# Digital Ballast RF Interference



## tiredofbuyingit (Oct 30, 2008)

Hello,

I have a 600 watt hps with a digital greenhouse ballast. The cable company has cut off my service because they traced a cable "leak" to my house. I've had the ballast on for a couple months and haven't noticed any problems. They want to come inside and test the lines to see where the leak is before hooking my cable back up. 

I made sure the ballast was in a grounded outlet. I've heard that the digital ballasts cause RF interference, but what can I do to shield this?

Thanks


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## MrJDGaF (Oct 30, 2008)

If your power lead is like new, maybe wrapping foil tape around the power lead would help, or if you can cut off any spare to make the lead as short as possible would help too.


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## tiredofbuyingit (Oct 30, 2008)

Thanks Mr, but I'm kinda electrically impaired. What do you mean by the power lead?


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## bryant228 (Oct 30, 2008)

You might want to post this in the "Indoor growing" section. It will get more hits and you'll get more feedback. There has to be a way to ground it. But I'm like you, when it comes to electrical, i'm dumber then shit.


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## MrJDGaF (Oct 30, 2008)

The cable from the ballast to the reflector, sorry.


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## Silky Shagsalot (Oct 31, 2008)

unless you have an old or off brand ballast, the cord should be shielded.


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## The Stig (Oct 31, 2008)

interesting.. I didn't knew about the possible RF interference from the digital ballasts.

What I notice is that after I got my 600w greenhouse digital ballast from HTG NONE of my X10 devices work (they use RF controls and they send signals trough the power line, and they dont work at all with this ballast and I'm getting noise on all the power lines of the whole house) 


seems to me like all this greenhouse ballast have this problem


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## AeroKing (Nov 8, 2008)

My digital ballast causes some sort of interference. It really fucks up my 24-7 tri-meter when its on. I have to turn the light off to use the meter.


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## BigBudBalls (Nov 8, 2008)

Ya know? There are line filters that might work. About $30. The x-10 and Insteon (well most of the power line controllers) have them. You put it in between the outlet and offending device.

15 Amp Plug-In Noise Filter AF120 - Smarthome


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## smoke and coke (Nov 9, 2008)

i dont have a digital ballast, but certain situations need a dedicated circuit with a dedicated ground back to the panel. this will help eliminate interference.
wires that are run inside ceiling and walls if run to close to each other or your tv, phone lines with cause interference.
the line filters BBB mentions are good idea.
you could have a loose ground connection somewhere, could be in an outlet or panel.


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## Ridgegoo (Nov 9, 2008)

being too close to the 1kW digital ballast/cordset makes my controller go crazy. It misreads temp/humidity badly.


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## BigBudBalls (Nov 9, 2008)

Ridgegoo said:


> being too close to the 1kW digital ballast/cordset makes my controller go crazy. It misreads temp/humidity badly.


Try wrapping the cord set in tin foil. But make sure its only grounded on one end (both ends = grounded loop, bad thing) Which end is voodoo. Try and see. (can be also in the middle but thats rare)

Been down this route with freq drives. Sometimes having the cables jumbled up is better the neatly laid out.


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## stripeybeast (Nov 12, 2008)

will just the regular HTG supply ballasts do this? cuz i had a similar problem where the cable guy detected a signal leak from my place, but couldnt pinpoint it. I let him snoop around a bit, but obviously directed him away from my grow room.


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## mercilus (Jan 4, 2009)

I love the digital greenhouse ballast prices but def considering going with lumatek because of the better shielding... anyone with experience?


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## Cents1m (Nov 17, 2021)

This is happening to me. I have even plugged my fan and controller into my neighbors house with an extension cord and my light In my house. As soon as the light kicks on the temp and humidity go blank which prevents it from kicking on or off on it's triggers. Super frustrating. Please let me know if you solved this.


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## OneHitDone (Nov 17, 2021)

Cents1m said:


> This is happening to me. I have even plugged my fan and controller into my neighbors house with an extension cord and my light In my house. As soon as the light kicks on the temp and humidity go blank which prevents it from kicking on or off on it's triggers. Super frustrating. Please let me know if you solved this.


Just curious what type of ballast it is giving you issues?


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## Cents1m (Nov 17, 2021)

It's a 1000w cheap ass vivosun digital dimmable.... I have grown several times with these light and ballast with great results ( always use a different hps bulb) but yea that ballast is like a Electromagnetic dirty bomb


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## Cents1m (Nov 17, 2021)

Going to try to move everything as far apart as possible and try to use "EMI cable filters"... Let you know if it works or not.


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## OneHitDone (Nov 17, 2021)

Cents1m said:


> Going to try to move everything as far apart as possible and try to use "EMI cable filters"... Let you know if it works or not.


That is one thing I always notice with off brand ballasts vs something like a Quantum. The Quantum ballast are clearly labeled FCC compliant and have filters on the ballast and power cables. 
I've had the cable guy in the area where my grow is with ballasts running in the past looking for a system leak on my cable and the ballasts caused no interference issue


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## chronnie49 (Nov 18, 2021)

I would just replace the ballast with a better brand or even go with an old school magnetic ballast if money is an issue.


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## hotrodharley (Nov 18, 2021)

Had an older digital ballast and it interfered with the wifi router next door. Cable/internet company tracked it down. Bought copper sheet on eBay and made a cardboard box lined with it. No more complaints. But my newer ballasts have been extremely close to routers and no complaints. Yet.


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## Lenin1917 (Nov 18, 2021)

Put a stopper on any open cable splitter ports. Had the same problem last year after a power outage. Don’t bring the cableguy into the grow room, if they comment on the weed smell laugh it off, ask if they smoke and if they do tip them a bud.


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## JimmiP (Nov 21, 2021)

Lenin1917 said:


> Put a stopper on any open cable splitter ports. Had the same problem last year after a power outage. Don’t bring the cableguy into the grow room, if they comment on the weed smell laugh it off, ask if they smoke and if they do tip them a bud.


Always loved tips like that when I did cable and satellite work.


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