[RFI] cops zero in on noisy grow light ballasts

[Gary Smith]

Dave,

Glad this info will be of help to you in cutting back on RFI in your 
area. 

Ever since I can recall, I've thought about growing fresh veggies in 
the winter time. Always wished I didn't have to wait till Spring to 
plant in the garden. Impossible for the most of my life, plants under 
a floodlight don't do well and are too weak & spindly to survive.

Some years ago, back in my Chiropractic Office I had a spare room I 
tried growing flowers in under a 1000 Watt Sodium Growlux light and I 
gave them away to patients as the plants matured. It was a good 
will-promo thing that was always fun but the heat it created was a 
problem as I couldn't close the door and I had to blow the heat into 
the main office and besides, it was expensive power required overall 
and was becoming less fun so I stopped doing it and sold the fixture.

I never brought my at the time, Drake TR7 to the office to play with 
so I have no idea of if it generated RFI or not. 

I still have always admired the idea of growing veggies inside so 
they can get the effect of full sun with no cloudy days and proper 
feeding at all times. I never tried at home for the reasons above but 
seeing the LED module that he has and how well the plants are growing 
indoors, that the heat and cost of operation is so low, well, it got 
my attention. Another biggie is I like the 50,000 hours of longevity 
of the LEDs and that makes it cost effective and will probably last 
for what is left of my lifetime.

I found out a couple more things for you to add to your handout about 
these:

You are able to adjust the amount of light generated using an 
internal control (potentiometer?) you adjust with a Philips head. 

Each of the control boards offers a max of about 250W down to about 
half of that.

The COBs are run in series to the driver, not parallel.

The address for the heatsink manufacturer is:
http://www.heatsinkusa.com/

Good luck with the RFI issues.

73,

Gary
KA1J



> Hi,
> 
> THANK YOU!  I will contact Jerry directly...  Thanks again!!!  Our club
> has a handout for growers, and on that handout is a list of items which
> may help in RFI cases.  , and if this pans out as a useful device, we
> will add it to the list...
> 
> You have probably helped several other hams in Oregon as well with your
> work...  THANKS AGAIN!
> 
> -- 
> 73's, and thanks,
> Dave
> 
> For software/hardware reviews see:
> http://www.nk7z.net
> 
> For MixW support see:
> https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/mixw/info
> 
> For SSTV help see:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/MM-SSTV/info
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, 2016-02-17 at 16:12 -0500, Gary Smith wrote:
> > Dave, I wrote the info down in case I want to make the YL a Birthday 
> > present. A tad expensive for a gift but if it will let her grow 
> > tomatoes year round, it'll make her happy with me and that always 
> > bodes well... ;)
> > 
> > The Circuits On Board (COB) LEDs are CXB3590 series
> > 
> > Apparently there are two varieties; 36V and 72V I don't know if one 
> > is different other than the other other than the 36V version
> > requires 
> > twice the amps of the 72V version. The one he showed me had 4 
> > different ones on it; 3000K, 3500K, 4000 & 5000 The make other 
> > spectra but I don't know what they are. Apparently there are 
> > different light spectrum versions of the CXB3590 depending on their 
> > specific use in growing.
> > 
> > The drivers for the LEDS is
> > HLG-185H-C700A  for 72V LEDs
> > HLG-185H-C1400A for 36V LEDs
> > 
> > Contact information 
> > 
> > Jerry, is the distributor
> > jl at kingbrite.cn
> > 
> > http://m.kingbriteled.en.alibaba.com/productlist.html
> > 
> > 
> > I don't have any other particulars but this should be helpful when
> > it 
> > comes to getting the RFI down in your neighborhood.
> > 
> > 73,
> > 
> > Gary
> > KA1J
> > 
> > 
> > > Can you provide model numbers?
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