Thanx CC, the
Nanolux ballasts do give off a little RFI, but nothing too extreme to cause major concerns. Contrary to what ballast manufacturers say, all digital ballasts will emit interference. It may be marginal in some cases, depending on the number of ballasts.
Gavita stopped making the Digistar series, they were a nightmare, would cause digital timers and other electronic devices like CO2 controllers and TDS/PH/EC meters to have the LCDs give weird readings. I have a video clip of an AUBE digital timer, which are very reliable, start scrolling the time and days of week. Remote ballasts and shades are the worst culprits, there is flexible conduit that is encased in a mesh to reduce or eliminate any RFI or EMI. I have modified a few controllers from Agrowtek to communicate with
Gavita and
Nanolux ballasts, without using their controllers and siftware. The technology is OTS (off the shelf) that they both use to use a central controller similar to a PLC and send commands to power off/on, dim, etc.
With DMX, it would be easy to actually have individual control of each ballast or group them. The FCC and Industry Canada dictate what frequency bands a device can transmit and receive in and the wattage of the transceivers, usually in MilliWatts.
The need for controllers like the one pictured is price wise, mag ballasts or the digital ballasts without extra features can be controlled with the same features as the high-end ballasts.
Gavita should build their ballasts with two RJ14 receptacles so you don't need to use the splitters. If you have to install a lot of the Gavitas, don't buy a whole bunch of the RJ14 cables, make your own to length. Need a pair of telcom crimps, flat cable, and the RJ14 connectors.