Blocking RF Noise from Digital Ballasts

[Dr.stickerdick]

InvisibleM you said you feel shock or something from hood? If that's the case you've got current flow on your ground, or at least on metal parts. Do you have a sub pannel in your grow room or are you coming from the main pannel? If a sub pannel then is the netural and ground in it bonded together? They shouldn't be. If it comes from main pannel to recepticle is there a bootlegged ground? This too could cause current on metal parts. Peace

 

[Surfr]

Damn, this thread is kind of swaying me away from the digis...

 

[revolutionseeds]

Interesting. I knew my ballasts were bleeding signals into my front room speakers. Everytime the lights flipped on the speakers buzzed for a bit then stopped. I guess they are hunks of shit......my speakers that is, lol. I guess I'll deal with it for few more years.

 

[Ben Gilroy]

Do you guys think ill have any problems with a 400 watter? I live in an apt building btw

 

[fengshui32]

I have run the 400 watt Lumatek in an apt. for a couple years and there has been no radio, cell, computer interference. The 1000 watters seem to have had the most issues. My 1000 was purchased 2 years ago, and it was running on the top floor of a two story house and it would cause buzzing on the AM radio band and interference lines on the TV. I would turn on the radio to around AM 530, no station broadcast there, and flip on the digi and hear the buzz come thru the speakers. Ended up wrapping the 15 ft. cord in aluminum foil from the end of the ballast case to the hood. That 'fix' cut the RF by about half. Could still hear it on the car radio when I drove up, but the bubble of interference was about 30 ft. Interestingly enough, when that same digi went to an underground basement across town, there was no interference, but the electrical panel in the new place had a place for a ground wire that went to a separate bus bar in the panel from where the neutral bus bar resides. Lumatek literature was stressing the importance of not sharing ground and neutral on the same circuit as some older homes have done in their breaker boxes.

 

[Illmind]

drdanko u arent thinking. perhaps the neighbors shit goes down no they aren't gonna know the deal so they call someone who does. i knew ppl who work for cable companies and they are trained lightly to spot things out of the norm and get bonuses if leads to arrest. fact. not to mention makes canna jackin easy. if u gave my friend your neighborhoods road he could find your house with a laptop and a homemade antenna. as for that super antenna on pig sleds that prolly has more range. if ur lil shitty radio can find rf to the street a good antenna will be 1000 times better. in short don't matter if rf noise doesnt leave your house with a shitty antenna, someone with a good antenna could get it 30 miles away real talk. my dudes homemade antennas pick up german radio stations and all that and they dont broadcast anywhere near here. billygoat what kinda mags u run they sound crappy if they that loud and 1 changeout dropped room temp 4f. my mags are quiet when properly mounted outside the room dont run hot so wouldn't matter.

 

[InvisibleM]

InvisibleM you said you feel shock or something from hood? If that's the case you've got current flow on your ground, or at least on metal parts. Do you have a sub pannel in your grow room or are you coming from the main pannel? If a sub pannel then is the netural and ground in it bonded together? They shouldn't be. If it comes from main pannel to recepticle is there a bootlegged ground? This too could cause current on metal parts. Peace

No sub panel, it's on a circuit I ran from the main panel to the room (timer). Every thing I did is hooked up and grounded. No way to check the ballast wiring...

I could do a continuity test between the hood and a ground.... keep forgetting to do it. If the hood is grounded and I believe it is then there is not much I can do.... My magnetic ballast never had any of these problems.

 

[InvisibleM]

The 1000 watters seem to have had the most issues. My 1000 was purchased 2 years ago, and it was running on the top floor of a two story house and it would cause buzzing on the AM radio band and interference lines on the TV. I would turn on the radio to around AM 530, no station broadcast there, and flip on the digi and hear the buzz come thru the speakers. Ended up wrapping the 15 ft. cord in aluminum foil from the end of the ballast case to the hood. That 'fix' cut the RF by about half. Could still hear it on the car radio when I drove up, but the bubble of interference was about 30 ft. Interestingly enough, when that same digi went to an underground basement across town, there was no interference, but the electrical panel in the new place had a place for a ground wire that went to a separate bus bar in the panel from where the neutral bus bar resides. Lumatek literature was stressing the importance of not sharing ground and neutral on the same circuit as some older homes have done in their breaker boxes.

I've got to try "wrapping the 15 ft. cord in aluminum foil from the end of the ballast case to the hood". I have been thinking about it for about a year now, lol

In my main panel I have a separate neutral bar and ground bar but they are bonded together.

