights are doing it? All it takes is 1 wonky driver.

Last night it seemed like any light caused issues.
What is really weird is that this am, I turned on the tv AND the lights and had no problem with reception. I read somewhere that when the temp drops this too effects reception but I'm not sure if that is bs. I know for a fact turning the lights off last night instantly solved my issue.

Tmott- not sure what lights are in there expect for the floor lights I installed and yes, they were the cheap amozon ones (white only). Are you saying that you had the same problem and with the new lights you referenced the problem went away?

 

[ttmott]

Last night it seemed like any light caused issues.
What is really weird is that this am, I turned on the tv AND the lights and had no problem with reception. I read somewhere that when the temp drops this too effects reception but I'm not sure if that is bs. I know for a fact turning the lights off last night instantly solved my issue.

Tmott- not sure what lights are in there expect for the floor lights I installed and yes, they were the cheap amozon ones (white only). Are you saying that you had the same problem and with the new lights you referenced the problem went away?

The PO on my boat had some LED lamps installed; some here and some there. After I bought the boat we noticed interference in the OTA TV sometimes and sometimes not - not even thinking it was related to the LED lamps. Then a thread started in this forum that brought up the interference issue, the USCG bulletin on VHF interference, and the LED overheating issue which took me to updating the entire boat including Nav lights where I'm at today. The issue is gone and I sleep better.

 

[km1125]

... I read somewhere that when the temp drops this too effects reception but I'm not sure if that is bs. ....

Temperature (which changes air density) and humidity will definitely impact reception. When you have plenty of signal you'd never notice it though. It's when your signal starts getting marginal that it becomes an issue. That's also when other interference sources will also show up as issues, but those same interference sources might not be a problem with a strong signal.

 

[Skybolt]

@boatrboy Along with Tom's suggestion, take a look at https://www.superbrightleds.com/ they sell quality led's as well.

 

[boatrboy]

Thanks for the references - looks like another winter project to change them out.

 

[ENstig8or]

Cheap LED's can affect the frequencies of many devices. I had a problem with my garage door opener. It just stopped working at times. One car worked and the other didn't etc. Read an article about cheap LED's and remembered I had changed the bulb in the garage door motor to an LED. Took the bulb out, went back to the old incandescent one and never had the problem again.