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Do electronic ballast still interfere with wifi/internet ? ??

What size fuse provides power to the garage, and what's the voltage?

If it's a 6 amp fuse, and you have 110v, the math is 6x100. 660 watts.

Where 110 is common, you're quite likely to find 16 amp circuits feeding garages. Enough for lighting and a power tool. Perhaps a mower. But 3x600 would blow the budget.

Pop to the distribution point and have a look


Edit: I think we are some way off topic here.

The garage will have new electric installed. Its needed for a new car lift being installed also so i have to re run wires lol. My normal circuit ran 600watt hps\ 8inch inline\portable a/c with no issues last summer. All my new equip will be separated to its own circuit.
 

wvkindbud38

Elite Growers Club
Veteran
I just wonder how the newer Galaxy grow amp and Hydrofarm phantom digital ballast do against the wifi. I think one has internal rf shield and the other has some kind of rf shielding......I'm talking somebody running a grow in your home/basement and has internet/Wi-Fi also without any interference??? I've seen these Nanolux ballast has a rf shield thing you buy to plug inline or something. But I've heard bad things with Nanolux. But if anybody's got the Galaxy or Hydrofarm electronic ballast I'm curious if there knocking your WiFi signal. You can get nice looking Hydrofarm Phantom and Galaxy ballast used pretty cheap on eBay. Ones things for sure I see used electronic ballast by the pallets on eBay. The last 10yrs or so alot of commercial growers have popped up and there's lots of used ballast to be had. The old magnetics are expensive to ship and cost more than electronical ballast to ship. I've give thought to getting a used phantom or Galaxy to use as a back up if I found someone using one that's got internet wifi in next room
 

Bobby Boucher

Active member
Your signal might go totally 100% uninterrupted while the rest of the neighborhood suffers, as was the case with my e-ballast fiasco.

Hard to be sure of any e-ballast at that rate without either calling the cable company or checking in with your neighbors.
 

Handlebar

New member
I purchased a newer de 1000 watt digi (china knockoff ) obviously with no shielding and it was horrible with interference. If you Turn on am radio you could hear a pulse. Cable company turned off my internet and sent someone to how to find out reason of noise. If your by airport even worse fucks with communication. So be careful.
I am sure newer ones are fine from reputable companies. I switched back to my magnetic work horses to avoid and more mishaps.
 

popta

Member
I'm a bit late to this thread but earlier there was some confusion/contention about "two way wires" and whether physics really worked like that. 100% yes that is a thing. Electronic devices don't just take power from the grid like a one way street, they also put signals back into it. It's why you sometimes hear your neighbour's power saw through your stereo, and also why big factories have those capacitor farms out behind them. It's an old problem with lots of government standards and regulation required to keep electronics from polluting the grid. So yes, your grow ballast could conceivably cause a "signature" noise on the power line that could be recognized by the utility company. I'm not saying I know of utility companies hunting growers down, just that anyone who believes devices can't put noise back onto the line isn't very familiar with electronics.

A well made switch mode power supply will have a multi-stage RF noise filter and a "power factor correction" unit on the input. Together these greatly reduce the signature the device imparts on the line. Including these components naturally adds cost, weight and size to the power supply but the government mandates many electronics makers include them, for all of our benefit. Devices are lumped into different classes that are regulated more or less strictly. Computers and TVs are held to some of the tightest standards, the switching supplies in those have to be very very good. I don't know what class horticultural lighting falls in, but I think it's a safe bet that the cheapest Chinese ballasts wouldn't bother to comply with it anyways.

Just to be clear, the issue I'm talking about here is noise from the device being conducted back down the wall plug and out onto the grid, not noise being radiated from the lamp side of the device into the air. Both are problems, but separate ones with their own causes/solutions/and regulations.
 

