G
Guest
This may be my dumbest post ever, but couldnt you cover your cord with aluminum tape and solve the problem? It would be a pain in the ass, but I think that it would solve the problem. But IDK enough about EIM stuff.
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HID Hut digital ballast major EMI issue
- Thread starter Lemon
- Start date
SoulShine
Active member
Lemon,
Is your light and ballast grounded? If you are using a DIY cooltube and not grounding the mogul plug, this could cause the problem. Make sure you are grounded all the way from mogul plug to ballast to wall socket. I too am using HIDhut digital (400w) HPS and have NO INTERFERENCE at all.
If all that fails, give them a call. J***** is real nice guy and I'm sure will work with you to solve the problem.
Hope you can get it straightened out but I think it could be set up, not the unit.
SS
Is your light and ballast grounded? If you are using a DIY cooltube and not grounding the mogul plug, this could cause the problem. Make sure you are grounded all the way from mogul plug to ballast to wall socket. I too am using HIDhut digital (400w) HPS and have NO INTERFERENCE at all.
If all that fails, give them a call. J***** is real nice guy and I'm sure will work with you to solve the problem.
Hope you can get it straightened out but I think it could be set up, not the unit.
SS
Lemon
Member
Well, The strangest thing:
Today I set out on a mission to systematically go through everything one by one in an attempt to pinpoint a specific external cause, if there is one. I began by turning on the TV to the channel with the worst problems from last time, plugged in the ballast, and was surprised to see absolutely no problem. Next, I flipped one channel down, and sure enough, there it was. Strange.
Otherwise, nothing made that much of a difference - grounding the cool tube, not grounding it, placing the lamp inside and outside the tube, inside and outside the grow box, etc, although today the TV noise was notably less intense under all conditions, for whatever reason, but still existant.
Hey soulshine, thanks for the response. I'm not sure I understand what you mean by 'grounding the mogul plug', if you could explain. The cooltube it's self is grounded via the ballast-to-lamp section of the cord in the event that there should be contact between the live wire and any of the metal on the cooltube. The cord to the wall is untouched by me, so my assumption is that it is grounded without problems.
I did, but unfortunately what I'd need to get at is not accessible by me in this particular apartment.
I unfortunately *think* it might just be down to a) some funky wiring where I live, or b) a problem with the individual ballast
Today I set out on a mission to systematically go through everything one by one in an attempt to pinpoint a specific external cause, if there is one. I began by turning on the TV to the channel with the worst problems from last time, plugged in the ballast, and was surprised to see absolutely no problem. Next, I flipped one channel down, and sure enough, there it was. Strange.
Otherwise, nothing made that much of a difference - grounding the cool tube, not grounding it, placing the lamp inside and outside the tube, inside and outside the grow box, etc, although today the TV noise was notably less intense under all conditions, for whatever reason, but still existant.
SoulShine said:
Hey soulshine, thanks for the response. I'm not sure I understand what you mean by 'grounding the mogul plug', if you could explain. The cooltube it's self is grounded via the ballast-to-lamp section of the cord in the event that there should be contact between the live wire and any of the metal on the cooltube. The cord to the wall is untouched by me, so my assumption is that it is grounded without problems.
Boerman said:
I did, but unfortunately what I'd need to get at is not accessible by me in this particular apartment.
I unfortunately *think* it might just be down to a) some funky wiring where I live, or b) a problem with the individual ballast
G
Guest
change out the ballast to another digi, give it another try. don't give up. not every change is easy, but digital will be worth it if you find a solution to your prob, imo.
Hey I don't know if this will fix your problem, but it's worth a shot.
First off if your ballast is plugged into an outlet that is on the same breaker as your TV,cable/sat box it can interfere. Try plugging either item into an outlet on another circuit. If this is not feasible goto next possible fix.
I'm an Electrician.I was working in a house with old style Radio Freq. lighting switches, we discovered that when any piece of new TV equipment was added, (IE: new cable box,satellite,TIVO) the new piece of equipment would interfere with the RF signal and the lights around the TV would not switch on or off.
The fix was a radio shack 30-40$ line filter to plug the new item into.
Just make sure the line filter can handle your ballast, and plug it in and give it a shot.
If that has no effect, try plugging your TV and cable/Sat box into the line filter.
If none of the above works, return your line filter and good luck.
Veracci
First off if your ballast is plugged into an outlet that is on the same breaker as your TV,cable/sat box it can interfere. Try plugging either item into an outlet on another circuit. If this is not feasible goto next possible fix.
I'm an Electrician.I was working in a house with old style Radio Freq. lighting switches, we discovered that when any piece of new TV equipment was added, (IE: new cable box,satellite,TIVO) the new piece of equipment would interfere with the RF signal and the lights around the TV would not switch on or off.
The fix was a radio shack 30-40$ line filter to plug the new item into.
Just make sure the line filter can handle your ballast, and plug it in and give it a shot.
If that has no effect, try plugging your TV and cable/Sat box into the line filter.
If none of the above works, return your line filter and good luck.
Veracci
SoulShine
Active member
Lemon said:
Well, it sounds like it's not what I was thinking then. What I was trying to say, but didn't do a very good job of, is, in wiring the mogal plug sometimes folks just wire the two hot wires and not the green wire. It will work this way, but it is not grounded and then could cause interference. Sounds like you have it wired correctly though. I have to admit I did it wrong the first time and had to go back and redo it. Thats why I thought it might be the problem.
