oldergrower
Member
Just wanted to start a thread about electromagnetic interference with digital ballasts.
Just took the plunge to digital (solis tek matrix) very recently and immediately noticed
my blue labs ph meter was jumping around when checking the ph in my res which is below
my tube system below the light hood. Did not click that it came from the new setup the
first day, but when it happened on the second day it hit me that I had to be getting some EMI.
So, I took a sample of my res and moved away from my grow room, recalibrated the meter
and checked ph. Reading was fine no jumping around of meter. Went back into the room not
under the light and checked the same sample was within .1 ph. Put meter into res again and
got the ph swing from 5.3 to 6.3, just jumped all over.
I have not tried to check a sample above the light yet but it seems to only affect my ph meter
below the light, maybe grounding of the light fixture may block the emi except downward if using a fixture?
I have knowledge of frequency and harmonics and it seems the ballast frequency used and
the harmonics emitted just happens to interfere with my blue labs ph meter. Also with this ballast
I am using a super sun 2 hood with a new Hortilux 1000W hps ebalast compatable bulb.
Any thoughts from our great online community? Anyone want me to do other checks about this situation?
This info may help someone meter/equipment problems when using a digital ballast.
Best of luck and keep growing, OG
Just took the plunge to digital (solis tek matrix) very recently and immediately noticed
my blue labs ph meter was jumping around when checking the ph in my res which is below
my tube system below the light hood. Did not click that it came from the new setup the
first day, but when it happened on the second day it hit me that I had to be getting some EMI.
So, I took a sample of my res and moved away from my grow room, recalibrated the meter
and checked ph. Reading was fine no jumping around of meter. Went back into the room not
under the light and checked the same sample was within .1 ph. Put meter into res again and
got the ph swing from 5.3 to 6.3, just jumped all over.
I have not tried to check a sample above the light yet but it seems to only affect my ph meter
below the light, maybe grounding of the light fixture may block the emi except downward if using a fixture?
I have knowledge of frequency and harmonics and it seems the ballast frequency used and
the harmonics emitted just happens to interfere with my blue labs ph meter. Also with this ballast
I am using a super sun 2 hood with a new Hortilux 1000W hps ebalast compatable bulb.
Any thoughts from our great online community? Anyone want me to do other checks about this situation?
This info may help someone meter/equipment problems when using a digital ballast.
Best of luck and keep growing, OG