Noise Reduction in your Grow Room!
Does your ballast hum (all da do da day)?
Does your light make a loud clang when it comes on or a loud buzzing that calms down after 10 or 20 minutes, to just a hum? Is that hum too much for your peace of mind?
Then I have some ideas that will help reduce noise from your ballast. The first time some people turn on a 1,000 watt light they are shocked at how noisy they are.
***Have you had the neighbours complain about a strange noise? I’ve said things like: “I have a fish tank”, or “that must be my humidifier and I can’t sleep without it!”***
Let’s start with buying a new light, completely assembled. I would say to the store clerk that “I want to start up a few lights (with the light bulb) to hear how much noise it makes”.
This tells you a lot about how it was assembled and how tight the ballast is.
First pick up the unit and give it a little shake. Listen for anything (handles, screws, case and wires). If it makes any noise, put it down and move on to the next one. A properly assembled unit will make ZER0 noise when you shake it. These are the ones that you want the store clerk to start up for you. Remember that you are paying for the assembly! To save some money, you can buy a bare bones kit with an open mounting plate and assemble it yourself.
The ballast is made of many steel plates that are usually welded together in only four places. You can see the weld lines at the ends of the ballast. It is these steel plates that make the hum. Because the ballast is not tight, the plates vibrate and bang together. When the light comes on it makes a louder buzz because the plates are vibrating at different speeds. The ones in the middle are not moving at the same speed as the ones on the outside. After a few minutes all the plates move at the same speed and the buzz calms down to a hum.
My ballast is stripped down to the bare essentials. I tighten up my ballast and mount it on a cement wall. Now the loudest thing in my room is the click that the timer makes!
There are a lot of things that can amplify the hum of the ballast, stuff like the case, assembly, and the mounting. Where you have the unit installed can make a big difference. You can have it on the floor, the wall or even in another room. Sometimes the house or building is just one big amplifier. You have to find out what your problem is!! Sometimes there’s just nothing you can do about it, but try this.
If your ballast is on the floor: Try a piece of 1 inch or 2 inch thick white foam with a cinder block on the foam and your ballast or unit on the block. Do not use blue foam because it is too dense.
If you are going to hang the ballast on a wall: Use a very big strong hook screwed into a beam or stud. Drill a hole in the beam a little smaller than the hook so you don’t split the beam with your big hook. Hang the ballast so that it is NOT touching the wall!!(minimum 1.5 inches). When you are hanging the ballast THINK about the HEAT AND VIBRATIONS!!
What we are trying to do is separate the ballast from the building so the vibrations don’t get amplified and distributed through the building!
If this isn’t good enough, then we have to go inside the case.
WARNING: ALWAYS UNPLUG YOUR LIGHT AND WAIT 30 MINUTES BEFORE DOING ANY WORK INSIDE THE CASE!!!
*The ballast can hold a static charge for up to 30 minutes! If you change the position of your light bulb before the gases cool down, it will shorten the life expectancy of your bulb.*
After 30 minutes open the case to see what you have in there. You are going to take the ballast out. To do this, you have to disassemble the unit. It’s a good idea to tape and number every wire you take apart so you can put all back together right.
Now that we have the ballast out, you can see that there are 10 or 12 holes that go right through the steel plates.
Some of the holes are used for mounting and the rest we can use to tighten up your ballast.
If you put a nut and bolt in the holes that are not used for mounting and tighten them very tight, the ballast will stop humming. When you are tightening the nuts don’t tighten them one at a time. Go around the ballast and tighten each nut a little bit at time to keep it even.
Maybe you could try tightening the mounting nuts first before you disassemble the unit. It might be enough.
BE SAFE and THINK
do do do
Does your ballast hum (all da do da day)?
Does your light make a loud clang when it comes on or a loud buzzing that calms down after 10 or 20 minutes, to just a hum? Is that hum too much for your peace of mind?
Then I have some ideas that will help reduce noise from your ballast. The first time some people turn on a 1,000 watt light they are shocked at how noisy they are.
***Have you had the neighbours complain about a strange noise? I’ve said things like: “I have a fish tank”, or “that must be my humidifier and I can’t sleep without it!”***
Let’s start with buying a new light, completely assembled. I would say to the store clerk that “I want to start up a few lights (with the light bulb) to hear how much noise it makes”.
This tells you a lot about how it was assembled and how tight the ballast is.
First pick up the unit and give it a little shake. Listen for anything (handles, screws, case and wires). If it makes any noise, put it down and move on to the next one. A properly assembled unit will make ZER0 noise when you shake it. These are the ones that you want the store clerk to start up for you. Remember that you are paying for the assembly! To save some money, you can buy a bare bones kit with an open mounting plate and assemble it yourself.
The ballast is made of many steel plates that are usually welded together in only four places. You can see the weld lines at the ends of the ballast. It is these steel plates that make the hum. Because the ballast is not tight, the plates vibrate and bang together. When the light comes on it makes a louder buzz because the plates are vibrating at different speeds. The ones in the middle are not moving at the same speed as the ones on the outside. After a few minutes all the plates move at the same speed and the buzz calms down to a hum.
My ballast is stripped down to the bare essentials. I tighten up my ballast and mount it on a cement wall. Now the loudest thing in my room is the click that the timer makes!
There are a lot of things that can amplify the hum of the ballast, stuff like the case, assembly, and the mounting. Where you have the unit installed can make a big difference. You can have it on the floor, the wall or even in another room. Sometimes the house or building is just one big amplifier. You have to find out what your problem is!! Sometimes there’s just nothing you can do about it, but try this.
If your ballast is on the floor: Try a piece of 1 inch or 2 inch thick white foam with a cinder block on the foam and your ballast or unit on the block. Do not use blue foam because it is too dense.
If you are going to hang the ballast on a wall: Use a very big strong hook screwed into a beam or stud. Drill a hole in the beam a little smaller than the hook so you don’t split the beam with your big hook. Hang the ballast so that it is NOT touching the wall!!(minimum 1.5 inches). When you are hanging the ballast THINK about the HEAT AND VIBRATIONS!!
What we are trying to do is separate the ballast from the building so the vibrations don’t get amplified and distributed through the building!
If this isn’t good enough, then we have to go inside the case.
WARNING: ALWAYS UNPLUG YOUR LIGHT AND WAIT 30 MINUTES BEFORE DOING ANY WORK INSIDE THE CASE!!!
*The ballast can hold a static charge for up to 30 minutes! If you change the position of your light bulb before the gases cool down, it will shorten the life expectancy of your bulb.*
After 30 minutes open the case to see what you have in there. You are going to take the ballast out. To do this, you have to disassemble the unit. It’s a good idea to tape and number every wire you take apart so you can put all back together right.
Now that we have the ballast out, you can see that there are 10 or 12 holes that go right through the steel plates.
Some of the holes are used for mounting and the rest we can use to tighten up your ballast.
If you put a nut and bolt in the holes that are not used for mounting and tighten them very tight, the ballast will stop humming. When you are tightening the nuts don’t tighten them one at a time. Go around the ballast and tighten each nut a little bit at time to keep it even.
Maybe you could try tightening the mounting nuts first before you disassemble the unit. It might be enough.
BE SAFE and THINK
do do do