I have read that fluorescent light bulbs have an effect on digital scales, is this true? If this is true, then does LED bulbs have the same effect? I am just wondering, this is for my own information. I don't think the LED bulbs would have the same effect on digital scales but I am wondering what other reloaders think.
Floro bulbs and digital scales??
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PWC
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"Floro" lights depend on ionizing gas which is electrically charged and radiates like a radio wave. Digital scales can act as a "radio receiver".
Strength of the radiated energy decreases with the square square of the distance.
LEDs not. Regular bulbs, not.
Strength of the radiated energy decreases with the square square of the distance.
LEDs not. Regular bulbs, not.
I gave an old fluorescent 4ft light 4 ft above my bench. Has 2 tubes and ballast. It has not affected my Gempro 250, Pact Precision, or RCBS Chargemaster Lite scales. Also they are ALL plugged into the same outlet. I know some have issues but not me. The worse issue is other appliances etc. operating on the same circuit.
GeoDudeFlorida
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The only thing that affects my 5-0-5 is wind.
GeoDudeFlorida
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Always check the reloading library of wisdom thread first:
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...mation-busting-digital-scale-accuracy.759750/
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ipers-and-digital-scales.738575/#post-9263799
JFrank
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And even that is manageable.. praise beams
tightgroup tiger
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I can't say my fluorescent lights have affected my electronic scales any. I've never seen anything I could directly attribute to this. Once my digital scales warm up they don't drift. I'm using T-5s.
My National Metallic scale went nuts one time and was weighing 7 gr off and still returning to zero each time, but turning off lights and taking cell phone out of the room didn't help it any. Never did figure out what happened to it. I shut it down and a week later turned it back on and it went back to normal again.
Needless to say I don't use it for anything now but weighing bullets.
My 12 year old Hornady bench scale though, it just keeps on chugging along.
My National Metallic scale went nuts one time and was weighing 7 gr off and still returning to zero each time, but turning off lights and taking cell phone out of the room didn't help it any. Never did figure out what happened to it. I shut it down and a week later turned it back on and it went back to normal again.
Needless to say I don't use it for anything now but weighing bullets.
My 12 year old Hornady bench scale though, it just keeps on chugging along.
Remington1911
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IMHO, yes it is a thing. Unless you are reloading on top of a fixture are you going to notice it, not likely.
With most things of this nature you are going to have people swing way off to one end or the other, and the truth is in the middle somewhere. Do you need to spend thousands of $$$ and rip all the lights out of your reloading area because of this. Well IMHO unless you have an anti gravity setting and are loading on the fixtures doubt it.
With most things of this nature you are going to have people swing way off to one end or the other, and the truth is in the middle somewhere. Do you need to spend thousands of $$$ and rip all the lights out of your reloading area because of this. Well IMHO unless you have an anti gravity setting and are loading on the fixtures doubt it.
CQB45ACP
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This is what I would like to say, but don’t want to start a fight, but…
This is a rat hole and not worth the time of day so why am I taking time to even write this?
This is a rat hole and not worth the time of day so why am I taking time to even write this?
CQB45ACP
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Me too but at least asteroids can be diverted now.That's worse than a rabbit hole!
I worry about solar flares
Actually, I’ve noted if I exhale too directly over/at my Lyman digital scale it will fluctuate. So, I’m considering reloading in a vacuum.
GeoDudeFlorida
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Worry more about the shifting Van Allen Belts and holes in the exosphere. The only thing separating us from this blissful existence and being a ball of ash drifting in space is a 1000-km wide band of radioactive particles held in close orbit by a magnetic field centered in a mass of molten iron. Every time the Van Allen Belts shift or fluctuate, our climate changes - sometimes kinda drastically. The real source of global climate change: exospheric magnetic ion fluctuations in the ionization belts.That's worse than a rabbit hole!
I worry about solar flares
CQB45ACP
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Yes I learned all about (and was terrorized by) the Van Allen Belt from the movie Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea in early 60s I think it was.
AJC1
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We had an issue while under way with a single fixture creating EMI and messing up a bunch of equipment. There are different ways things can screw with each other, but I only saw this one time in 23 years. It's a heck of a problem, that almost never happens.
