Interesting little TV "snow" problem

[RonNBama]

We had been getting some interference (heavy snow) at odd, non-predictable times on our TV (old, analog type). I tried turning the antenna, turning off various things like the fridge, plug-in fans and heaters, etc etc. After a couple of years of head-scratching, I just happened to be watching a perfectly clear station when the SO turned on the over-sink fluorescent light fixture and the picture went bad. DING, the mental bulb illuminates and the "problem" was at least isolated. Bad starter I am guessing.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

[RonNBama]

We had been getting some interference (heavy snow) at odd, non-predictable times on our TV (old, analog type). I tried turning the antenna, turning off various things like the fridge, plug-in fans and heaters, etc etc. After a couple of years of head-scratching, I just happened to be watching a perfectly clear station when the SO turned on the over-sink fluorescent light fixture and the picture went bad. DING, the mental bulb illuminates and the "problem" was at least isolated. Bad starter I am guessing.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

[Gary RVRoamer]

Fluorescents are noted for causing that problem. I've got two nearly new ones that do the same thing to my front tv (not the rear, though).

You may need a whole new ballast, or it may just be a noisy design like mine.

Mine are 12v lights, though they of course have an inverter inside to convert it to the AC needed to make a fluorescent work. I'm thinking the interference is actually radiated to the tv, since there is no 12v power to the tv.

[AFChap]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">they of course have an inverter inside to convert it to the AC needed to make a fluorescent work </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
More technically correct would be to say your 12v fluorascent lights simply have a 12v ballast rather than a 110v ballast. You could convert any 110v fluorescent fixture you wanted to use in your RV to 12v by simply changing the ballast. The neat thing about 12v fluorescents is that you don't need special 12v bulbs like we do with incandescents. You just buy the fluorescent bulb that fits, and you have light!

[Gary RVRoamer]

Yeap, I was trying to keep it simple. 12v ballasts take DC input and invert it to produce high frequency AC (around 25 KHz in the ones I've seen) to drive that standard fluorescent tube.