CannaRed

Cannabinerd
I'm a bit late to this thread but earlier there was some confusion/contention about "two way wires" and whether physics really worked like that. 100% yes that is a thing. Electronic devices don't just take power from the grid like a one way street, they also put signals back into it. It's why you sometimes hear your neighbour's power saw through your stereo, and also why big factories have those capacitor farms out behind them. It's an old problem with lots of government standards and regulation required to keep electronics from polluting the grid. So yes, your grow ballast could conceivably cause a "signature" noise on the power line that could be recognized by the utility company. I'm not saying I know of utility companies hunting growers down, just that anyone who believes devices can't put noise back onto the line isn't very familiar with electronics.

A well made switch mode power supply will have a multi-stage RF noise filter and a "power factor correction" unit on the input. Together these greatly reduce the signature the device imparts on the line. Including these components naturally adds cost, weight and size to the power supply but the government mandates many electronics makers include them, for all of our benefit. Devices are lumped into different classes that are regulated more or less strictly. Computers and TVs are held to some of the tightest standards, the switching supplies in those have to be very very good. I don't know what class horticultural lighting falls in, but I think it's a safe bet that the cheapest Chinese ballasts wouldn't bother to comply with it anyways.

Just to be clear, the issue I'm talking about here is noise from the device being conducted back down the wall plug and out onto the grid, not noise being radiated from the lamp side of the device into the air. Both are problems, but separate ones with their own causes/solutions/and regulations.

So is there a device that we could plug our equipment into that would give us an extra layer of sense of security?
An aftermarket stand alone that is the equivalent of the internal components of the higher end ballasts.

My extra sun 600w says it could interfere with maritime communications. I'm in mountain creek area so no boats.
But I have a few 2005ish light/ballast combos also that I wonder about.

We don't have cable out here yet. Alot of satellite TV and internet.
Fiber optic networks are getting closer and closer but not to my area yet.
 

wvkindbud38

Elite Growers Club
Veteran
I've noticed Hydrofarm has come out with)or already had a small device/thing that plugs into the ballast cord. I'm guessing it's to help with rf interference??? I don't have a link but there available online. Has anyone used any of these things I'm talking about??
 

Bobby Boucher

Active member
High end ballast or no, electronic ballasts run on seriously nuts-o frequencies.

You can buy after market 'ferules', but I don't see the risk being worth the reward in an illegal state, period.

The right way to do things if you absolutely insisted on using e-ballasts would be to amazon the proper equipment to detect the levels of interference, learn how to properly use said equipment, and then return everything to sears or kholls or whatever when you were done with it. My AM radio sounded fine 10' away from the ballasts. It's not a conclusive test.

I would bet that you would have to invest more into ferules and shit to quiet down your signals than it would ever be worth as opposed to just buying magnetic ballasts, which run on the same 60 hz frequency as basically every other household appliance.
 

popta

Member
So is there a device that we could plug our equipment into that would give us an extra layer of sense of security?
An aftermarket stand alone that is the equivalent of the internal components of the higher end ballasts.

My extra sun 600w says it could interfere with maritime communications. I'm in mountain creek area so no boats.
But I have a few 2005ish light/ballast combos also that I wonder about.

We don't have cable out here yet. Alot of satellite TV and internet.
Fiber optic networks are getting closer and closer but not to my area yet.

It wouldn't be practical to use a plug in replacement for the power factor correction stage, but yeah RF noise filters do exist as an inline item. It's important that the current you draw from it is within it's rated range or it will "saturate" and stop filtering noise. I know there are power strips on the market that claim to include an RF filter but they seem light on specs and proof to me. If I were wanting to do this I'd probably buy a certified filter myself and wire it up with a socket in a cheap junction box. Here's an example of a 10amp filter: https://www.digikey.ca/product-detail/en/schurter-inc/5500.2030/486-2185-ND/641651
 

popta

Member
Maybe worth a second reminder that I'm talking about the WALL side of the ballast only. Don't put a filter like this inline with the lamp side of the ballast! No beuno. I think your best bet on that side would be running the lamp cord through grounded conduit. It may be that the majority of the RF is radiated from the arc tube in the bulb itself rather than the lamp cord though. The tools needed to measure this stuff and answer these questions in a concrete way are >$10,000 so realistically it's going to be a hope for the best situation for any grower who's doesn't happen to know an RF engineer.
 
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