digital ballast users plse read

[EZlistener]

went to the hydro shop couple days ago enquiring about digital ballasts. they had 1 in the shop but they don't wanna sell to their customers. they give off a signal which can be detected by police, now i didn't know this. been looking forward to purchasing digital ballast for cheaper running costs + they last longer + bulbs work to their potential + they operate cooler aswell but after hearing about the possible risk of detection i'm gonna stick to the copper coil type 'till i learn more. has anyone heard similar as they obviously don't tell you this in the adds so this was the 1st i heard

stay safe people

 

[Guest]

I think what you're talking about is the RF interference given off by poor quality ballasts. I know Lumatek 400 and 600's are fine now but last I heard their 1000's, even supposedly admitted by Lumatek, do have an RF issue. I have not heard anything about the Lumatek 750's and don't expect them to be popular anyway. Clowntown has a thread somewhere in the Equipment section that goes into detail about the different electronic ballasts and RF issues.

This is basically old news. As far as a particular signal, other than RF interference, cops or anyone else can pick up I highly doubt it.

 

[NorCalChron]

I for one would never use an electronic ballast.. RF levels are off the chart on some of them although lots of things can give off RF its not worth it at all to me. Xtrasun ballast is cool as hell and quiet so I think its the best option.

 

[Guest]

Yet another good reason why digital ballasts have a few years to go before being worthy of purchase.

Personally I have yet to figure out what the real appeal is, other than having the word 'digital' in it and it's quiet. Nope, no thanks...cop magnet or not, I'm stickin with what works until they 'fix' these digital tweaks.

 

[sqwirl]

my two cents....

I've been running digital ballasts for over a year and half now and I have never had a problem. I have 1 600hps silver lumatek, 1 600hps blue lumatek, and 1 1000hps blue lumatek. I am at a tech university so there is alot of stuff around for the RF to interfer with. I can speak on my cell phone when standing underneath the ballast shelf and have absolutely no problem.

Digital ballasts are way smaller and lighter than electronic ballasts.

My 1000hps blue lumatek is the only ballast that is cooler than all the others. My other digital ballasts are just as hot as my electronic ballasts.

There you have it my $.02.

 

[DIGITALHIPPY]

all lies and misconception.

digital balists are to modern growers

-as-

"reefer madeness" was in the 70's

ive been using digis for multiple years and there reaching a point to where the amount of money they saved me in power are worth the added initial cost. besides the problem was within just a few feet. the new models are fully shielded.


plus there cold as shit.
i leave mine in the growroom and they remain cold as the room..70's


but to each there own and whatever makes you feel safe.
ive done some farout shit growing i dont think we need extra -artificial- worries.

 

[Guest]

plus there cold as shit.

Welllll...I dunno about that one but generally agree with you. I've been running mine for over a year with stellar results. Many friends have switched over after seeing what I've done with em.

Only thing I wanna say about the heat is I used my very accurate infrared thermometer and the case temp of my 600 digi's was the same as that of my 600 coil I still have in the mother room. Both read at 105 F. The way I see it the case on the digi is about 1/4 the size so total heat output is about 1/4 that of the coil due to total mass. The digi's feel cooler cause you're gragging cooling fins and I got the temp from the case. Anyway...that's just my take on it. No biggie really.

 

[NOKUY]

I picked up my first digi ballast on friday 600 watt purple lumatek 120v

I'm still settin up the spot where its all goin, but of course I had to fire it up.

I def. have interference w/ my sat. Tv signal, but only if its in the same room...not sure about phone or radio or any of that yet.

I was told that the RFI is prolly coming from my lampcord...which is brand new and came w/ the hydrofarm daystar A/C hood. I was told that the ballasts are fine.

I guess keep that in mind if your blaming the ballast for RFI. (get a shielded lampcord if u dont have one)

I'm not sure if my cord is shielded yet, but will be finding out, before I run everything.

