Introduction: Ikea Ansluta Light - Muffle the Chirping!!!

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Apparently this is a recognized problem, at least when I Google'd these lights for instructions - and a bunch of warnings and video's came up in the search about a peculiar but widespread problem:

When using the wireless remote, and you turn off the lights, the transformer makes a low constant chirping sound. When the lights are turned on, and even dimmed, the chirping goes away, only to return when the lights are extinguished with the wireless remote switch.

After checking both of my brand new transformers - sure enough there it was. Now depending on your hearing and threshold of annoyance - this may or may not be an issue for you. I find it annoying and also do not want it to be an issue come resale time for our home, so I endeavored to see if a solution could be had.

Step 1: The System and Disassembly

So I'm going to have quite a few of these light bars, with two 30W transformers powering them.

The transformers come apart with just a bunch of tiny screws (watch for the one under the middle sticker) and the two pieces come apart with a bit of jiggling and subtle prying.

Step 2: The Offenders and the Cure

Once you have it apart you will see two rectangular silver bars with a single square nut at one end of each bar.

I have no idea what they are, but just pressing my finger on them quieted them down substantially! I found a piece of high density foam (camping sleeping bag pad - don't tell the kids) and cut off a piece just large enough to cover both bars.

Then it was just a matter of squeezing the top and bottom covers back together and screwing it all back together.

The chirping was now barely audible - I would conservatively estimate it is 80% quieter.

Because I don't know electronics (except they tend to generate heat when you'd really rather they didn't), I plugged in a bunch of the lights and left them on, then off for a couple days to see what kind of heat or other problems might be going on.

The transformer does get warm to the touch - my temp gun says 107 degrees while powering 30 watts of lights (the max for the transformer) and I neglected to get a baseline before doing the modification. Past experience with other LED driver systems tells me this is no warmer, if not slightly less than those so I am not concerned.