[Elecraft] LED bulbs

[Marc Veeneman]

I've relamped both of our homes with a variety of brands of LED bulbs.  Some are very noisy, some are reasonably quiet.  I couldn't guess ahead of time which would be noisy, so I bought a cheap transistor radio (Sony ICF=SS10MK2) to watch for the worst offenders.  After installation I just walk around with the radio held near the bulbs.  They all make noise but some are horrid.

However, the only ones I can't live with are the undercounter LED strips powered by WAC 24 volt power packs.  Not only are those things, the power packs, unusually expensive, I am surprised that the FCC allows their sale in the U.S.  They obliterate the 160 and 80 meter bands on my KX3 and K3.  Even after applying toroids to both the AC source side and the DC output side, they still manage to make both the strip lights and the entire house wiring system into giant RFI radiators.  We have them in the laundry room and kitchen and there's no low band operating possible while those miserable things are switched on.  

I will say that 99 out of 100 LED bulbs emit less RFI than their CFL counterparts.  And I've got LEDs here from Lowes, Home Depot, Amazon.com and some directly from Banggood's China warehouses.  

As to heat loss, the higher lumen bulbs do get 'way to hot to handle without a cool down period.  I too wonder just how efficient they can be.  But those with wattage requirements below 11 watts don't get so blazingly hot.  The 45 watters get so hot that I'm concerned they are a fire hazard.  None of them have anything resembling a UL label and they were all direct China imports.

I seem to be rambling but wanted to share my experience.  I will say it's wonderful not to be replacing burned out bulbs, a former weekly experience.  

I don't think I've saved much money, though.  The reduced electrical demand won't justify the high cost of the modern day wonder -- LED lighting.
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Marc W8SDG