ak-guy
Senior Member
I had a LED flood light that interfered with the VHF and FM radio. So I did some research and found Marinebeam.com. On their website's FAQ section they have an article "Controlling EMI" describinh their commitment to selling light that don't emit EMI or at least emit very low levels. That sounded good so I ordered a small flood light. I installed the new light and found that while the interference was less it was still there. I'll admit that my small interior FM antenna was a few inches away on the other side of a bulkhead. Yesterday I spent time moving the FM antenna about 4' away and the interference was gone until I changed the station and there it was as bad as ever. My vhf antenna cable passes about three feet from the light and the actual antenna is 8' away from the light. I am working on rerouting the vhf antenna cable to see if that makes a difference.
Anyway Marinbeam did reply to an email:
"That is a very common lamp that we have not had issue with. While we test all of our products for EMI and ensure that they have low output, it is also inherently part of electronic devices. How far is this lamp from your antenna or cable and do you have coils in the cable? These factors are important in ensuring that even low EMI fixtures are not amplified to cause a problem in communication."
I have many other LED lights on the boat some as close as the new light that don't cause problems.
Anyway Marinbeam did reply to an email:
"That is a very common lamp that we have not had issue with. While we test all of our products for EMI and ensure that they have low output, it is also inherently part of electronic devices. How far is this lamp from your antenna or cable and do you have coils in the cable? These factors are important in ensuring that even low EMI fixtures are not amplified to cause a problem in communication."
I have many other LED lights on the boat some as close as the new light that don't cause problems.