Electronic ballast RF interference status

[The Slickster]

When the Lumateks' heat sink get hot, that means it is doing its job in sending the heat out instead of keeping it in. This will extend the life, like a hot fosgate car amplifier, you could fry an egg on that thing. The safest thing is to mount it in an area where it gets decent air flow or has free space to dissipate the heat into, this will cool it down and extend the life and keep it working like brand new. You could get it a small fan, keep the ballast in a seperate location or even air cool it through a constructable enclosure to send heat out. But not necessary, just options where heat is concerned, some magnetic coil ballasts give out more if not the same amounts of heat once they get going, is just part of the equation.

Now on the frequency, what the 5-0 are looking for is the standard frequencies of the magnetic coil and ballast that have been common in past years. These digital frequencies are too much alike to other digital circuitry and componentry that is usually throughout a house. This is why one should actually opt for a digital ballast where security concerns are high. Just make sure it is interference free and you are gold.

 

[Guest]

i want to know if a digital is that much quieter than a magnetic?

i dont know know how loud either are, but stealth is needed.

 

[clowntown]

Completely silent.

 

[Guest]

how loud are the regular magnetic ones tho?

i mean, its about a 150 price difference between the 2 if im thinking right

 

[clowntown]

Can be from a soft hum to a loud buzz. Depends on wattage, model, and age / condition. Nowadays there's hardly a price difference.

 

[willbeHigh]

I have the GALAXY 400 watt switchable electronic.Been running for 3 months now.No interferences at all.cordless phone,corded phone,computuer,cable,internet,radio am or fm,my next door neighbor {dulplex house} no promblems with RF at all.The ballast has been on 5 1/2 hours now and I can put my hands all over it, warm not hot at all,no noise.I like it so much I got two of them.One for veg&one for flowering.No promblems here at all.The Galaxy has a 3 year warranty.Its green in color and wt 11lbs.made in china just like everything is theses days. peace

 

[Guest]

Kick-ass thread! very cool of everyone to share their expeience with these ballasts, i have been unwilling to try them out cuz of all the bad things ive heard about them in the past but i guess it will take time for the manufacturers to fine tune these ballasts to work properly. When i do get one im gonna build a small steel frame box covered with 2 sheet of brass screening, this will allow airflow and should block out any RF signals from the ballast. This is called a "farady cage" ..copper, silver or any other ferrous metal will work fine, some movie theatres roofs are lined with copper mesh to stop cell phones from ringing during the movie, some gov't buildings like FEMA are completely covered in a cage within the walls- so that no information can be transmitted outside the building, (wifi,cell phones) it is time to use their technology to protect ourselves. Currently im working on a mini cage to protect my cell phone from being tapped- its just a regular cell phone case which i cut open and lined it with copper foil, i sewed it back up and put the cell phone in it and guess what! When i call it- it does not ring or get service, sure beats taking the battery out to protect my privacy.

Even with your cell phone turned off- they can hear every word in the room.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O61YfvPZGJs&eurl=

 

[Guest]

I just want to give you guys my experience. I bought a 400 lumatek (switched from a 250w coil) and use a MH for veg and Hortilux HPS for flower in a cool tube with internal reflector. Let me break it down since I am high and need come help

Heat: I though it would just be too much to stick in my 5x5x8 closet with no ventalation but I was wrong... with the door shut it is aroun 75-78f and with he door open it stays 70-75. Please note is is winter though... but this is the MH bulb which hear runs a bit hotter than the HPS which I haven't tried yet, but soon..I could also contribute this to the cool tube I wired up...

The ballast has been running 24/7 for about a week now (just switched to 18/6). The ballast can easily be picked up and held for as long as I want... without it burning me, it is really warm, but not even close compared to me coiled 250... which says a lot because of the watt difference. My 250 was REALLL hot compared to this thing. My room (where the remote ballast is) stays about 70f though.

Noise: Absolutley none whatsoever. The 'silent' floor fan I have in my closet makes 10 times the amount of noise. My 250 hummed real loud, drove me fucking insane. The no-noise was worth the $ for the lumatek in the first place.

Interference: I tested it with cable TV with Tivo, DSL MODEM, CABLE MODEM, 3 DIFFERENT cell phones/companies, AM/FM radio and a few other appliances. They were all around 2 or less feet. Nothing was intered at all. These things are just great!

Capabilities: Switching from MH to HPS is my #1 reason for getting this thing, it is working so well!

In conclusion, LEO having a device in order to track you down is not only unlikley, but if it were possible he would have to use it, narrowing it down to only your house/apartment building. Which means they had a 'tip/huntch' you were growing anyways. Such a device if used in a decently sized, broad area (like your block, or 'area')would give off all kinds of signals...It is just as likley they suspect you running a large light with a coil HPS with the large electricity spike that happens everytime the light is turned on/off... whcih goes away with the lumatek BTW...

