[RFI] Grow Light Electronic Ballasts

[Eric - VE3GSI]

Larry,
I ran in to the same problem a number of years ago with grow lights for my 
own use. The dealer at the time told me they would not cause any radio 
interference. The lights not only 'wrote-off' most of the HF band, 
especially 80 meters, they were also causing small fleck's of picture noise 
on a TV connected to a satellite receiver. The noise was a loud constant 
'hash' on the HF bands. I even took time to ground the metal reflector, 
which helped, but by no means was a total cure.

Sorry I can not remember the brand, they did had an electronic ballast and 
were designed to push the fluorescent grow tubes to the limit to get maximum 
brightness. Since I had already told the dealer if they cause an issue with 
my radios he would get them back, so he had no problem with me returning 
them

If indeed they are fluorescent tubes, I can suggest replacing the ballast 
with an old fashion high power transformer-type ballast, not the low-power 
(23W?) tree hugger brands found in most retail stores.

Good luck,
Eric - VE3GSI

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Larry Benko"
Sent: Saturday, November 12, 2011 4:09 PM
Subject: [RFI] Grow Light Electronic Ballasts


>  Just FYI.  W0IVJ and I have been tracking down and making measurements
> on  these extremely nasty RF interference sources for the past 17
> months.  They measure 40dB above the FCC Part 18 limits.  Take a look at
> http://www.w0qe.com/RF_Interference/grow_light_electronic_ballasts.html
>
> 73,
> Larry, W0QE