interference from MH ballast?

know-it-all

know-it-all

New member
I just got 250w MH Electronic ballast from hellolights
My tank is about 8 feet from my TV.

You probobly guesed it, I'm now getting EMI on my TV screen
when the ballast is on.

I've already got the EMI filter for the tv to plug into,
Doesn't help a whole lot

Any other suggestions?
 
More than likely you have a bad connection on the coaxial cable. Interference does not penetrate coaxial cable, have someone watch the TV while you wiggle the connections until you isolate the problem area.
 
I have the same problem with my MH ballasts. Started the minute I turned pluged my MH's in goes off when they go out.

I have Satellite. My tank is 12 feet from my tv, all my connectiions are good (nice and tight, and gold connectors) , and it ONLY happens when watching the Satellite. It does not affect the DVD or the PS2.

Also, my Lights are on a seperate electrical circuit as well.
 
I have no problems with the TV but my controllers flucuate from the eballasts.. I have satelitte also. I use DVI though for my HD box...
 
GoW, hows the tank doing?

Guess I'm going back to Radio Shack to get some heavy duty cables

I was just hoping that it was something easy like make
an alumium shield around the ballast
(guess that isn't as easy as it sounds)
 
The tank is good.

I am seeing a little bit of a raise in phosphates right now, but I am working on getting that back down.

I have tried hevier cables but they did not work... I am at a loss as to how to get rid of the interference???
 
I had the same problem. I have 2 250W Ice Cap's. Plugged them in for the first time....tank looks sweet!!!.....look at TV, looks like S*&%!!! I had lines running down the screen.

Called Ice Cap, they said no way, check your connections. So I too checked all my connections (wiggle them while someone watched the TV), nothing. After fooling around unplugging different things I finally found the culprit, bad ground in my VCR.

Oh ya, my lights are on the same circuit as my TV.

99% ground issue.
 
So because of the bad grounding the ballasts were causing problems? My tv is getting interference too, so if some connections don't ahve a grounding plug then the ballasts could cause interference?
 
Yeah samething happened to me, on a DIY MH lighthood i made. As soon as the lights went on, I got interference on the TV. I tried the filter from radio shack, but didn't help a thing. I tried shielding the wires with aluminum duct tape, but that also didn't work. It ended up being the ground for the light. Make sure, if you can find where it connects in the light fixture, that the ground connection for the 3-prong plug comming from the lights is connected to as much metal bulk as it can be, and also that that connection has good contact with bare metal, not painted.
 
Yes, a bad ground will cause the Ballast's to cause interference with the TV.

Oh ya, good point on the ground on the MH. You need to make sure you have the ballast and the mogul socket grounded as well.
 
On my Ballast's there is a ground screw, from which connects to the socket, via Ground. wire.

And of course from the Ballast to the 110 socket is another ground.
 
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