 

[cesartime]

Ive been running digital ballasts for the last 6 months (120v Lumenace and 240v MDhydro) and have absolutely no interference of any kind what so ever, none on the wireless network, none on the television or the cell phones. Ballasts also run cool to the touch, absolutely no heat at all. And plus the ballasts are nearly silent, you can hear the fan in the ballast if you are in a completely silent room, but with my vortex and other room fan blowing i cant hear it at all.

 

[Merman]

My 400W digi kicks arse. Runs both MH and HPS. RF interference? I can run my wireless laptop right on top of it with no problem. Security problems? The same old rules always apply: No Smell, No Sell, No Tell.

 

[ItsGrowTime]

I also run 600w MDHydro brand ballasts (2 are 240, 1 is 120) with no interference on anything.

 

[Arkaya]

I picked up my first digi ballast on friday 600 watt purple lumatek 120v

I'm still settin up the spot where its all goin, but of course I had to fire it up.

I def. have interference w/ my sat. Tv signal, but only if its in the same room...not sure about phone or radio or any of that yet.

I was told that the RFI is prolly coming from my lampcord...which is brand new and came w/ the hydrofarm daystar A/C hood. I was told that the ballasts are fine.

I guess keep that in mind if your blaming the ballast for RFI. (get a shielded lampcord if u dont have one)

I'm not sure if my cord is shielded yet, but will be finding out, before I run everything.

Hey I'm looking at the exact same hood and ballast. I'm concerned because I regularly listen to the a.m. radio while in the room and I want to ensure I'm not cutting off my entertainment source just to have a nice digital ballast. So yeah, got a radio handy you can test?

 

[NOKUY]

Hey I'm looking at the exact same hood and ballast. I'm concerned because I regularly listen to the a.m. radio while in the room and I want to ensure I'm not cutting off my entertainment source just to have a nice digital ballast. So yeah, got a radio handy you can test?

tried the am radio ...forget it...goes from pretty clear to pure static

 

[Arkaya]

awww dang! I really appreciate the help and testing that. I think I will bring my pocket radio into the hydro shop this weekend and make the hydro guy prove it doesn't make interference the AM radio can pick up. He keeps saying they have solved all issues perfectly but I'm uneasy. You know, there is this area when driving down the road with my cars AM radio on where it gets very static filled. Could AM radios or other devices allow people to find out whether your growing just by how messed up their radio’s or TV’s are?

 

[TGT]

All ballasts give of radio waves, so I am sure a device could be made to detect them. Who knows, may be one exists already?

TGT

 

[clowntown]

I'm also the proud owner of a Lumatek digital ballast. I live in a very large city, in a tiny cramped studio with many other studios surrounding me, as well as many other business and residential buildings within a stone's skip from here. With my high-gain antenna, I can pick up 20+ 802.11x WiFi access points. And I've never, ever had an issue running my Lumatek year-round. There are all kinds of signals around me... analog cable, broadband cable / Internet, WiFi, radio, you name it... (When the WiFi-buses go by, I can pick up their signals as well.)

TGT, stonewall has a link to a device on my thread. (See my signature. This is OLD news.)

 

[Pipedream]

I'm with clowntown on this issue.

Virtually every AC electronic device we have in our homes give off RF interference. Including the monitor you're sitting in front of right now. Don't believe me, just take an AM radio and walk around your home with it. Place it near your blender, an AC fan, or your ballast. If it moves via motor, or switches electronically it will create some amount of RF. It's just the laws of physics. There are two chances of using an RF signature to zero in on a grower, FAT & SLIM.

JMHO

 

[Harry Gypsna]

just make sure buy buy the most up to date model...and dont fortget to trim that unshelided cable from the reflector down as short as possible-or even better buy some shielded cable and replace it.......

 

[EZlistener]

so could police differentiate signal comming from ballast to signal comming from another device, if the signal was picked up could police for certain say its comming from a digital ballast or am i thinking too deeply 'bout this being a stoner an' all

 

[Guest]

so could police differentiate signal comming from ballast to signal comming from another device, if the signal was picked up could police for certain say its comming from a digital ballast or am i thinking too deeply 'bout this being a stoner an' all

You're thinking too deeply about this.