 

[Olyver]

Did a job recently and the four lampcords wired to the digital ballasts were run through braided hose. It worked great, no rf interference. The cords were about 20 to 25 feet long , it cost about $200 for the braided hose, but it was worth it. You can also try using some armored cable, pull out the conductors and feed the lampcord through. Some places sell just the armored insulation, maybe use some Teck cable, it has pvc covering. I'm currently working on some special lampcords for digital ballasts that won't cause interference, and have the correct lampcord plugs for the digital ballast.

 

[TrailerTrash]

old digi..

went over to the hydro store...

Lumitek 600 watt digi w 15ft of cord an socket..reg price 370..now 90 bucks..R.F problem..

I thought..its 40 feet to the next door peeps..so.buy it!

even threw in a bulb!

said no returns..I said fire it up!

IT worked!

anyway..I know about what a bust R.F is..


so....radio shack sells an R.F filter!

4.95..on the way home just uincase..

so i fired up the didgi..goods..

went outside..saw the tv next door..shure as shit..wave pattern's...

so I waited till the buddy came over asked are u runni ng something new..I said my klds getting into h.a.m radio..sorry..here try this r,f, suppresor..

anyway..all is well..gonna be some dank to post up soon!!

 

[InvisibleM]

OK here's the update on my rf noise problem..... I had total static (am radio) out to the road to about 60 feet, and half static to 120 feet or so.

Well..... I took a #12 romex ground wire out of the romex sheath, then I wraped it around every screw on my hood, I have a cone shaped 4 ft bolt together hood, then I hooked the other end of the ground wire to my grounded outlet box below my timer.

What a difference! That got rid of about 90% of the static so I knew I was on a roll. Next I wrapped the lamp cord with aluminum foil, and put one end of the foil under the digital ballast and the other end I wrapped around the ground wire I had just ran.

It worked! Almost all of the static is gone now, so I might even buy another digital ballast some day. Just make sure when you buy one that you can return it....

 

[DrDanko]

Hey Illmind...thanks for the info bro. Again I find myself reading my own post and realizing what I meant to say came out the wrong way. I wasn't sayin everyone in this thread was crazy, because there's plenty of evidence here to see that this is certainly an issue for some. Man, i never knew about this before I bought my 3 NextGen 600's, which I haven't run yet but am getting ready to. So I'm a little nervous. Most of you that have been posting know a lot more about electrical than I do. Anyone out there running NextGen's? Are 2 or 3 600W ballast gonna be less of an issue than people running the 1000's? I would assume it would be less interference, but my head is really spinning trying to absorb all of this. Thanks for the help, keep this thread going! DrD.

 

[Widowmaker]

OK here's the update on my rf noise problem..... I had total static (am radio) out to the road to about 60 feet, and half static to 120 feet or so.

Well..... I took a #12 romex ground wire out of the romex sheath, then I wraped it around every screw on my hood, I have a cone shaped 4 ft bolt together hood, then I hooked the other end of the ground wire to my grounded outlet box below my timer.

What a difference! That got rid of about 90% of the static so I knew I was on a roll. Next I wrapped the lamp cord with aluminum foil, and put one end of the foil under the digital ballast and the other end I wrapped around the ground wire I had just ran.

It worked! Almost all of the static is gone now, so I might even buy another digital ballast some day. Just make sure when you buy one that you can return it....

Sounds like your light fixture/ hood is not grounded. Shouldn’t have to run a separate wire for the ground. Assuming you have a three wire cable going to your lamp base, if not that’s a problem. There is probably a disconnect between your ground wire and the hood. Typical reasons for this problem are painted parts and or screws that do not conduct electricity. Sometimes anodized or some other coating that doesn’t conduct electricity is the problem. So if the lamp base is grounded and the base assembly is painted and its bolted to the hood sometimes just using a star washer or something to dig into the paint so it will make connection with the next piece of hardware will do the trick. Good troubleshooting skills finding that problem.
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[Illmind]

i read my earlier post and no disrespect meant at all to u drd my friend.. ive been told im an abrasive person. but damn olyver u on to something there. eballasts have become complacent in thier mediocrity so it may be awile foer me. however the new big 500w or whatever watt single bulb leds that will soon replace street lights will prolly be out by then. btw wtf is the holdup things are dope! i heard china makes em and atm price sooo high itd be a waste but who knows i just want one.

