Static in shop radio - looking for advice

[Scott T Smith]

I am encountering a problem with static in my radio that is apparently caused by flourescent light fixtures in my workshop, and am seeking advice as to any options that I have for eliminating it. Here is some background:

1 - The static occurs in both battery powered radio headphones that I wear inside, as well as the shop "boom box". These are two completely different radio systems.
2 - The static stops when the flourescent lights are turned off.
3 - The radio is on a different circuit from the lights.
4 - The light fixtures and bulbs are new (last 3 months), and are T8 4 bulb (4' bulb) 8' flourescent fixtures with electronic ballasts. There are 10 fixtures.
5 - All fixtures are grounded, but not the ballasts directly (have been advised that gounding the ballast will increase the static, not reduce it). The ballasts are grounded indirectly via their attachment to the steel housing that is grounded.
6 - The fixtures are suspended about 30" from a 15' ceiling.
7 - The shop radio is located underneath the fixtures, about 9' away from them.
8 - The static occurs in the radio headset (Peltor Alert model), even 50' away from the flourescents.
9 - On the shop radio, the static is only notable on the weaker stations (such as the local classical radio station).
10 - The main shop floor is 50' x 60', with the personal woodshop portion occuping a space of about 20' x 30' in one corner. The T8's hang above the personal woodshop, the rest of the shop is lit by 400 watt low bay metal halide fixtures. One string of the MH's (there are two strings) also has 4 T8 fixtures attached to it.

Does anybody have any experience with eliminating radio static caused by flourescent fixtures, and can share some advice?

Thanks much.

Scott

[Jim O'Dell]

I had one of the 6 fixtures in my shop create static in my shop radio when it was on. I worked around it for a while thinking it was a bad ballast. (also T-8 electronic ballast fixtures) I finally pulled the bulbs out and cleaned the pins. That helped some. Then I reworked the ground on the antenna for the radio (Old Mazda RX-7, electronic powered antenna-not a powered mast antenna) It all went away! Now that won't help cure the noise with your radio headphones, but it might with the stationary radio. Moving to an outdoor antenna might help some also. But make sure the antenna is grounded. If you use a car type mast antenna, maybe mount it to 1 foot square piece of sheet metal, and make sure that is all grounded to your radio source. Jim.

[Ben Galluzzo]

Interestingly enough. I have two new T8's in my shop as well. These are 2 dual 8' bulb units. What's surprising is that not only is the radio in the shop picking up interference when the lights are on, but all of the radio's and tv's in the house and all of our car radios from outside of the house are picking up interference as well.

New balasts didn't solve the problem. I'll be sure to post any more information as I try to troubleshoot it.

[Bob Herpolsheimer]

You guys may have already tried this but there are different grades of ballasts. For example, Advance ballast has the REL4P32SC & the REB4P32SC. Both will run the exact same thing, 4 T8 tubes. The first is and industrial ballast for business, and what you normally find in fixtures and stores to purchase. The second has additional shielding and is for "residential use" which is to control the static. If you guys have tried this already, sorry no more suggestions. If you havn't tried this you may have to find a wholesale house in your area to order this as I don't think the borg can get them.

Bob

[David G Baker]

I have an inexpensive garage sale radio/cd player combo that has a wire antenna that is static free and I have a bunch of buzzing T12s.
In my shop in California I had a TV outdoor antenna mounted on the ceiling inside of my shop in a way that I could rotate it by hand. My ceiling was 10 foot high so I had the room to clear most of the things I wanted to do in the shop. My current shop in Michigan has metal siding on it so I don know if a TV antenna will work for me. I do have one that I am going to try inside to see if it will work, if not I will mount it outside. TV antennas help pick up FM stations.
Anyone know if the digital converters will help with FM radio reception. I have heard that it really helps pick up TV stations much better than using it with out the converter.

[Brad Townsend]

Am curious if you are listening to AM or FM? I recall that I used to hear a lot of static from fluorescent lights when I used to listen to AM. Don't listen to AM anymore, only FM. Got a shop full of fluorescents, and no static.

[Ben Galluzzo]

Am curious if you are listening to AM or FM? I recall that I used to hear a lot of static from fluorescent lights when I used to listen to AM. Don't listen to AM anymore, only FM. Got a shop full of fluorescents, and no static.

Truthfully, I haven't tried any AM stations, but it does get picked up on all of the FM stations in the house and in the cars outside and for all of the non-digital over-the-air tv stations. I'll be sure to try it against the AM stations.

[Karl Brogger]

One word: iPod

If you're into talk radio, many have pod-casts of their shows that you can setup iTunes to automatically download. I hate commercials anyway, and refuse to pay for XM.

[Scott T Smith]

Am curious if you are listening to AM or FM? I recall that I used to hear a lot of static from fluorescent lights when I used to listen to AM. Don't listen to AM anymore, only FM. Got a shop full of fluorescents, and no static.

FM, and the static is only apparent on the stations with weaker signals. I understand that older magnetic ballast fixtures don't have the same static problem as the T8 electronic ballasts have.

All - thanks much for the input and advice.

[Sam Layton]

Hi Scott,

I have the same problem. I have 12, 4 foot, 4 tube, t-8 fixtures, with 2 ballasts each, (24 ballasts in all). I can have half of the lights on or all of the lights on. With half I get static, with all I get more static. For now I have my radio outside on the porch, and the speaker wires going through the window to the speakers inside of the shop. This works OK, but I don't like having the radio outside. Everything is grounded good. I only listen to FM.

Good Luck, Sam

[Ken Fitzgerald]

All I have in my shop is T-8 fixtures. I listen only to FM and have no static problems.

[Rick Potter]

Someone told me that Radio Shack has a filter of some kind to eliminate this. Is this true??

Rick Potter

[Brad Townsend]

Someone told me that Radio Shack has a filter of some kind to eliminate this. Is this true??

Rick Potter

Radio Shack has a filter for everything, but I have yet to buy one that works. Used to buy a lot of stuff there until they stopped giving out printed catalogs.

[Mike Wilkins]

I had the same problem with my shop stereo. Found out it was the excess amount of UFO activity in the area. Called the local law enforcement and explained the problem. They explained they are not trained to deal with such problems and refused to assist. Problem just went away after a while. Must have moved on to California. Strange things occur in that state.

[Ben Galluzzo]

I had the same problem with my shop stereo. Found out it was the excess amount of UFO activity in the area. Called the local law enforcement and explained the problem. They explained they are not trained to deal with such problems and refused to assist. Problem just went away after a while. Must have moved on to California. Strange things occur in that state.

My aluminum foil reflector cap should solve some of these problems.