{"id":78783,"date":"2015-12-22T19:11:24","date_gmt":"2015-12-23T00:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rbachnet.wwwmi3-ss40.a2hosted.com\/index.php\/"},"modified":"2022-03-19T16:03:52","modified_gmt":"2022-03-19T20:03:52","slug":"do-christmas-lights-slow-wi-fi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/do-christmas-lights-slow-wi-fi\/","title":{"rendered":"Do Christmas Lights Slow Wi-Fi?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Do<\/a>A new holiday tradition is to spread FUD about how your Christmas lights<\/strong> can interfere<\/a> with your Wi-Fi signal. This year\u2019s holiday Wi-Fi FUD<\/strong> spreader is the UK<\/a> communications regulator Ofcom.<\/a> Ofcom hinted<\/a> that \u201cFairy Lights<\/strong>\u201d may slow down<\/strong> your 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi signal<\/strong> and everyone went crazy.<\/p>\n

\"Christmas<\/a>The theoretical science says it does. C|Net<\/a><\/em> explains<\/a> that Wi-Fi uses radio waves<\/strong>. Christmas lights emit a very weak electromagnetic field<\/a>. <\/strong>So theoretically, they can interfere with the radio waves being transmitted from your Wi-Fi router<\/a>. The more lights, the stronger the electromagnetic field. Also, the closer the lights are to the router, the more it may interfere with the Wi-Fi.<\/p>\n

The truth about holiday light interfere<\/h3>\n

Communications technology consultant Stuart Lipoff<\/a>, told C|Net<\/em> how you’re affected really comes down to what type of Christmas lights you use. The older technology that was used to make the lights blink can indeed cause radio interference. The interference could happen if the holiday lights were arranged in series with each other. The total number of lamps in the string could be such that the combined voltage of all of them was equal to the 110 volts in a typical U.S. home.<\/p>\n

\"Christmas<\/a><\/p>\n

However modern Christmas tree lights<\/a> are based on solid-state LEDs<\/a>. <\/strong>They often use an external electronic flashing controller and do not create radio noise. However, there are some LEDs that have an extra blink-controlled chip right inside the LED bulb<\/a>. It turns out that these devices also create significant radio interference. The Wi-Fi interference occurs as this internal controller cycles the LED chip from on to off. The reason is somewhat analogous to the spark problem in incandescent blinker bulbs. When the LED is between fully on and fully off it can show negative resistance that causes it to creates radio energy.<\/p>\n

\"Christmas<\/a>You can simulate this by taking an AM radio. Tune the radio to a frequency, not in use in your area, and switching something on and off rapidly a few times. You should hear a staticky sound. The same thing can be heard during a lightning storm.<\/p>\n

The real Wi-Fi killers<\/h3>\n

Alina Bradford<\/a> at C|Net<\/em> tested the theory and found there was a slight variance, be it ever so slight. She says \u201cthe variance isn’t a big deal<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n