 

[Dr.stickerdick]

Widowmaker , good call on the star washer and the paint !! Sounds like using foil sheilded cable, as in my prievious post, will help. As this is done so diggital and annalog don't goof up each other. That kind of cable is costly but if you want results it works. But as widowmaker says it starts with real and proper grounding (bonding). Peace bro

 

[Bill Bloome]

Damn Billygoat,a digital ?Next thing ya know you'll be running LED's.Seriously,I just got a 400 digital myself so I could run MH and HPS with the same unit.I'm gonna check and document everything so I can compare and see what's up.I'll post findings in a couple weeks. Wow,just thought of something.One of the guys I work with is a cable installer.I'll get him to check for RF interference.What's the frequency,Kenneth?

 

[DrDanko]

InvisibleM, Widowmaker, Dr Stickerdick....I'm looking to you guys for some advice here. All the info so far has been great, now I'm trying to apply it. Keep in mind, I have no clue when it comes to electrical, however I have a friend out-of-state that could possibly help me. So I have 2 electronic ballasts from NextGen. 600W each. I bought an AM/FM radio and tried it out. I can stand within about 2 feet of the ballast and get about half-static. I only get full static if I essentially tough the radio to the ballast. If I go down the hallway to the living room, it fades to almost nothing. Very minor if noticeable. Do you think I'm gonna have issues? I am in a condo so I have neighbors that aren't far, but I still feel like once I'm outside the apartment it's virtually gone with my radio. I'll have to test with both on, that was just with one ballast firing on high. I doubt I have grounding issues, as the whole ballast is metal. Or maybe I still do? Hopefully this info is enough for you to pass on some advice. I really need to get these plants flowering, they've been in veg for 3 months. But wanna make sure I'm safe first. So main questions if I haven't lost you...How much interference is enough to get noticed(I'm sure the electrical co has sensitive equipment)? Do you recommend that I try to use the insulated wire like InvisibleM did? Any suggestions are welcome and appreciated. Peace. DrD.

 

[lollipopman]

InvisibleM, Widowmaker, Dr Stickerdick....I'm looking to you guys for some advice here. All the info so far has been great, now I'm trying to apply it. Keep in mind, I have no clue when it comes to electrical, however I have a friend out-of-state that could possibly help me. So I have 2 electronic ballasts from NextGen. 600W each. I bought an AM/FM radio and tried it out. I can stand within about 2 feet of the ballast and get about half-static. I only get full static if I essentially tough the radio to the ballast. If I go down the hallway to the living room, it fades to almost nothing. Very minor if noticeable. Do you think I'm gonna have issues? I am in a condo so I have neighbors that aren't far, but I still feel like once I'm outside the apartment it's virtually gone with my radio. I'll have to test with both on, that was just with one ballast firing on high. I doubt I have grounding issues, as the whole ballast is metal. Or maybe I still do? Hopefully this info is enough for you to pass on some advice. I really need to get these plants flowering, they've been in veg for 3 months. But wanna make sure I'm safe first. So main questions if I haven't lost you...How much interference is enough to get noticed(I'm sure the electrical co has sensitive equipment)? Do you recommend that I try to use the insulated wire like InvisibleM did? Any suggestions are welcome and appreciated. Peace. DrD.

its not the electrical company you have to worry about.. its the cable guys or if you live somewhere the elect. company's is in cable...ive done cable for the past 10 years what we use was a seeker..this bad boy can point me right to you if there was anything wrong...heres a link most cable company's has something like this in each truck..fcc rules...


now a common thing we ran across from power was the neutral on the main burned up and the power for the house was looking for a ground witch usually was us... never fun grabbing hot cable... thats it hope this helps... oh on the link it tells you what fq we are looking at...

 

[sour power]

i have a digi i was using recently just one 600watt with a few magnetic 600watt ballasts.the digi made my crib hot.i had to tear shit down 3 weeks after using it because the cable company was banging on my door asking to come in.needless to say i told them hell no and to come check me at a better time.for me i will never fuck with a digi again

 

[Widowmaker]

There is no end to the ways and things that can pick up noise. A real common noise maker is a plain old light dimmer, they make lots of noise and you can change the sound of the noise by adjusting the dimmer. Check it out with your AM/FM radio.
If you want to knock the noise level farther down, see





Do a web search on ferrite beads. You can pick them up at electronics stores. Put them on the wires going to your light and on the power cord as close to the ballast as possible. They really work like magic. If the bead has a big enough hole you can loop the wire through it again and again and it will work better. The computer industry uses them a lot because there stuff is very noisy.
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