DIGITAL BALLAST INTERFERENCE SUCKS

[bagada]

I just installed my 600w vert bulb and ballast in my legal grow. The brand is Quantum. My internet went out for the first time. I thought it could be my ballast but i got it to work again. This morning i got a knock at the door and it was the cable guy saying what they all say when you have RF: "you may have a loose cable line causing interference. Can i come in and check your lines?" He was very polite and gave me a couple minutes to unplug my lights and im legal so i let him in. My ballast was located literally 2 ft away from my cable line. He told me that everyones internet in the area is slower. He was checking the line in the wall and my ballast was sitting right there and he didnt say anything about it. He just screwed the line in better and checked it. It worked fine. My manager lives in a unit in my building and i think he made the complaint...so naturally this worries me. HOW THE FUCK DO I GET RID OF THIS RF SO NOBODY SHOWS UP TO MY HOUSE?

 

[watts]

damn thats a big problem with digitals it seems

 

[Capt.Ahab]

Do you have a lot of extra cord going from the ballast to the light?
Ive read somewhere that excess cordage is where the RFI emanates from.

Build a small Faraday cage and put the ballast and any extra cordage inside it.

 

[petemoss]

hi bagada,
I heard that some older digital ballasts caused RF interference due to not enough shielding. But that is easily fixed by beefing up the shielding, meaning that any exposed wires are covered with a grounded shield. That prevents RF signals from leaking out and causing interference. But I doubt that your ballast would cause any RF interference outside your immediate area. It should only affect you and not the whole area, so the problem is probably not caused by your ballast.

 

[bagada]

i will just have to plug it back in and do my best to ground and enclose all wires...i am using an am radio to test the RF but i need these lights to work. I dont want to buy more BS. PS...I am running vert so i have taken off the socket from my aircooled hood. That may be part of it. I am researching and learned that it could be old cable type wiring in my old apartment building

 

[TommyTwoColas]

hi bagada,
I heard that some older digital ballasts caused RF interference due to not enough shielding. But that is easily fixed by beefing up the shielding, meaning that any exposed wires are covered with a grounded shield. That prevents RF signals from leaking out and causing interference. But I doubt that your ballast would cause any RF interference outside your immediate area. It should only affect you and not the whole area, so the problem is probably not caused by your ballast.

The ballasts cause interference with your lines which is then transferred to the neighborhood (and fucks up everybody's cable).

I had the same thing happen as the OP and the cable guy came (freaked me the fuck out) - he isolated one of the wires on the outside of my house and asked "where does this lead" and I said "oh, that's just an old wire that goes to the garage, but there's no TV in there anymore" (replaced by six digi ballasts, obviously) and he cut that wire and now everything is kosher.

 

[bagada]

I moved the ballast to a different outlet and i plan on wraping the exposed wire with foil tape or ordinary aluminum foil. Pics show the exposed wires that i tucked away

Nice and tucked...soon to be wrapped in foil

 

[bagada]

Heres where i grounded the wire from the inside of the metal case...its the green one. It looks whited out because of the camera flash but if you look closely its grounded to that screw

 

[SeaMaiden]

There are products specifically made for the purpose of shielding RFI.

 

[bagada]

ok so i ran the 600 and it still had RF...then the electric tripped and i lost the 600 bulb. Im over HIDs now. I need to get me a good quality led...something like the blackstar 900. Does anyone know if LEDs have RF problems?

 

[Hammerhead]

I run 2 600 Lumatek never had any RF problems. My router, modem are in the flower room.

 

[TripleDraw27]

I battled this for a long time with my ballasts.
Im a big radio listener at night, and when lights flipped on, the radio signal would go haywire.

Anyhow, after doing tons of reading and asking various people. The info i gathered was, shorten your hood cable to ballasts, make sure there is no metal type things around( i had metal clothing racks very close), and I also had my hood cables zip tied to the frame inside my tent. I got rid of that. I don't have RF intrench anymore.

Prior to all that shit, I had my electro come in and check everything, double check it. He saw nothing lacking. Did those little adjustments I stated above, then no RF. I had also replaced Ballasts twice during this whole issue and the ballasts were never the issue for me.

GL Dude!


Out of all the RF issues, Id like to know the percentage of them using tents. Would be interesting imo.

 

[bagada]

cool bra...thats the best answer ive gotten on the whole internet...im still gonna need to move on to LED though...i cant do HID due to my apartment being too hot and too small...if i where to run HID i would need to have my electrician friend do some wiring to my box which is just outside my front door in the fire exit. might look sketchy though with a wire running under my door, under the fire escape door, and to the box

 

[farmari]

I checked my Quantum 600w ballast for RF interference when I first got it... was really paranoid about that... but didn't notice any cable tv/internet interference, nor AM radio interference from a radio 30-40ft away. I wonder if some cases are due to a poor electrical ground? Or maybe other devices on the same circuit breaker?

ok so i ran the 600 and it still had RF...then the electric tripped and i lost the 600 bulb. Im over HIDs now. I need to get me a good quality led...something like the blackstar 900. Does anyone know if LEDs have RF problems?

I believe it's only an issue with digital HID ballasts.

 

[mdanforth]

I have 5 quantums and 5 lumateks, I don't notice any interference and I have a radio in my room(s) on all the time....

 

[TripleDraw27]

I have 5 quantums and 5 lumateks, I don't notice any interference and I have a radio in my room(s) on all the time....

Heres a cookie! Thats the default reply/post when someone is problem solving RF issues.

But, good choice OP, less hassle I suppose.:tip hat:


Farm, about the ground, def possible. My case was, the whole area was like one giant antenna for some reason lol. So I moved some things and gone. Its odd for sure.

gl op, and may the internets treat you well.

 

[FunkBomb]

Buy magnetic ballasts, or get a Galaxy digital. They both don't cause interference.

-Funk

 

[bagada]

I plugged in my 1000w HPS (virtual sun ballast) and i dont sense any AM radio interferance...i am also keeping the cord away from the lights so hopefully all works out. Ill let you know if the cable guy is here in the morning lol. ps. I may shorten the cord also just to be safe.

 

[Harry Gypsna]

A shielded computer power cable is what you need. It looks like a normal cable, but a bit thicker and usually clear covering so you can see the silver shielding inside. Chop the ends off, wire it in, and make sure to ground the shielding.

 

[bagada]

the 1000w has made my plants grow significantly overnight. Looks like i wont be switching to LED anytime soon.