I've used leds with both dimmers and sound activation. None of the buzzing, humming I get with dimmers and incandescent bulbs. There will be rfi emanating from transformer/power supply, move it away from sensitive audio equipment. I often take measurements with my Trifield meter, certainly many pockets of rfi, some comes from audio components. I see quite a bit from linear power supplies. As Carbonmiller stated, you'll never be rid of rfi.
LED dimmable lights in audio room?
I am getting ready to redo my audio room/home office.
I am going to redo the ceiling tiles in here and want to wire up some dimmable LED lights (the "can"-type ones).
I would also like to put them on a dimmer.
Any electromagnetic interference/distortion/static types of issues that you could foresee doing that?
Just wondered if anyone has done this before.
Thanks in advance.
I am going to redo the ceiling tiles in here and want to wire up some dimmable LED lights (the "can"-type ones).
I would also like to put them on a dimmer.
Any electromagnetic interference/distortion/static types of issues that you could foresee doing that?
Just wondered if anyone has done this before.
Thanks in advance.
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- 23 posts total
The problem with dimmer switches is that they control the level using pulse wave modulation (PWM). The circuit is rapidly switched on and off to modulate the amount of power passing through. This generates a lot of radio frequency noise. Lutron (a manufacturer of dimmer switches) has this note about using a filter to reduce RFI noise: https://www.lutron.com/TechnicalDocumentLibrary/360484.pdf |
I have this situation. The old style dimmers were awful, however the new LED bulbs and compatible dimmers are much better. Pay careful attention to the limits on the dimmer. The W for LED vs. incandescent is different. HOWEVER!! :) I have found and others have reported that LED lighting can be quite noisy due to the wall wart. I would avoid having that wall wart anywhere near your audio AC. I put a scope on the AC of one such LED lantern and the junk it put down on the AC line was really awful, and well within the audio band. YMMV, of course. Just saying, I'm a lot more comfortable with modern LED bulbs/dimmers than with LED lamps with wall warts. |
- 23 posts total