It is worth every penny guys, enough said.

 

[Guest]

Excellet Thread Clown........

Excellet Thread Clown........

Just because you are paranoid ..... doesn't mean they are not out to get us. This is a civil war, and we ARE the resistence. We need to remember to take it to the extremes it deserves as far a protecting our selves.

Who's kids have been in school and taught to tell on their families for certain activities??????????? DARE! We are living in a time that comes very close to using the tactics Nazi Germany used in the early stages. Not that it will come to that but definitely some of those same tactics are being used.

Peace and stay safe! It is a war out there.

Ruby_eyed--good input and heads up. Will start on mine tom..... give you some rep for that.

 

[clowntown]

Ruby_eyed, I agree that would be a Good Thing(tm). I've seen similar setups on smaller scales as well.

What do you folks think about Poly Shield? Good for just IR, or RF as well?

Background: One reason I ask is during my days as an IT guy, I oftentimes worked in these "Internet Data Centers", buildings that housed lots of high-end, mission-critical web servers and the like. All of the major websites are housed in IDC's like these, with raised floors, tons of A/C, etc. Anyways, each customer is assigned a particular amount of floor space, typically divided by a chainlink fence cage. However, the really high-end customers with sensitive data flowing would opt for what was marketed as "data vaults", which were enclosures that were lined with a copper mesh screen material. They said this copper mesh would block RF signals or such, so that no data can accidentally escape through the cables, and no data across the cables can otherwise be interfered from outside sources. This was a requirement for a certain level of security clearance of computing, for computers holding / processing sensitive data.

 

[Guest]

Sorry fire got my 103's and 104's mixed up lol.Why did you get raintight though?They are a bit more pricey but it really doesnt matter,your setup is neater than mine.The only advantage the WH40 has over the T-104 is the external on-off lever which can come in handy at times.

 

[Fire]

ballastman - i got the t104r because it was the only 240v timer box on the shelves @ the store :wink:

for clowntown

--------------------------------------------

Make: Lumatek
Model: LT6240; New, blue version.
Type: 600w HPS, 240v



Broadband Cable Internet: OK
Cellular: OK - all networks
HD Satellite TV: OK

Notes: No noise what-so-ever. Hydrofarm AllSystem cord set used. Gets fairly warm after a few hours (similar heat to magnetic ballasts, pretty hot to the touch). Great startup times. Using Hortilux bulbs and so far so good.......imo at the moment, these ballasts are great! I prefer them over very loud core n coils....

only been runnning a few weeks though!

thanks for lookin :wink:

 

[Guest]

 

[Guest]

The AM/FM radio was fine anywhere but right next to, or on the ballast. When the radio was placed next to the ballast, there was interference. Anywhere outside of 12" from the ballast the AM/FM radio is good to go. All other devices tested near the ballast showed no signs of interference. The ballast has the name Siegeng on it and appears to be identical to the black one from page one. Would this ballast be considered safe to use?

Thank you,

SecretAsainMan

 

[marx2k]

Hello. Wondering if anyone has experience with the 250W Galaxy MH/HPS Digital Ballast?

Got mine from here http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/Itemdesc.asp?ic=HLBADIGA02&eq=&Tp=

Waiting on arrival.

By the way, for those who are paranoid (and it's definately healthy to be paranoid), you must remember that not everyone who buys these sorts of things are growing marijuana. There are a *LOT* of indoor gardeners and aquarium owners who purchase these items. If it was just marijuana cultivators, these items would skyrocket in cost since the economy of scale would work against you.

 

[Deft]

Bump for a good thread.

 

[fourtwenty]

Any feedback on the 1kw Evolution ballast?

 

[Guest]

Beware.......

Beware.......

Watch out if you are on electronic monitoring. A friend is on it and it kept showing him gone when he was really there. Just a word to the unfortunate.

Peace

 

[ItsGrowTime]

Watch out if you are on electronic monitoring. A friend is on it and it kept showing him gone when he was really there. Just a word to the unfortunate.

Peace

I imagine if you are on house arrest then you probably shouldnt be growing!

 

[TGT]

I think it is VERY possible for LEO to scan say a high rise building for grow-ops with a device by using an average ballasts electronic signature. I don't know if it has been done yet but I do know there is a huge problem with people in Toronto using high rises for muti-apartment grow-ops because of the hydro being all inclusive and stacked three to six floors every meter. Sometimes the whole building uses just one meter! The only problem I see is a fire hazard, but that is not to say they don't have technology like this available right now to use against growers. If they were to walk from floor to floor scanning the hall ways I can't see it NOT being possible for this method to work.

I don't think it would be feasible to home owners unless they already suspected you of growing. It would be another tool and information to add to their list to get that search warrant they want all to often. If you are apartment growing in a high rise that is known for growing I would be very concerned.

TGT