cops are onto RFI-AM radio and elec. ballasts
- Thread starter the gnome
- Start date
Heusinomics
Active member
I found this posted by SNYPE in one o his tutorials n thought it should b added here too.
QUOTE ...."4. RF interference from your digital/electronic ballast. RF interference has a major affect on many pH / TDS / PPM meters that are sold at grow shops. It is important that your ballasts and any equipment that gives off RF is turned off before calibrating and using your meter. I have spent countless hours on the phone with the owners of these company's complaining about how the RF interference from my ballasts are affecting my reading and they would send me brand new meters that would have the exact same problem. Make sure all your equipment is turned off when using your meters."....
The more we discuss the problems w the RFI issue the better our practices will get and the better the industry manufactures will understand our needs.
QUOTE ...."4. RF interference from your digital/electronic ballast. RF interference has a major affect on many pH / TDS / PPM meters that are sold at grow shops. It is important that your ballasts and any equipment that gives off RF is turned off before calibrating and using your meter. I have spent countless hours on the phone with the owners of these company's complaining about how the RF interference from my ballasts are affecting my reading and they would send me brand new meters that would have the exact same problem. Make sure all your equipment is turned off when using your meters."....
The more we discuss the problems w the RFI issue the better our practices will get and the better the industry manufactures will understand our needs.
really intriguing about imbeding radio frequency's into the LED cbr7
LOL...real spy stuff I bet is already perfected in a lab somewhere.
on the RFI/EMI leakage with elec. ballasts nanolux has come out witha set of filters.
to *reduce* the leakage.
retail listed $75 but running around $36 a pop and you need 2.... doesn't sound like much bang for the buck.
helluva markuP on those for what I'm thinking is in em.
looking at these I'm betting all in it's the same thing listed in the posted earlier linking to
the diy RFI filters
these are the ones you can make
.
LOL...real spy stuff I bet is already perfected in a lab somewhere.
on the RFI/EMI leakage with elec. ballasts nanolux has come out witha set of filters.
to *reduce* the leakage.
retail listed $75 but running around $36 a pop and you need 2.... doesn't sound like much bang for the buck.
helluva markuP on those for what I'm thinking is in em.
looking at these I'm betting all in it's the same thing listed in the posted earlier linking to
the diy RFI filters
these are the ones you can make
.
Jack O'Neill
Member
it could be a marketing scam. but only way to find out. is to do your own investigation.
I ordered some magnetic ferrite core cable clips from amazon for a few bucks. I'm not sure how they stack up to those nanolux pieces, but I'm able to use my cordless phone near my ballast after I got them. That tells me that they did have an effect.
Those nanolux boxes seem to have something quite similar, just with the insulation sleeve removed from the wiring inside the box.
Those nanolux boxes seem to have something quite similar, just with the insulation sleeve removed from the wiring inside the box.
So it's true! My beloved solistek wired 220v, built in timer and remote controlled...she's a squealer!! AM radio interference at approx 20ft radius, seems to broadcast thru the house wiring a bit. Oh my Panasonic plasma tv ruins AM radio but only from a few feet.
I've decided not to sweat this security breach right now. The risks and rewards of pimpin have been weighed long ago homies
Go easy, and remain very peaceful
I've decided not to sweat this security breach right now. The risks and rewards of pimpin have been weighed long ago homies
Go easy, and remain very peaceful
FiddlersGreen
Member
time to convert my room to a faraday cage
I have known for some time that an AM band radio is an EMI detector. It is useful if you want to track EMI on a boat or something so that you do not have interference with the electronics on the boat. I have heard of EMI also triggering fire alarms on ships with very sophisticated fire detection systems (Cerberus, Siemens)
Grab your cassette deck, I've got a 12 hour ban on overnight talk radio shows folks
are there any brands of digi ballasts that emit less RFI? I'm leaning on putting some new phantoms into my new build, and I just swapped out my veg to a digi phantom. the manufacturer says it's got internal RF shielding...just wondering if some brands are worse offenders than others...I suppose the right question to ask is which brand has the least amount of RFI?
Midwest sticky
Resident Smartass & midget connoisseur
A lot of rfi comes from the cable going from the ballast to the bulb. Try to get a shielded cable or do what I did and wrap the cable in aluminum foil. Sounds really ghetto but works, my ballast was throwing off rfi So i wrapped the cable and wahla no more rfi.
I'd love to hear everyones thoughts on the principles of a faraday cage and what if any commonalities there may be between a faraday cage and a shipping container(grounded)
my current(near complete) build is in a steel shipping container, and I'm just curious if there is any likeliness of the steel container walls containing the RFI.
my reflector cables are pretty thick, considerably more so than the power cable... I wonder if foil tape would also work? or just an aluminum conduit of sorts?
my container is literally a build that I can use for the next 20+ years...just want to make sure every possible detail has been worked out...
my current(near complete) build is in a steel shipping container, and I'm just curious if there is any likeliness of the steel container walls containing the RFI.
my reflector cables are pretty thick, considerably more so than the power cable... I wonder if foil tape would also work? or just an aluminum conduit of sorts?
my container is literally a build that I can use for the next 20+ years...just want to make sure every possible detail has been worked out...
