RF noise interference

max316420

max316420

Well-Known Member
So my buddy is currently gardening using electronic ballasts and he calls me up and says the cable company was just outside his house trying to find the source of the noise. It spooked the shit outta him to the point he wants to somehow hide the ballast so it’s not messing with his neighbors wireless internet and such. Anyone have any suggestions on what he can do to remedy this issue. He says moving the ballasts aren’t really a option...
 
In recording studio's they use Faraday Cages to eliminate electromagnetic interference (EMI). If I recall, they are usually made out of expensive copper.

An audiophile used to sarcastically joke that there was a UFO buried under the building.
 
So I was doing a little research last night and a lot of people said wrapping the ballast in tin foil might do the trick. Would the cable from the ballast to the actual bulb have to be wrapped also or just the ballast? Replacing all his ballasts really isn’t a option
 
Its the cable from the ballast to the light that is causing the RF issues. The cable is acting like an antenna coiling it up will reduce the noise but better yet buy this noise filter for the cable. Tin foil is fine for blocking your thoughts from the Aliens but do nothing for EMI noise.

https://www.amazon.com/eBoot-Pieces...=B01E5E5IY4&psc=1&refRID=8FZ51D03C37NWDK9S2WN

Do these go on what is producing the noise, or what you want to protect ? Thanks

asked on April 4, 2019

You can use them both ways.

James J. Jarvis
· April 5, 2019
 
I had same thing last yr.
“Uhh do you have something that turns on everyday at 7pm? Everyones internet drops out same time every day”

Hahahha buddy just went around my house and tightened every singe coax connection. He said just check al connections every month or so and there wouldnt be any further issues.
Never heard anything more.
But i havent tightened connections in a while and just started flowering again hahahhah
Thanks for the reminder, gotta check em tonight
 
Coil your slack and face the circle away from your cable line, do NOT put anything metallic in between the coil.
 
max316420 said:
So I was doing a little research last night and a lot of people said wrapping the ballast in tin foil might do the trick. Would the cable from the ballast to the actual bulb have to be wrapped also or just the ballast? Replacing all his ballasts really isn’t a option
Click to expand...
If the foil shield is grounded then it can help a lot. shielded cable works too, I used shielded cable on the first gen lumatek's the silver ones.
 
Rider101 said:
Ya but if you follow the link you can buy a filter which is all that is needed to meet FCC regulations. And save hundreds dollars in the process.
Click to expand...
If you your confident that it is only the ballast and input cord filters that cost half as much as a ballast anyways good for you. I have read there is other "shielding" inside the newer ballasts but have not confirmed this.

On a side note for the OP - is the cable company looking for interference or a signal loss? The latter happened to me and I am a legal spot so allowed tech in and within minutes he found a kink in the Coax cable running through my garage. Cut - spliced new piece in and gone.
I'm not a communications cable techie but it seems as they increase speeds or bandwidth or whatever these minor problems in cables are becoming real issues :peace:
 
ever heard a speaker have EMI interference? beep beep beep - bepbepbep- beep beep beep... and so on? from a cell phone?
with a shielded speaker.. this wont happen. Same goes for ballasts and sattelite cable. digital ballists are great.but you need to have a shielded ballast to prevent interference otherwise cable companies will be coming over with their meters and such asking questions
 
Nizza said:
ever heard a speaker have EMI interference? beep beep beep - bepbepbep- beep beep beep... and so on? from a cell phone?
with a shielded speaker.. this wont happen. Same goes for ballasts and sattelite cable. digital ballists are great.but you need to have a shielded ballast to prevent interference otherwise cable companies will be coming over with their meters and such asking questions
Click to expand...

There is no such thing as a shielded ballets who ever is selling you that does not have a clue. Its like the poor people who buy 200 watt LED lights for two grand believing the sales man who tells them it would produce more bud then 2000 watts of hid lighting.

Its the cables that act like antennas either sending or receiving EMI RF noise, and the filters that my link provides has the shielding needed to stop those signals.

BTW testing for EMI and RF noise is as easy as tuning in static on your radio then turning off or on the source of the noise to see if the static increases or not. Or you can buy meters made for this and test at different frequencies, that's if you want to waste a few hundred dollars.
 
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OneHitDone said:
If you your confident that it is only the ballast and input cord filters that cost half as much as a ballast anyways good for you. I have read there is other "shielding" inside the newer ballasts but have not confirmed this.

