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RF Shielding Question

sallygram

sallygram

Well-Known Member
A buddy of mine recently had a Comcast subcontractor bang on his door and ask him for weed, it kind of freaked him out but he did ask the guy why he thought he had weed. The Comcast guy said that one of his HID Ballasts was not shileded properly and it was creating RF interfearence in the neighbors cable tv. My buddy freaked out and took down his whole garden that night. I thought maybe he could have prevented the close call by disconnecting his cable outside of his house (he actually doesn't even have a tv so it would not be an issue) but he seemed to think that since he was in a townhouse it would still mess up the people next doors cable. I know the easy answer to this is to either get a good ballast or change over to LED but since I still run HIDs and live in a townhouse (without cable) is this true? So basically I am asking what would be the range of RF interfearence and can it travel down a unshielded cable line and become a problem.
 
G

grow1620

Well-Known Member
I'm not an expert on this but I think I remember reading that you could plug an old radio into the same socket as your ballast and it was a cheap way to check for interference(am?). I thought that the electrical interference from ballasts was coming from the ac electrical lines, not the cable lines.

I could be wrong though..more research is needed. Hopefully this gets the conversation going with someone more knowledgeable then myself ;)

*I think there's something called a ferrite clamp or something that you can get to filter out electrical 'noise' too...it's the little plastic black barrel looking thing at the end of the cord for some devices.
 
HydroNito305

HydroNito305

Well-Known Member
sallygram said:
A buddy of mine recently had a Comcast subcontractor bang on his door and ask him for weed, it kind of freaked him out but he did ask the guy why he thought he had weed. The Comcast guy said that one of his HID Ballasts was not shileded properly and it was creating RF interfearence in the neighbors cable tv. My buddy freaked out and took down his whole garden that night. I thought maybe he could have prevented the close call by disconnecting his cable outside of his house (he actually doesn't even have a tv so it would not be an issue) but he seemed to think that since he was in a townhouse it would still mess up the people next doors cable. I know the easy answer to this is to either get a good ballast or change over to LED but since I still run HIDs and live in a townhouse (without cable) is this true? So basically I am asking what would be the range of RF interfearence and can it travel down a unshielded cable line and become a problem.
Click to expand...
Step 1: Sell all the "Digital Ballasts"

Step 2: Buy all "Magnetic Ballasts"

Problem Solved!
 
sallygram

sallygram

Well-Known Member
Yeah I always liked the Mag Ballasts, they just seemed to be better made then the digitals. In talking to a few people it sounds like quite a few have been busted due to the cheap Chinese ones, they even have a copper mesh shielding that many add. I am planning on going LED anyway so this has promped me to make a decision on what I am going to build.

Hey NVSov thaere are numerous articles on this problem and posts now that I have been looking, you reallly have no idea what you are talking about or you are a cop.

http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/the-emc-blog/4438864/How-cops-are-finding--grow-ops--with-AM-radios
 
WeedFreak78

WeedFreak78

Well-Known Member
Tell them you have coral tanks and to F-off. I'd threaten to report him to his superiors for confronting me like that.

Deny everything, admit to nothing, make counter accusations.
 
sallygram

sallygram

Well-Known Member
It is like Murphy's Law whenever I am a few days away from harvest someone freaks me out with a close call. lol It just makes me reacess my security and damn my house smells like weed....
 
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