I know this has nothing to do with Hubitat but it does have to do with electrical wiring and you guys know a lot about that. I just discovered recently that my newly installed Govee Permanent LEDs interfere with the reception of 2 VHF network channels (NBC & CBS) for my OTA TV antenna. The 10' extension wire runs within 24" of my antenna and coax. I can immediately cut off my signal from NBC & CBS simply by turning on the Govee lights. Surprisingly, the scene that I use doesn't even power the LEDs past that extension but there is still interference. As soon as I turn the Govee LEDs off, I get the signal for NBC & CBS back.
So, finally onto my question, what is the cheapest and easiest to install option that I could run that extension thru that would shield it from my antenna and coax? The wire runs from the first story roof eave up to the main roof eave of a 2-story house so this is going to require going out on my slopped first story roof eave over front porch.
That's weird. The lights are just a + and - DC feed, and a serial signal for the LED's.
Is the shield of the coax properly grounded? (Something like this)
Not familiar with Govee LEDs but I am familiar with driving LEDs.
- LED's when dimmed are driven On and OFF in a PWM fashion somewhere between 100 Hz and 250 Hz.
- The actual power to the LED is not the issue, the issue is the voltage (therefore current) changes from Zero to Max very quickly. It is this change that causes most of the interference.
Try operating the LEDs at 100 % brightness, see if this helps. Not knowing how Govee powers the LED's to get multi colors going to 100% brightness may not help.
Looking at the Govee lights, shielding would be difficult between LED pucks but you might be able to shield from the controller to the LEDs.
Would need to know more about you runs and location of the control box to suggest more.
Ground your coax. Put the 10' extension wire in a metal conduit and ground that as well. If that doesn't help then it's possible your led lights is blocking the TV signal coming to your antenna.
I am embarrassed to admit that my setup is not grounded. The antenna is mounted to side of my house only about 12' off the ground. That's all it took to get great signal in my location. However, I will try that first. That will also give me some extra coax to move the antenna & coax run up and away from the LED run.
I had been going back and forth with Silicondust (makers of the HDHomeRun) Support. When I told them what I discovered, they said I am not the first one to report a problem with LEDs installed on a house interfering with OTA TV reception but not specifically calling out Govee.
Slightly off topic, if you are considering cutting the cord and relying on an OTA antenna, I highly recommend the HDHomeRun products. I have 2 different models. I also had the one that can receive the new ATSC 3.0 signal in addition to the 1.0 signal but 3 of the 4 affiliates in my area currently encrypt that signal which is a whole other story.
Now that Christmas is over, the LEDs were on at a consistent brightness of approximately 60% and all white. They were not changing colors.
Since it is the extension wire that runs close to antenna, I am hoping that putting that in the conduit will be sufficient. The closest LED pucks are at least 5' from antenna. You are right, shielding between the individual pucks would be extremely labor-intensive and not something I would try while standing on my lower roof.
