light problem

[irishbing]

I have a 250W halide and when i turn it on, my tv gets staticy. What can i do?

Thanks

[SaltyDawg]

Move the balast farther away from your TV or use a recepticle your TV is not plugged into. Your getting electro magnetic disruption in your singal to the TV from your balast

[irishbing]

my tank is another room.

[serjuanca88]

What kind of ballast do you have?

 

Try putting it in a metal box. Like a toolbox or something.

[irishbing]

its an icecap in a box i bought from premium aquatics. the box is metal.

[bobioden]

Here is a couple threads in the Icecap Fourm at Reef Central on this subject. I was having the same problem and fixed it by tightening my coaxial cables.

 

HTH

 

Television Interference

 

Interference with tv

 

MH 250w ballast causing TV interference, solutions?

 

MH and television interference

[irishbing]

thanks . I tried the cables, tried wrapping the ballast box in foil but they didnt work. Im going to try the noise filter. My tv isnt cable tv. Most of the threads, i think, were cable tv. Is there a difference? Thanks.

[Undertheradar]

I use one of those icecaps (the new 250) in the metal box as well...never had a problem...no cable TV here either. Perhaps you should contact icecap...maybe your ballast isnt functioning properly (or it isnt hooked up properly). Heck, my ballast is about 15 feet from the TV no less. It could also be the bulb...funny as it sounds...I have had the bulbs themselves create plenty of hiss, whine, and RF noise. Might want to look into it.

[ccjung]

just my 0.02, but if you have some sort of chicken wire or other sort of "faraday cage" you can place it around your ballast, or place it around your light , whatever you suspect of the emissions, and it should absorb all RF coming from it. I dont exactly know the specs of a "good" faraday cage, so anyone else know if this will work, how to get it to work?

[jdidrgn]

If you are still having the problem, it is best to make sure that the ballast is on a separate circuit from the tv, meaning that the breaker that the outlet is connected to should be different. As long as the wire from the TV outlet and the ballast outlet are on the same breaker the noise will continue to be on the line. If that doesn't work Noise suppression is required to be placed on the line so that it doesn't continue on the line. To get an idea of what i am talking about this happens alot with the X10 products since they actual use a variating voltage. Hope this helps.

[irishbing]

Im going to try get a noise filter, i tried different outlets in the room, and one of them makes a little difference, but it comes back.

[irishbing]

I tried noise filter and it didnt work. Whats the X10 products?

[irishbing]

I also tried tightining the coxial cables,and wrapping the box in alumminum foil.

[jdidrgn]

X10 products are a Home automation item. These products are very sensitive to noise on your power line. A simple search for X10 can explain exactly what it is. I will talk to an Electrical Engineer I know and see if he has any ideas how to stop the bleed over to the TV from the ballast.

[Royalenchntrss]

do u have any splitters on the cable line, or try clipping all the grounds to the ballist clip you might also be still on the same circuit as the tv hth

i had the same prob

jc

[irishbing]

thanks for the help guys. I dont have an outside attanae and Ice Cap says its probably that. They said they would replace my ballast but that probably wouldnt help. Do magnetic ballasts give off some kind of "field" that may mess up the "bunny ears" on the tv?

Thanks for the help

[ccjung]

definately.. do what i was talking about.. Put some chicken wire around the ballast

it will catch all the EMF..

[ccjung]

chicken wire being 1/4 inch chicken wire...

[irishbing]

can i buy chicken wire at lowes or home depot?

[Bradbury]

i have the same exact problem, and will follow this thread for an answer, and put a solution if i fix mine.