An intriguing little mystery for you.
Psychophysiological entity
Thread Starter
An intriguing little mystery for you.
Many, many years ago I walked into an American store and saw some light dimmers. They were by Honeywell, and very neat. A wire to the outlet plug was all they had...One plugged One's devices into the molded plug at the outlet point.
The presentation of the device was nice...about 3" by 1.5, and a snazzy button on top. at the face edge, there is an infra red lens.
Both inputs feed a chip that I was familliar with. <1 sec ON same for Off. Sustained, and the lights would ramp up and then down. I had fitted them to the plethora of lights in my Essex home, so knew the cost of the chip alone cost more than these devices. $4 on sale. I purchased every one in the store.
I soon found out why they were on sale. My house in Austin was alive with activity, even when I was out. Ramping lights, ON-OFF...kept the bad guys away. I never could figure out what was doing it. Dirty mains? In America: Standard format.
Okay. Infra red? The T/V remote controlled them perfectly. So, that seems to be normal.
Karma dictates I'm back in the UK and the 120 v things are put in a box. I have a lot of boxes. It took 10 weeks to clear my house, but I did save these. I'm sitting beside one and it's connected to my anglepoise-like thing as I type. Perfect ---- until I turn on the Scanner. Then it goes wild. Nothing will stop it ramping for a while. But then it decides to do the ON/OFF thing. Scanner off, and it goes quiet.
Tonight, I fire up the seldom used Sony Vaio. I'd put the Office 2010 on it, so it was on test. I couldn't used the lamp.
I've covered up the infra red eye, but it's still the same. What the heck can a lappie do to trigger this device? Dirty the mains? Mmmm...even the A/C coming on doesn't do that. well, not always.
Late at night...when I wake from a troubled dream, I see at the other end of the house, my den is illuminated. Ignore it. Can't. It's ramping up and down.
I pick up a knife. Not much help, folk here carry guns and machetties, and mine is a butter knife, but I feel better. I unscrew the bulb and go back to bed- butter knife on the bedside table and heartbeat at 180.
What's doing it? What can make this chip decide that it needs to function? I don't think its rogue capacitors...not stable after all these years. What then?
One is putting some garlic round the room and going to bed.
The presentation of the device was nice...about 3" by 1.5, and a snazzy button on top. at the face edge, there is an infra red lens.
Both inputs feed a chip that I was familliar with. <1 sec ON same for Off. Sustained, and the lights would ramp up and then down. I had fitted them to the plethora of lights in my Essex home, so knew the cost of the chip alone cost more than these devices. $4 on sale. I purchased every one in the store.
I soon found out why they were on sale. My house in Austin was alive with activity, even when I was out. Ramping lights, ON-OFF...kept the bad guys away. I never could figure out what was doing it. Dirty mains? In America: Standard format.
Okay. Infra red? The T/V remote controlled them perfectly. So, that seems to be normal.
Karma dictates I'm back in the UK and the 120 v things are put in a box. I have a lot of boxes. It took 10 weeks to clear my house, but I did save these. I'm sitting beside one and it's connected to my anglepoise-like thing as I type. Perfect ---- until I turn on the Scanner. Then it goes wild. Nothing will stop it ramping for a while. But then it decides to do the ON/OFF thing. Scanner off, and it goes quiet.
Tonight, I fire up the seldom used Sony Vaio. I'd put the Office 2010 on it, so it was on test. I couldn't used the lamp.
I've covered up the infra red eye, but it's still the same. What the heck can a lappie do to trigger this device? Dirty the mains? Mmmm...even the A/C coming on doesn't do that. well, not always.
Late at night...when I wake from a troubled dream, I see at the other end of the house, my den is illuminated. Ignore it. Can't. It's ramping up and down.
I pick up a knife. Not much help, folk here carry guns and machetties, and mine is a butter knife, but I feel better. I unscrew the bulb and go back to bed- butter knife on the bedside table and heartbeat at 180.
What's doing it? What can make this chip decide that it needs to function? I don't think its rogue capacitors...not stable after all these years. What then?
One is putting some garlic round the room and going to bed.
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RF? Have you got a new radio transmitting device? WiFI?
We have some of those dimmers, and the power to them has to be turned off before I use my amateur radio stuff.
We have some of those dimmers, and the power to them has to be turned off before I use my amateur radio stuff.
Psychophysiological entity
Thread Starter
We have some of those dimmers, and the power to them has to be turned off before I use my amateur radio stuff.
MMMmmm One will put the device in a lead box. Router in the room, and laptop talks to that. but the scanner doesn't. well, unless they're having an assignation.
Tinfoil might seriously be the next step. But it's probably coming up the wires.
More bang for your buck
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Some ferrite blocks clamped onto the wires might help.
Along the lines of these: Parts Express: Featured Categories
Along the lines of these: Parts Express: Featured Categories
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It's tricky stuff, that IR wavelength stuff. You can't see it, ya know? - and that's just part of the problem - but when 2000 manufacturers make electric and electronic stuff - and no-one considers the possibility of interference, between totally different devices, and different countries - well ..... this kind of thing makes big jets fall out of the sky, ya know? ..... or perhaps, it WAS the cosmic rays that set off the dimmers?? .... 
This will help .. ePanorama.net - Links
'Cosmic rays' may have hit Qantas plane off Australia's northwest coast | Travel News | News.com.au
This will help .. ePanorama.net - Links
'Cosmic rays' may have hit Qantas plane off Australia's northwest coast | Travel News | News.com.au
