E-scales and flouresent lights

[Mavrick]

I use a digital reloading scale ( Dillon D-Terminator. FWIW) and have for over 12 years. I have no intention of changing. I am not trying to be argumentitive, just sayin'.... I have an RCBS 505.
I know a lot of reloaders..good ones, won't use an E-scale, and I respect that. They can be more trouble than SOME wish enjoin. I've met and mastered these problems to my satisfaction.
The best scale I ever used, for accuracy, was my first...the little cheap one that was in the Pacific kit that I started reloading with after Christmas 1959. The Pacific was a small beam-model made from all-thread and had two threaded weights on it that had to be set every time with check-weights. Interesting and accurate, but slow. I'm now the slow one, lol.
Anyway, now I'm setting up my bench, I hope for the last time, as the ultimate bench with all my ideas.
When I'm finished, I have every intention of posting pictures on the "reloading bench" thread.
My problem is....we are planning to use flourecent lights. I've heard that they will affect a digital scale. (I've always used incandescent lights before) The question is...has anyone taken note of the distance of the lights from the scales before they affected the scales? I'm not talking about 4" or 6" variation, as I'm sure noone has, and I'm not real sure how you would quantify that, anyway.
The lights would be 5' above the scales.(the ceiling is quite high in the basement) The light COULD be set about 10' further away, if necessary, but I'd rather not.
The last solution would be to set up an incandescent bulb on a goose-neck and turn the flouresent off when I'm using the scale. (another solution I'd RATHER not use)
I'd appreciate any input. Thank you, up front,
Gene

[shaune509]

Are you thinking that the light's electric hume [ie RF emissions] would affect the scale?
If so I would think that the newwer electronic ballists have far less RF than the older magnetic ballisted liights do. The scale if it is 115vac could be plugged into a good qulity filter strip to reduce the RF. Not an electric expert but I have had to do this for the older computers in my shop more for the monitors then the pc but motors. lights and welding do bug [along with the cell phone] the pc some times.
shaune509

[AZ-Stew]

My shop has nothing BUT fluorescent lights, and lots of them. I wanted to make sure that when I come into the shop after being out in the bright Arizona summer sun that I wouldn't have to wait for my eyes to accustom themselves to the lower light in the shop. It's not quite as bright inside as outside, but one isn't blinded when walking into the shop.

The lights have NO affect on my Lyman DPS 1200 II. Just for reference to the above post, the light fixtures were bought in about 2004, so they're all electronic ballasts.

One thing that does interact with the scale is my Ham Radio in the room next to the reloading room. I frequently hear the dispenser "BEEP" when I transmit. The transmitter puts out about 80 Watts and the antenna is on the shop roof. The RF ground for the antenna is the chicken wire I had the roofers install between the tar paper and the shingles. I won't go into a long discussion of antenna theory, but the chicken wire (16 x 50 feet) turns the shop into a big capacitor, so there is some RF in the shop when I use the radio. Not enough to be hazardous to humans, but the electronics in the scale apparently pick it up. That said, I re-calibrate the scale before each use and check it against a beam scale, so the radio doesn't affect measurements.

Regards,

Stew

[1hole]

It's only the magnetic types that have any influence and it's unlikely a ceiling mounted fixture will affect a scale on a bench.

[bobthenailer]

I have 4- 40 flouresent bulbs in 1 light fixture above my reloading bench about 4 to 4 1/2 feet above my bench and have had my dillon scale for about as long as you . with no problems

[Mavrick]

Outstanding...I'm probably a "go," then!
Thanks,
Gene

[camotes2]

Hello; I have a Pact digital powder scale, it does not appear to be affected by my flouresent lights. But the thing that makes it fluctuate wildly is when a semi-truck drives past, and he is talking on his 2-way radio. Sometimes it mixes up the scale so bad, I have to unplug it and start over.
Pact said they could install a filter if I so desired. But now that I understand what is causing it, I just live with it. Do not know how far away from the road it will cause an affect.
Just another curiosity, but not one that I would of expected while loading ammo.?

Take care...
Stan

[dragonrider]

I bought a Lyman electronic scale years ago, it hasn't worked for about half of those years, anyway in the instructions it says to keep the scale at least 3 or maybe it is 4 feet from any fluorescent light fixtures

[Lloyd Smale]

ive got a pact and a lyman and all my lights are fluorescent and ive yet to see them effected by it.

