Radio static from T-5 light fixtures

[gymbo39]

I recently installed six 8' T-5 light fixtures in my shop. They have four 4' bulbs each. They put out tremendous light and I am very happy with that.
But, now I get lots of static from my radio. Is there anything that can be done to reduce or get rid of static from radio when lights are on or do I have to live with this?

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Sounds like you got fixtures with non residential ballasts!

 

[cybrdyke]

^^ What he said.
I'm not familiar with any residential ballast for this lamp, however. So you might be screwed, but lemme ask you a question or two....
Is this just a regular boom box type radio with an antenna? If so, yeah, you're pretty much screwed.
Is this a radio with a coaxial cable attached as a signal source? If so, you can either:
get a 95% shielded coax cable
move the coax as far away from the lights as possible.

Either of these might (?) help some.

One day I think I'm gonna write up a little lighting sticky for the guys on this forum. First thing I'm gonna clarify is this T5 light thing.

 

[gymbo39]

^^ What he said.
I'm not familiar with any residential ballast for this lamp, however. So you might be screwed, but lemme ask you a question or two....
Is this just a regular boom box type radio with an antenna? If so, yeah, you're pretty much screwed.
Is this a radio with a coaxial cable attached as a signal source? If so, you can either:
get a 95% shielded coax cable
move the coax as far away from the lights as possible.

Either of these might (?) help some.

One day I think I'm gonna write up a little lighting sticky for the guys on this forum. First thing I'm gonna clarify is this T5 light thing.

Thanks for the info. Yea, it's just a boom box type radio with an antenna. I don't really need anything fancy in the shop since machinery noise makes it difficult to hear any way. I love the light quality of the T-5 fixtures tho. Very bright

 

[n8n]

put an external VHF/FM antenna on the roof and use that for the radio? just get an old receiver and some speakers from Goodwill or something. Make sure you ground the antenna though.

 

[Kevin C]

Sounds like you got fixtures with non residential ballasts!

All ballasts put out some level of EMI, but commercial ballast are allowed to have a higher level.

A fair amount of the noise can be transmitted through the wiring, It's possible to put in a filter to attenuate the noise. Putting wires through ferrite core can help.

Running your wiring in conduit might help but is probably not very cost effective.

For my home shop, all my music is streamed ( including radio stations) through a PC. Works great and I need the PC for internet access. I have an old set of Z-2300 Logitech speakers that work really well; $60 on Craigslist.

 

[kd3pc]

All ballasts put out some level of EMI, but commercial ballast are allowed to have a higher level.
.

I just went through this, with some cooper lighting fixtures...new from Lowe's a few weeks back....marked residential. They ballasts aren't residential and obliterated FM/AM broadcasts completely.

Spoke with Cooper, they verified they are commercial ballast.

Replaced with "residential" ballast and they are now completely benign on the FM/AM radio.

There is a vast difference between commercial and residential ballasts.

 

[Kevin C]

I just went through this, with some cooper lighting fixtures...new from Lowe's a few weeks back....marked residential. They ballasts aren't residential and obliterated FM/AM broadcasts completely.

Spoke with Cooper, they verified they are commercial ballast.

Replaced with "residential" ballast and they are now completely benign on the FM/AM radio.

There is a vast difference between commercial and residential ballasts.

As a WAG the difference is about a factor of 10 in the level of EMI between residential and commercial. If you have an all steel building and a weak signal, either ballast can / will cause a problem.

Good signal, and or high mounted lights and its typically not an issue.