:peace:
Click to expand...

GM makes Cadillac cars on the same bodies as Pontiac cars same frame same engine three times the price.

Just because something cost more or is newer does not necessary mean its better.

I've bought my ballasts two 400 watt units back in 1988 and in the thirty one years I've only had to replace the capacitor on the MH. I got a good laugh when my buddy bought his digital 400 watt HPS unit for twice the price i had for both MH and HPS units. He told me he would make the money back because digital ballast use 30% less power. I wanted one so we put it to the acid test using my power meter and his light meter we checked. His ballast had low normal and super at normal it was using 400 watts 50000 lumens and in super it used 435 watts 54000 lumens. My magnetic ballast used 438 watts and produced 55000 lumens using the same bulb.

I would like to test LED units in the same manner buy none of my friends are stupid enough to buy them.
 
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max316420 said:
So my buddy is currently gardening using electronic ballasts and he calls me up and says the cable company was just outside his house trying to find the source of the noise. It spooked the shit outta him to the point he wants to somehow hide the ballast so it’s not messing with his neighbors wireless internet and such. Anyone have any suggestions on what he can do to remedy this issue. He says moving the ballasts aren’t really a option...
Click to expand...
Replacing the ballasts SHOULD be a option. You know, if his freedom depends on it.

The only surefire way is to change out the ballasts. Masking it wont be cheap eaither and it's not a sure fix.

He should probably just suck it up and do it, get a credit card for it or shut down till he can afford it. What comes next isnt good because this can escalate very quickly
 
Rider101 said:
There is no such thing as a shielded ballets who ever is selling you that does not have a clue. Its like the poor people who buy 200 watt LED lights for two grand believing the sales man who tells them it would produce more bud then 2000 watts of hid lighting.

Its the cables that act like antennas either sending or receiving EMI RF noise, and the filters that my link provides has the shielding needed to stop those signals.

BTW testing for EMI and RF noise is as easy as tuning in static on your radio then turning off or on the source of the noise to see if the static increases or not. Or you can buy meters made for this and test at different frequencies, that's if you want to waste a few hundred dollars.
Click to expand...
Your not really correct on this but you kind of are. Look into gavita ballasts. They have shielding and the mount the ballast to the fixture so theres no cord acting as a antenna. I just had to figure this situation out 2 years ago myself.
 
Rider101 said:
GM makes Cadillac cars on the same bodies as Pontiac cars same frame same engine three times the price.

Just because something cost more or is newer does not necessary mean its better.

I've bought my ballasts two 400 watt units back in 1988 and in the thirty one years I've only had to replace the capacitor on the MH. I got a good laugh when my buddy bought his digital 400 watt HPS unit for twice the price i had for both MH and HPS units. He told me he would make the money back because digital ballast use 30% less power. I wanted one so we put it to the acid test using my power meter and his light meter we checked. His ballast had low normal and super at normal it was using 400 watts 50000 lumens and in super it used 435 watts 54000 lumens. My magnetic ballast used 438 watts and produced 55000 lumens using the same bulb.

I would like to test LED units in the same manner buy none of my friends are stupid enough to buy them.
Click to expand...
You are talking about trash low end digital ballasts
If you put a quality digital up against a mag light output most certainly goes up. I saw this first hand with a 1000W Sun System Mag HPS being switched to a Hortilux Platinum ballast.
On top of that - a lot of digitals have multi wattage outputs allowing you to cut back when moving in from veg and ramping up the intensity as flower weeks go on into critical bud plumping weeks. Allowing some power savings for those whom that is a concern
 
OneHitDone said:
You are talking about trash low end digital ballasts
If you put a quality digital up against a mag light output most certainly goes up. I saw this first hand with a 1000W Sun System Mag HPS being switched to a Hortilux Platinum ballast.
On top of that - a lot of digitals have multi wattage outputs allowing you to cut back when moving in from veg and ramping up the intensity as flower weeks go on into critical bud plumping weeks. Allowing some power savings for those whom that is a concern
Click to expand...
Another elephant in the room is rf produced by LEDs but I dunno if I wanna open that can of worms right now lol
 
growingforfun said:
Another elephant in the room is rf produced by LEDs but I dunno if I wanna open that can of worms right now lol
Click to expand...
You are totally right on that one. I have a suspicion many of the drivers on the market are worse than Digital ballasts. Hopefully not but time will tell
 
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