Digital HID Ballasts and Cable/Radio Interference

Hi everyone...

I was about to order my 600 watt Apollo MH/HPS kit tonight for my first indoor grow, and I thought I would just read a little more about these before I pull the trigger...

Low and behold I am now paranoid about these inexpensive digital ballasts.

I've probably read posts from at least 20 people on various boards explaining stories of how Cox, Comcast, etc. show up and say "We've pinpointed your residence as a major source of interference on our network. We need to come in and try to find out what is going on... blah blah."

So this is bothering me now. Was it just early generation units pumping out all that interference (many posts on this topic are years old)?

Should I perhaps look into a old-school magnetic ballast, or even spend more for LED?

Only looking for maximum 4 plants at a time in a well ventilated tent. I am putting a hold on this purchase until tomorrow at least. Don't want to do CFL, or have to use lead paint or build a ridiculous Faraday cage around my grow lol.

Thanks so much guys and gals!

I just ordered my first hid setup and started my first hid grow. I,too, was worried about radio frequency interference after reading it on several sites and posts. Was paranoid as hell. But I went ahead and ordered one anyway (quantum setup). I haven't had any dilemmas at all. I don't think it holds true for most situations. My advice is just try it. If the cable guy comes knocking the only thing hell do is add better protection to everything and you're good.

My wifi signal drops 1 bar when the Apollo HPS turns on, router is like 3 ft away from ballast.

nomofatum said:

My wifi signal drops 1 bar when the Apollo HPS turns on, router is like 3 ft away from ballast.

Click to expand...

That doesn't sound so bad. The more I read, the more it looks like simple fixes are available, such as making the cord between the ballast and your light socket as short as possible. Perhaps they have also improved shielding? Not sure yet.

One thing I do know (now..) is that LED's compared to HID's are CRAZY expensive when looking at lumens per dollar.

Just get yourself a good ballast. I run Lumateks and have never had a problem with any type of interference.