Got my new 600 hps/mh setup today, and i can't listin to radio

have you tryed plugging in the radio on a differant breaker,it may be a pain to run an extension cord but may be your only option,I have read that they also mess with the digital tv boxes also, so if you live in an apartment you may be messing with someones tv reception and sooner or later the repair man will be looking for the problem
 
snocat said:
have you tryed plugging in the radio on a differant breaker,it may be a pain to run an extension cord but may be your only option,I have read that they also mess with the digital tv boxes also, so if you live in an apartment you may be messing with someones tv reception and sooner or later the repair man will be looking for the problem
Click to expand...

they are on 2 seperate breakers, and the wires are ran on oppisit sides of my house,
 
ok I fixed it, the power wire for the ballast was messing with the ATENNA on the radio, at first i thought it was something to do with interfearence in the power wires
 
I've read similar posts that have similar problems and they recommend trying different outlets. If I remember right there are a few people that have contacted various dealers about thier products and haven't gotten the most favorable replies. But this sounds like a serious problem as you could be interfering with someone else and draw attention to yourself as KushDog pointed out. Soooooo...I looked up some info for you. Contained herafter are various selections taking from various websites ..I'll try and include the addys.

Quality- When purchasing a digital ballast, the consumer must be aware that there are a few “black sheep” in the digital ballast family. There are many inferior quality digital ballasts on the market; these manufacturers proclaim amazing power savings but don’t deliver. BetterGrow Hydro has looked at numerous digital ballasts over the past several years and we have settled on the Lumatek brand for specific reasons. Below are the results of our in store tests with various brands of ballasts. Gathering data was conducted using a wattage meter and a Hanna Light Meter, both of which are available to our customers should they wish to purchase these meters and run their own tests. The tests follow this selection on the source page.

600w Lumatek Moderate Interference.



none​
600w Galaxy Extreme interference (Cannot hear radio transmission) when bulb fires (lasts about 30 seconds), Once bulbs has fired and the lamp is being maintained RF interference is High (Can hear radio broadcast but with considerable static).


none​
750w LumatekModerate Interference for 2-5 seconds while the ballast first fires bulb. No interference after bulb successfully fires.


none​
1000w Evolution Moderate Interference
none​


30ft AM 30ft FM 600w Lumatek Slight interference (Radio broadcast is clear with a slight amount of interference in the background).



none​
600w Galaxy Slight interference (Radio broadcast is clear with a slight amount of interference in the background).


none​
750w Lumateknone


none​
1000w Evolution Slight interference (Radio broadcast is clear with a slight amount of interference in the background).

none​

RF Interference -
Customers should avoid all digital ballasts that do not have RF shielded lamp cords. The RF interference from these digital ballasts is substantial. If you do not see a metal shield between the outer coat and the wires on the inside of the lamp cord, the cord is not shielded. Digital ballasts do not interfere with FM radio stations but do cause static on AM stations. The better quality digital ballasts, such as the Lumatek, cause the least amount of interference. It should be noted here that the 750w Lumatek ballast we tested was of their latest revision. Ironically, this revision does not utilize an RF shielded lamp cord; Lumatek claims that this is due to internal changes made to the ballast that make the RF shielding unnecessary, and as you can see by the test results, it produced virtually no interference after the first few seconds. Lumatek claims that all of their ballasts will utilize this same construction in the near future. Same page..
 
Here is another selection ..they keep refering to a 'filter' you can put on the line.

Subject: Re: ballast interference

I don't have experience quieting down noisy ballasts, but I have worked
with a number of other EMI (ElectroMagnetic Interference) problems.

Interference can be caused by conducted or radiated signals, or both.
Conducted signals come out through the power line and get into the TV
through it's power cord. To fix it put a filter on the power line of
the unit generating the interference, as close to the ballast as
possible to prevent the power cord from radiating interference. The
clicks and pops when a light turns on are both conducted and radiated,
but my GUESS is that any buzzing when the unit is running is radiated
interference, but the only way to tell for sure is to experiment. The
electronic ballasts need to switch on and off to work right. If the
ballast is a poor design that emits a lot of radiated noise on the
outputs then you probably can't fix that easily, but you can reduce the
amount it radiates. The wires going from the ballast to the bulbs act
as antennas to radiate the interference signals. Bundle the wires
tightly together, or better yet, twist or braid them together. Keep the
wires as close as possible to a grounded reflector or metal hood. Also
if the ballast itself is not sheilded than a grounded metal sheild
around the ballast may quiet things down.


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Frank Ball 1UR-M frankb at sr_hp.com
Hewlett-Packard (707) 794-4168 work
 
Does that set up come with a good hps bulb? Thinking on getting the same one! Thats a great price! Hood isnt the best but can upgrade that later on down the road.
 
Yeah im just really tight on money at the moment an im using a 400w Mh nwith 2 different bulbs one for budding and one for flowering but wasnt impressed last harvest with it so I think this is my best optiom. Even if I have to buy a better bulb. That whole set up is only 180.00.
 
After reading the posts I put up you still want to buy a no name ballast? I would put my money behind the people that have been doing it for years and have the longest warrenty in the industry..
 
i had the same problem with my computer speakers. i could never watch movies or listen to tunes when the light was on. sucked big time
 
It comes with 600 watt hps and 600 watt Mh bulbs, It is "APOLLO HORTCULTURE" brand dimmable. I had my Atenna to close to the exsention cord, I moved the Radio and it works fine now. I made a $10 cool tube for it $10 Glass vase from Walmart. works good, lowed my room temp from 92 down to 83 . The refletor is Ok, not the best but work great
 
KushDog said:
It comes with 600 watt hps and 600 watt Mh bulbs, It is "APOLLO HORTCULTURE" brand dimmable. I had my Atenna to close to the exsention cord, I moved the Radio and it works fine now. I made a $10 cool tube for it $10 Glass vase from Walmart. works good, lowed my room temp from 92 down to 83 . The refletor is Ok, not the best but work great
Click to expand...

Yeah def thinking about ordering it tomorrow. I know for a fact its gonna be better then what i got now so screw it and dont have enough money to get a better set up. And I can just use that for something else (lil side job action):weed:
 
i have had the same prob. magnetic ballast throw a lot of emi (electro magnetic interference) put the radio as far from ballasts as possible and as high as possible also if there is a window in the room placing it near that would help too
 
KushDog said:
It comes with 600 watt hps and 600 watt Mh bulbs, It is "APOLLO HORTCULTURE" brand dimmable. I had my Atenna to close to the exsention cord, I moved the Radio and it works fine now. I made a $10 cool tube for it $10 Glass vase from Walmart. works good, lowed my room temp from 92 down to 83 . The refletor is Ok, not the best but work great
Click to expand...
Yo whats up Kushdog? How did you go about in making that cooltube? Can you post a pic?
 
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