Bottom Gun
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I don't use digital scales so I don't know if LEDs affect them but I would guess they can have some effect.
I swapped my lights for LED lights and have discovered they will affect radio signal. If I turn on an LED light in the vicinity of my FM radio, it interferes with the radio signal.
I swapped my lights for LED lights and have discovered they will affect radio signal. If I turn on an LED light in the vicinity of my FM radio, it interferes with the radio signal.
CQB45ACP
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Load in the dark in a vacuum holding your breath nothing to create static electricity and for heaven’s sake NO Lee equipment!
GeoDudeFlorida
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That’s why LED bulbs and LiIon batteries are the way to go. The by-products are toxic waste with near-nuclear half-lives that can’t be filtered out of soil, air or ground-water but, who cares?
GeoDudeFlorida
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Have to start calling you “Major Tom.”
CQB45ACP
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As Sheldon said, “I’m not crazy. My mom had me tested.”
Varminterror
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Never witnessing results of a problem isn’t the same as never having a problem.
I’ve played with several of my scales and balances and effectively, the science is palpable. You CAN induce observable influences in almost all scales and balances - but by and large, for properly tuned loads, the sensitivity is of nearly no consequence. Of interest, yes, even balance beams are sensitive to variations in electromagnetic fields.
Should it be ignored entirely? Nope. Moving a lamp around a room with a few CFL’s or moving a scale/balance around a room, setting your phone beside your scale/balance, turning different lights on and off, even moving big metal masses (like a press) beside your scale/balance, etc all can promote measurable shifts on the device. Is it sufficiently sensitive to become dangerous? Nope. Is it a major issue? Nope. I had little faraday cages to set my scales into in the past, but I don’t bother with it any more. I just confirm my weights and recalibrate if I move anything.
I’ve played with several of my scales and balances and effectively, the science is palpable. You CAN induce observable influences in almost all scales and balances - but by and large, for properly tuned loads, the sensitivity is of nearly no consequence. Of interest, yes, even balance beams are sensitive to variations in electromagnetic fields.
Should it be ignored entirely? Nope. Moving a lamp around a room with a few CFL’s or moving a scale/balance around a room, setting your phone beside your scale/balance, turning different lights on and off, even moving big metal masses (like a press) beside your scale/balance, etc all can promote measurable shifts on the device. Is it sufficiently sensitive to become dangerous? Nope. Is it a major issue? Nope. I had little faraday cages to set my scales into in the past, but I don’t bother with it any more. I just confirm my weights and recalibrate if I move anything.
GeoDudeFlorida
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Sheldon Leonard, the TV producer? I haven’t thought about him since the old Match Game days - 1970’s, I guess? He was hilarious when he did stand-up.
Keeping this at least somewhat on the rails, Sheldon Leonard was the creative genius behind several dozen TV series of the 1960’s, including “The Andy Griffith Show.” It was Leonard who populated the rifle rack in Andy’s office with a variety of esoteric arms, including a Marlin Model 50 open-bolt .22LR.
CQB45ACP
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No Sheldon cooper the character on Big Bang theory. But that’s curious. Another lead character is Leonard.
GeoDudeFlorida
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Heard of it but never seen it. We live in the country. Don’t watch much current TV. Especially not “the News.”
We do watch a lot of UTube cooking videos and 1950’s/60’s shows on FireTV. Having gunsmithing how-to’s on the big screen with surround is kinda nice. I haven’t found many of the reloading vids very useful but I have checked out almost all of the vids recommended by this group. Most are covering topics that just not my thing.
I wonder if an LED TV has any effect on an electronic scale?
I also wonder if androids dream of electric sheep?
CQB45ACP
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That’s true and so is this from woody allen
just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.
A couple weeks ago solving the BTO conundrum was the crisis and even a special thread for the super smart kids was started. Now, it has withered on the vine.
As we speak static electricity has a live thread.
It’s all too much to bear.
Bottom Gun
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I would guess it might cause false readings if the TV was tuned to CNN or MSNBC.
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