RFI Interference question

[DSXJ]

Hey guys, so with these new digital ballasts I have noticed I have some RFI. I dont think it extends to that far of a radius because every electronic in my house is not effected. How ever my Alarm clock beside my bed when on AM Radio is all goofed up, I know AM detects RFI and this was the first sign. I took the same alarm clock on the same AM station and plugged it in across the room (5-7 feet from ballast) and no interference.

Do you think that it is possible that the RFI disturbance is in a 5-6 foot radius only and will not disturb anything outside of this?

Curious, thanks for the replies!!

 

[DSXJ]

bump

 

[GreatLife4All]

I have issues using my pH meter when I am close to my digital ballast.

A five to six foot radius seems about right. And I believe that the bulb generates it's own field as well.

 

[DrTentgrow]

Never heard of this before but tomorrow I take my little shower radio to my grow room put it on AM and report back here

 

[GreatLife4All]

It really depends on the quality of the ballast - some are shielded better than others. The cheap ones are never shielded adequately.

 

[DrTentgrow]

Also higher powered ballasts might cause more interference, I have 2 maxibright 400w ballasts so will test them.

 

[GreatLife4All]

I have two 1,000W ballasts - one of them is bad and one is fine (as far as RFI is concerned).

The more expensive one was purchased under duress when my ballast quit working one night. But for the added price, I got good RFI shielding. I believe the more expensive ballast is UL listed... which means you can't have high levels of RFI.

 

[DSXJ]

Thanks for the responses.

It seems that it is only affecting 5-6 feet as my radio works in the other room no problem.

No issues anyway, it was the Apollo brand ( Not the best ) and 600w but I thought through my research that no one has posted if they were using a tent or not. I found that 90% of users experience high RFI are not using a tent and that the ballast and bulb are in the same room ( When specified if using tent or not ). With this, I have mine in a tent and I have zero complaints from neighbors as well, so thumbs up from this guy and we're good to grow!

Not like I was worried since I am carded but I was generally making sure I didn't attract unwanted attention by pissing off the neighbors.

All is well, let me know how your test goes DrTentGrow.

 

[GreatLife4All]

Mine are in a tent.

But the ballast and bulb are within 5 ft of each other. And where I take pH readings is right between the two.

And - I never had any trouble till I went to 1,000 watts.