ECN Electrical Forum
Discussion Forums for Electricians, Inspectors and Related Professionals

Thanks all for the welcome. Hopefully I will be able to add my 2 cents worth in the future.
Dave

Nhsparky, you have described a problem that a customer called me with to a tee. I talked with a resident electronics guru and he basically told me there was nothing that could be done, but he did not know about the different ballast type, I will see what these things cost and suggest them to my customer. Thanks for the info.

The type of balast does not only impact on electronics.

I know somebody with special needs kids (austic) and the school they attend had to change out the fixtures in the new additon that opened last September as the noise / EMI was affecing the whole class.

The teachers, GC site superintendent, and electrical contractor were the only ones who could not hear or feel what ever the ballast was putting out. The fixtures were swapped over a weekend and the classes behaviour change was noticable on Monday morning in the new wing.

I find it hard to accept that this is due any electro-magnetic field effect.
It is accepted that youngsters are susceptible to high frequency audio noise which is inaudible to older humans. Perhaps that is the cause here?

One solution to the RFI. Go to an electronic supplier and get some ferrite beads (choke) and put several on each lead leaving the ballast. I had this problem and they completely eliminated the RF noise. I keep a supply on the truck. Lots of switching power supplies create RFI. Ever wonder why lots of electronics has that lump on the power cord. Thats a ferrite choke to stop HF RFI from going out the cord. They are cheap and come in both tube style and split to allow installation on a connected wire.

New ballasts arrived today. I plan on installing them next week. I think I will bring my job radio in with me for a before and after test. The only problem is, on this job I am changing out old magnetic ballasts and T12 lamps for Electronic ballasts (residential grade) and T8 lamps. If all goes well there shouldn't be any RFI. We'll see!
Stay tuned
Dave

Well, the jury is in. We installed 9 ballasts today on one job, checking for RFI before and after.This job was replacing old magnetic ballasts and T12 lamps for electronic ballasts (residential grade) and T8 Lamps. No RFI noted before or after.
Second job of the day, replace two commercial grade electronic ballast with two new residential grade ballasts. RFI before the change was unbearable on the radio. RFI was nonexistent after the change.
So i guess the rule of the day is ,if your going to install flourescent fixtures in a residence, make sure you specify residential grade ballasts in your fixtures.
Dave