3 ms·
Hardly, they're reading DC not AC, the ballast will induce a few milliwatts (at the max) in the wires and at 50~60HZ this will likely be within the margin of er
by electromagnetic 17y ago
Hardly, they're reading DC not AC, the ballast will induce a few milliwatts (at the max) in the wires and at 50~60HZ this will likely be within the margin of error on a hand-built solar panel anyway. (Ed: The electrical meter likely wouldn't detect the interference as AC is generally self-cancelling interference on a DC line, unless diodes are in use)
Induction between two wires is exceptionally low. Unless the two copper wires share the same ferrite core, you'll get diddly squat out. Noise in an electrical signal, is very different from noise in power, which would require an actual imbalance in the AC outputs, IE a power plant running at 50HZ and one running at 55HZ will produce a very unstable power supply.
- joe_bleau 17y agoI would have thought the CFL ballast would run in the kHz range, not 50-60 Hz. The DMM appears to be reading voltage, and its input is probably pretty high impedance, so it may very well be sensitive to the hash from the ballast (the meter's input protection circuits may be rectifying the AC). I'm thinking hoax.