Is the TV and the ballast on the same circuit? Do you have your own circuit box in the apartment or are they all together? I'd definately contact HIDhut to see if they would replace it with another. You probably just got a bad one or something since others don't have the same problem, or it is something with the wiring. Got any trustworthy electrician friends?
Sorry you're having problems and that I can't be of more help.
SS
PlantConiesseur
Member
Lemon sorry to hear about your faulty ballast, man that really sucks! any word from HID hut? Im in the process of ordering a kit from them! ive only heard good things about HID, Have you tried to contact them about a replacement? Let us know how it goes bro! Best of luck !
muchlove from pC!
muchlove from pC!
Lemon said:
Hey lemon I'm sorry to hear about this problem man... seriously sucks. Since they're offering to replace I would consider doing that and maybe giving it a shot? or you could turn around and sell the replacement on ebay - "new in box - won't work with my house's wiring"
Either way it's a major headache. I would consider picking up an econo light ballast in the mean time - from what I hear they are pretty quiet - I've also heard the floralux 150 complete unit at htgsupply is quiet as well - the ballast can be separated from the hood quite easily for remote mounting too.
I bought my 150 at lowes (regents mini flood) and it hums like a mofo and had planned on replacing with a digi - but maybe it's not time to do that yet.
good luck and stay safe.
-suga
G
Guest
i have a 600 digi, justin replaced it when it broke and sent me a new bulb(which i bought elsewhere) to replace my burnt one, he sent me the wrong bulb (slim 400MH) and let me keep it so i got a new ballast and 2 new bulbs JUSTIN ROCKS
Lemon
Member
Veracci said:
Thanks a lot Veracci. I had actually been wondering if there were any sort of external plug in filters out there, but figured they didn't exist. I will look into this asap!
Veracci said:
SoulShine said:
Since I'm doing the apartment thang, there's only 2 or 3 breakers, but some creative extension cord work and some trial and error may just yield something results. Thanks again. Also, I actually happen to be moving soon, just confirmed it! Its in the same general location, probably with the same kind of wiring, but I'm hoping it will be a different story!
PlantConiesseur said:
pseudo krypto said:
HID hut was quick to respond, excellent service, and they did offer to replace it. The only issue is that im in the good ole land up north, so shipping it back to them will cost about 30 dollars - a third of the value of the ballast, haha, but I may give it a go soon.
sugabear_II said:
Hey sugabear
That looks like it may be the plan! I remember telling you the ballast had no issues when I first got it - sorry about that, I wish I had tested it out more thuroughly. I mentioned in a response further up that I'm moving to a new apt soon, so I'll give it a go there, and perhaps it will indicate if its the ballast that has the problem if it persists, or if it was a wiring problem.
Thanks to everyone for going out of thier way to write up troubleshooting responses. +rep to all
smoke headies
Member
im getting my fixed ballast soon, so hopefully it'll work and not blow up this time!
I'm lucky
I'm lucky
I got two of those Future Brights 1000k.
They work well and no interference. Two things strike me. First don't buy the sealed ballasts. They still produce enough heat to cook internal parts. That why they are so unrealiable.
And I have mine on a dedicated 240v breaker. And they don't interfere with anything. Not even an old AM radio sitting nearby.
I'm lucky
I got two of those Future Brights 1000k.
They work well and no interference. Two things strike me. First don't buy the sealed ballasts. They still produce enough heat to cook internal parts. That why they are so unrealiable.
And I have mine on a dedicated 240v breaker. And they don't interfere with anything. Not even an old AM radio sitting nearby.
Lemon
Member
namo420 said:
I hope it works out well. It would be seriously sucky if anyone else has problems. Good luck, lemme know!
SmokeyPufmaster said:
Yeah, I was always curious about that. Also as to why they bother using and advertising that they use cases with fins for efficient cooling when everything inside is sealed inside a solid block of silicone. Anything that isn't 100% efficient is going to produce some heat, however little - and insulating it probably does more harm than good.. at least in your average climate.
smoke headies
Member
lumateks are designed to run at 120f. (120v version) it is 100% OK that they run at this temp, the only thing the company warns you about is "touching the ballast"
i used to wrap my speaker wire with aluminum tape or foil to shield from RF when i lived in a dorm was tired of getting partial AM when playing vinyl .. in regard to grounding issue in apartment get a grounding clamp at radio shack and a roll of single strand wire like doorbell wire but a little heavier in a color easy to camo in your space put the clamp on a cold water pipe run the wire to your grow area make a special extension cord with a 3 prong plug and 3 wire line [white,black,green ] use a four banger metal box and run cord green and pipe ground to both box and outlets ground screws use two grounded outlet units in the box with a plastic cover put a strain reliever on the cord where it goes in the box and cover the metal box with both duct and electric tape and this should do the ground issue // i've been using a box like this for yard power for years and even doing plugs in the rain doesn't give me tingles // this coupled with the foil or alum. tape on both cords [ power to bal and ball to socket] you also might want to get a heftier ceramic socket that you can cover with alum. tape to absolutely minamize RF and EMI leakage// the bell wire additional ground wire is easy to hide and with a long [12-15 inch] 1/8 drill bit you can easily go through walls etc to get to your grow
the small hole is easy to fill when you move with spackle paste and paint... am not electrician but used to do maintaince in a greenhouse lots of electric stuff in a nasty wet space and lots of 1/2 horsepower motors for blowers around misters and hoses
the small hole is easy to fill when you move with spackle paste and paint... am not electrician but used to do maintaince in a greenhouse lots of electric stuff in a nasty wet space and lots of 1/2 horsepower motors for blowers around misters and hoses
