RFI scare

[Capt.Ahab]

A buddy of mine bought a cheap dimmable digital ballast on Ebay a while back. Set it up a few weeks ago and thought he was all set.
Last week he was home and suddenly he heard a knock on the door. Looking outside revealed a Comcast truck in his driveway. The Comcast guy came to the door, wanting to get inside the house,saying he was required by law to determine the source of RFI interference. Said he was driving around with some sort of meter which spiked while in front of my friend's home.
Apparently he had massive RFI emitting from the house. My buddy told him that he had a mean dog in the home (true) and couldnt let him in . The Comcast guy asked him to look for any loose connections in the house.
Luckily my friend put two and two together and immediately knew what the problem was and quickly unplugged the ballast. When he went to check on the comcast guy outside he was told that whatever he had done had worked and the RFI had disappeared. My bud told the cable guy that he had recently installed a backup battery on his computer along with some wireless speakers. Said he checked the cable connection and found it to be loose. Comcast guy went away satisfied.
Needless to say my pal's house was sterilized within a few hours.
So , lesson learned. Dont buy cheap Chinese ballasts. Dont set up your grow near cable lines . My buddy said he could hear the RFI on his desk PC when the light turned on. That should have been a warning to him that there may be a problem. When I looked at the ballast I noticed it has no FCC compliance sticker on it, for what that is worth.
It's the little things that can get you.

 

[VonBudí]

cant you just put a copper cage/mesh around it?

 

[HidingInTheHaze]

yeah it never pays to buy cheap junk.

Good ballasts with advertise their RF sheilded cable. Poor ground connections can also contribute to RF interference. I'd throw it away and buy a new one.

 

[Capt.Ahab]

Im not sure, Von. Ive been doing some research and possibly a Faraday cage of some sort would work but all info on ballast RFI I could find is conflicting and unsure. Snap core chokes, baluns, Faraday cage, none of the solutions seem solid and fail safe.

 

[Capt.Ahab]

He is replacing the digi ballast with a magnetic once he starts back up.

 

[RoadRash]

Im not sure, Von. Ive been doing some research and possibly a Faraday cage of some sort would work but all info on ballast RFI I could find is conflicting and unsure. Snap core chokes, baluns, Faraday cage, none of the solutions seem solid and fail safe.

Faraday cages are (more or less) for dealing with radiated EMI.

Conducted EMI (noise on the powerline) would be an EMI filter.

But you need both working together to deal with industrial strength EMI.


Switching a motor on and off is also a good way to generate EMI.

It also makes a good cover story if a person needs to explain EMI, e.g. "my drier was mis-behaving so I switched the motor on and off".

Since you're not applying for a job as an appliance repair person.


It reminds me of that show "Burn Notice". Not only does a grower need a good cover these days, but it helps to know what kind of EMI your electronic garden is putting out. Sheesh !

I can hear my "outdoor self" whispering, "makes outdoor look a little better, no ?"

 

[buttbrain]

WOW that's freaky chit right there..

 

[ColoradoOG]

cheap doesn't matter, digitals however do. I had 4 new lumateks that say they are RF shielded and Came home to a Comcast FCC letter stating that it was impacting my neighbors and they put a line block until they could resolve. I was upset because I was a paying customer and they shut off my phone/cable/internet without talking to me. Instead of inviting them in I just switched to qwest no more issues

 

[SS-]

Second time I've read a simliar story here on IC about digi's and interference. Why I rock magnetics until I'm far enough away from anyone.

 

[Space Toker]

I heard digital ballasts (cheap ones from what I heard since) can cause this kind of interference, I heard that was BS from more than one hydro guy... I dunno, of course they will say what they can to sell but did not buy from either of them. Does this only apply to dimmable ballasts? I know my neighbor had some cable guy over a while back, but he was a fairly good distance away. Despite all the air traffic at times, no vehicular visitors thank God, and got a cheap but apparently good digital ballast that seems to work fine. So I would not assume just because it is cheap that it is a threat. Maybe the friend had other issues as well? I wish you and your friend (and myself too) well.

 

[Euphoriaholic]

I got several Quantum 600w electronic ballast when I made the switch to digital.

The RFI from the new digital ballast disabled the AM/FM radio and the TV (rabbit ears).

The RFI from the new digital ballast made me realized that it might also be affecting the neighbors wireless modem.

I went back to using the magnetic ballast to avoid any potential problems.

It sucks I wasted almost $500 on a ballasts I can not use. Better to be safe than sorry.

 

[philcollins]

I used the used one of the hydrofarm phantom ballasts...a high end 250 watt digital. It was advertised as having no rf interference. AM radio didn't work at a 30 feet away..Also...the cable guy stopped by and asked to come inside to determine the source of the interference.

 

[FlowerFarmer]

All electronic ballasts (regardless of brand) have this problem. Expect further FCC investigations and mandatory compliance in the months/years to come. This isnt going away.

I'm not so certain it's the ballasts themselves emitting the bulk of the interference, but rather the 15' cord to the antenna (your reflector) that you attach to the thing. What good does some shielding do if you hook a 15' line and antenna to it?

The National Association for Amateur Radio got their hands on a Lumatek and it failed miserably across all of their tests. This has brought attention not only to the non compliant lumatek, but all brands amongst this industry.

See Here - http://www.arrl.org/files/media/News/Lumatek%20Cond%20Emissions%20Test%20Report%20Pt18b%20Rev%20D.pdf

(**I dont like to click direct links for security concerns so I'd suggest copy and pasting this link into a new browser window if you value your privacy. The website admin of the arrl.org could certainly see the IP address of those who click the above link if they so desired)(right click and copy link location - paste into new window to directly access this PDF file as opposed to accessing FROM icmag.com)

*nothing against Lumatek. I've ran several for years with otherwise no issue. I don't believe this to be specific to Lumatek. All electronic HID ballasts of this nature likely would fail the same tests. Lumatek is just the 1st to be singled out by the NAAR. I expect all electronic ballasts will soon require FCC compliance.

I'd assume this cost will be passed to the consumer so expect the price of ballasts to go up soon in some way shape or form.