[Heavy lead]

RCBS Chargemaster, no issues with a bunch of full spectrum flourescents, and yes I check periodically with a Hornady balance scale.

[Bent Ramrod]

I have a D-Terminator and a fluorescent mounted on the bottom of a shelf about 6" under the shelf the scale is on and have never noticed any influence on the measurements.

But if I'm weighing up powder charges (as opposed to checking powder measure settings) out comes the good old RCBS beam scale. The D-Terminator, for me, won't handle trickled-up increments, although it is great with the full weights dumped into the pan.

[cbunt1]

I use one of the little cheapie Frankford Arsenal electronic scales in my garage with 5 florescent fixtures (2 ea 40w bulbs) plus a smaller "over-the-sink" fixture under the bench...i didn't want a shadow to have a chance in the man cave...

I've never seen any erratic readings or anything like that. Of course, I only use the electronic rig for "sanity checks" anyway...it won't register trickled charges either.

I think you're fine.

[BerdanIII]

AZ-Stew:

How 'bout a short discussion on antenna theory? Stuff like that intrigues me, for some reason. Does the chicken wire become a reflector when the antenna is energized or does it create a null in the broadcast/reception pattern to eliminate interference?

[AZ-Stew]

Hmmmm...

Well, EVERY radio antenna is essentially a "dipole" (two poles). It has two ends, one connected to the positive output of the transmitter, the other connected to the "ground" potential of the transmitter. The antenna I use is a Butternut HF-9V brand. It's a 9-band vertical radiator (9V). The positive "electrode" of the transmitter output is connected to the vertical radiator, the "ground" end of the transmitter is connected, indirectly, to the chicken wire "ground plane" via capacitive coupling from some radial wires stretched across the rooftop, a fraction of an inch from the chicken wire, with the roof shingles separating them. The vertical radiator is one half of the dipole, the "ground plane" is the other half. Theoretically, each half of the dipole should be 1/4 wave length for the frequency being transmitted. There is a formula that gives you the exact length. If you use a horizontal wire antenna, this formula works well. When you use a vertical antenna, there is some room for "cheating" on the length of the "ground" half of the antenna. Generally, as long as the vertical element of the antenna is the correct length, a person can fool around a bit with the ground half. Generally, the more dense the ground "plane", the better the antenna operates. Actually, the more dense the plane, the lower the angle of radiation, therefore the better the communication at short distances, and the greater the distance one can be heard on the first skip of the signal, due to the lower angle. Think about the signal bouncing back and forth between the outside of one sphere (Earth), and the inside of a concentric sphere (ionized atmosphere). The lower the angle, the longer the bounce. This is why I use chicken wire rather than just the radial wires for the ground. The chicken wire gives me a more dense ground plane.

Got enough?

Regards,

Stew

[BerdanIII]

Yep. thanks for the info.

[jmh54738]

Stew.........Awesome. I appreciate people who know their stuff!! John

[man.electric]

Stew, that reminds me of way too many hours of my youth spent studying for Ham radio tests. It was an expensive hobby that took countless hours of my time. I fortunately fixed that problem by casting to save money.

[bigjason6]

Nice to see some other hams on here. I'm kg6top!

[W.R.Buchanan]

If this was an optical tachometer I would say yes they do, since the way you check an optical tachometer is by pointing it at Flourescent lights which turn on and off 60 times a second or 3600 times a minute.

If the tach reads 3600 then it is right.

Can't see how lights would affect a electronic scale unless maybe tthe scale was within a few inches of the light.

Here 's a hot tip ! if you check this stuff once in a while in different places you can tell if something is adversely affecting it.

This is what I'd do.

Randy

[Kevin Rohrer]

I have the inexpensive RCBS e-scale setting about 4-feet below fluorescent lights and haven't noticed a problem.

[WildmanJack]

AZ Stew,
I have 8 florescent tubes burning in my loading room. They are about 8 feet off the floor and about 5 feet off the benches. I use both a pact and an RCBS Chargemaster and they are dead on.. No problem with the lights... I wouldn't sweat it..
jack

[medalguy]

I have had a Dillon Terminator scale about two years, mounted on my bench 5 feet below electronic ballast lights. No problems with the scale except when the AC is running.

[bhn22]

AZ Stew,
I have 8 florescent tubes burning in my loading room. They are about 8 feet off the floor and about 5 feet off the benches. I use both a pact and an RCBS Chargemaster and they are dead on.. No problem with the lights... I wouldn't sweat it..
jack

AZ-Stew passed away in April.

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