Midwest sticky
Resident Smartass & midget connoisseur
In theory The grounded shipping container should be a great farraday but I've never done it so I can't say for sure
looks like I can effectively turn the container into a faraday cage by driving in a ground rod and tying it up to the steel of the container...
if it will work for EMP's a few digital ballasts should be no match
http://survive2012.com/news/2013/01/shipping-containers-as-faraday-cages-4744.html/comment-page-1
who would have ever thought you could search google for that type of info! LOL face-palm.
if it will work for EMP's a few digital ballasts should be no match
http://survive2012.com/news/2013/01/shipping-containers-as-faraday-cages-4744.html/comment-page-1
who would have ever thought you could search google for that type of info! LOL face-palm.
The sea can might confine the noise from the lamp and lamp cord but the wires from the service to the can will still sing. Some monster choke might attenuate it some but this problem will still exist.
Unless your ballasts are causing interference to a neighbors cable TV or something else that will cause a site survey from a tech with some instruments this should be a non-issue IMHO
It would be the day when some cop cruses the neighborhood with an AM radio tuning around trying to bootstrap some probable cause
If the stars suddenly aline and someone is at your door bitching about a signal originating from your ballasts tell them that that new 2000w powered sub that you recently added to your home theater must be the culprit.
FWIW cheap ass class d audio amps are very similar to digital ballasts in noise emissions
Unless your ballasts are causing interference to a neighbors cable TV or something else that will cause a site survey from a tech with some instruments this should be a non-issue IMHO
It would be the day when some cop cruses the neighborhood with an AM radio tuning around trying to bootstrap some probable cause
If the stars suddenly aline and someone is at your door bitching about a signal originating from your ballasts tell them that that new 2000w powered sub that you recently added to your home theater must be the culprit.
FWIW cheap ass class d audio amps are very similar to digital ballasts in noise emissions
my next door neighbors lumatek actually fucks up my direct tv signal every night.
I thought the frequency that the ballast runs the lamp at is the problematic one(from the ballast to the bulb, as the ballast changes the frequency of standard current to 60hz or whatever...I don't know that to be the case though)
if the line feeding your receptacles from the main service is also emitting RFI, then why would a gavita fixture that has a very short lamp cord to reduce RFI, not show high amounts of RFI through the service cables? not trying to say right or wrong...I just want to understand.
I'm not overly concerned with the RFI/cops driving through my hood on AM radio, as I know the majority of the growers in my area are all using digi ballasts...I just can't stand my directv buggin out in the middle of the finals etc...
plus, the added benefit of potentially making the RFI as discreet as possible just for the sake of the added security is not a bad thing...just because 90% of the folks around me are not concerned with it, doesn't automatically mean I shouldn't go through the extra measures to insure I'm keeping myself as safe as possible..
the biggest reason I have any concerns with RFI is there is a house probably slightly less than 1/4 mile away that has 5+ BIG, very TALL ham radio antenna's, so I'm sure the guy is pretty damn serious about his radios...and my grandfather used to be big into HAM, and some of the things he has said he was able to do with just a radio were surprising to say the least.
my grandpa won a bet in the 50's that he could start his car(at his place of work) from his house 10 miles away...he won that bet! LOL using his HAM radio, with a 2kw transmitter
I thought the frequency that the ballast runs the lamp at is the problematic one(from the ballast to the bulb, as the ballast changes the frequency of standard current to 60hz or whatever...I don't know that to be the case though)
if the line feeding your receptacles from the main service is also emitting RFI, then why would a gavita fixture that has a very short lamp cord to reduce RFI, not show high amounts of RFI through the service cables? not trying to say right or wrong...I just want to understand.
I'm not overly concerned with the RFI/cops driving through my hood on AM radio, as I know the majority of the growers in my area are all using digi ballasts...I just can't stand my directv buggin out in the middle of the finals etc...
plus, the added benefit of potentially making the RFI as discreet as possible just for the sake of the added security is not a bad thing...just because 90% of the folks around me are not concerned with it, doesn't automatically mean I shouldn't go through the extra measures to insure I'm keeping myself as safe as possible..
the biggest reason I have any concerns with RFI is there is a house probably slightly less than 1/4 mile away that has 5+ BIG, very TALL ham radio antenna's, so I'm sure the guy is pretty damn serious about his radios...and my grandfather used to be big into HAM, and some of the things he has said he was able to do with just a radio were surprising to say the least.
my grandpa won a bet in the 50's that he could start his car(at his place of work) from his house 10 miles away...he won that bet! LOL using his HAM radio, with a 2kw transmitter
A few years back, Lumatek jacked up the frequency of their 1000w ballast to get a competitive advantage (i.e. more light). Today, name-brand digital ballasts are shielded at the ballast. However, high frequency ballasts still produce RFI through the lamp cord...it acts as a transmitting antenna. That is why you see Gavita, Phillips, etc. with the ballast mounted directly to the reflector (one of the reasons, anyway).
I don't think you have to worry about cops tuning their AM radios to detect growers. They would use purpose-built technical equipment to do it.
Surprised that the HAM radio guy hasn't had problems as a result of your neighbor. Maybe he is far enough away that it is not an issue.
I don't think you have to worry about cops tuning their AM radios to detect growers. They would use purpose-built technical equipment to do it.
Surprised that the HAM radio guy hasn't had problems as a result of your neighbor. Maybe he is far enough away that it is not an issue.
