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Strange power problem, help?

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Old 04-01-2008, 5:24 PM   #1
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Strange power problem, help?

Not sure if this is the correct forum to post this, i assume its not lol but i could not find any other place it would fit in so....

Any way the problem ill keep it short, basically in my room i have a full av setup comprising of ;

hdtv
xbox360
wii
media centre xp
amp
joytech 540c
hdmi dvd
v+ virgin

i have also added a table top frigde and unfortunetly this is were the problem is coming from, everytime the motor kicks in on the frige it cuts the signal off to my tv (makes it go into a blue screen) this only happens whilst viewing the wii or 360 though and not with any other video source.

At first i though it was due to the joyech 540c as the componant inputs were going into that, so i plugged the 360 directly into the tv.

Does any one have any suggestions or things to try im not sure what the problem is really i assumed it was a power issue but then the media centre and everything else works fine and it does not actually cut the power to anything just cuts the singnal from my games consoles.

does any one know of anything to stop the interference or at least know what the exact problem is, as i was just going to buy another fridge to try but dont really want to if the problem will persist.

any help much appreciated, cheers.
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Old 04-01-2008, 5:38 PM   #2
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Re: Strange power problem, help?

I'm assuming the Wii and 360 are running on component, if they are it may be that the shielding on the cable is not sufficient.

A quick way of testing it is to wrap them in silver foil (the component cables not the Wii and 360 ) and see if it makes any difference.
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Old 04-01-2008, 6:17 PM   #3
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Re: Strange power problem, help?

Also ensure that there is as much distance as you can get between the fridge mains cable and any other cables. Use a different mains socket for the fridge if you can.
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Old 04-01-2008, 9:47 PM   #4
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Re: Strange power problem, help?

theres quite a distance between the power cables (large attick room) and the fridge is also on its own socket (changed it to its own socket when the problem started).

ill go give the foil a try cheers for the help so far .

NB: yeah they are on componant.
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Old 04-01-2008, 9:55 PM   #5
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Re: Strange power problem, help?

To clarify, I'm not just on about other mains cables, but also speaker and component cables etc.
All fridges are RFI protected now, so it sounds like an earth loop is causing the problem.
Be interesting to see if Dave's suggestion solves things though
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Old 05-01-2008, 4:37 PM   #6
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Re: Strange power problem, help?

Thank you so much.

turns out your suggestions worked great.

the only cable that ran near the fridge was a speaker cable from my surround, as soon as i wrapped it all in tinfoil it works without a problem.

again thank you very much lol such a simple fix as well saved me a lot of money .
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Old 05-01-2008, 4:42 PM   #7
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Re: Strange power problem, help?

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Old 05-01-2008, 6:43 PM   #8
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Re: Strange power problem, help?

Great stuff.

Not to mention the added bonus of having your entire family think you are now insane after wrapping stuff in foil to "shield it from the rays".
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Old 25-01-2008, 5:27 PM   #9
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Re: Strange power problem, help?

well it seems my celebrations were a little pre-emptive, the problem still happens with my ps2 and wii i never actually tried any other system till today .

any other suggestions then ? its driving me crazy the problem isnt there when the 360 is plugged in directly to the tv, but its there with the ps2 and the wii, ive tried wrapping the componants of the wii and ps2 in foil to no avail.

Any more ideas as im probs just going to get rid of the fridge if i can not sort it
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