Temperature and volume

[Ed Pawlowski]

When watching TV in my family room, if I'm feeling a little warm, I just turn down the volume on the stereo receiver. If I'm too cool, I turn up the volume. Honest, that is how it works.

After the power surge damage, I rep laced the TV and sound system. Last night we were watching a movie and the room AC was on so I turned up the volume to overcome it. A few minutes later, the AC shut off and the TV seemed loud, so I turned it down. Soon, the AC was back on so I turned the volume back up. After repeating this one more time, my wife noticed what was happening.

The AC has a remote to control a few functions. The new receiver has a remote with many functions. Coincidently, the volume of the sound system is the same signal as the temperature on the AC unit so I was moving them both up and down at the same time.

[Peter]

Unless you are pulling our legs, how common is it for an entertainment receiver to use an RF based remote? I thought they were all IR.

[DA]

It is possible that both IR remotes are using the same communications protocol if they are by chance using the same transceivers: Sony IR chips and SIRCS protocol for example. You may be able to find that out by turning the stereo system OFF and then playing with it's remote. Try volume control (or any other buttons for that matter) and see if your A/C thermostat responds with any screen changes. If it does, you're screwed - return the stereo while it's not too late, get a different brand.

Either that or you have a MIGHTY powerful (yet inefficient) stereo system: volume's up - power's up - heat dissipation's up - A/C tries to compensate. I imagine it would have to be very loud for any scenario like that but you didn't say how loud it was ...

------------------------------------- /\_/\ ((@v@)) NIGHT ():::() OWL VV-VV

[Ed Pawlowski]

"Peter" wrote

Both are IR

[Peter]

Another respondent suggested returning the home entertainment system and getting another brand.

I suspect that any thermostat modern enough to have an IR remote control feature probably is also fully programmable, and the need to manually over-ride the program on an ongoing basis is like to be minimal if you've set the programs for your customized circumstances. I suggest that unless a member of your household has a physical limitation that really makes the remote control operation of the thermostat important, you might want to forsake that feature and put a small amount of opaque tape over the IR sensor on the thermostat.

[Ed Pawlowski]

You missed the part about being a room AC. It is not a thermostat it is the unit itself controlled by a remote. off/on, temperature fan/cool

The TV volume can be controlled with the cable box remote so it is only when using the BluRay Disc that I'll be using the receiver volume with a remote. The AC is only in the window a few months of the year so it is not difficult to work around the few times needed. Duct tape can fix anything. .

[Peter]

Sorry for the inaccurate read, of your initial inquiry, but the principle behind my suggestion (above) remains the same. I assume that the window A/C unit has controls directly on it. Would it be a big sacrifice to cover the IR sensor on the A/C unit and control the unit directly?

I'm suggesting that if you've set the temperature (thermostat) control on the A/C unit to suit your comfort, you probably only want to turn the unit on when that area is hot and occupied, and not run it if that area gets too hot but it is unoccupied. So, when you plan to occupy the area instead of turning on the unit with the A/C's remote, you manually turn on the A/C. You remain in the area for whatever activities you normally do there. When you would normally turn the unit off using the A/C's remote control, you turn it off on the unit itself, rather than by using the A/C's remote control. You say that it is a window unit, you can probably easily reach the manual controls on it unless as I mentioned above there are physical limitation issues that for personal privacy reasons, you would rather not mention here. You end up keeping both the A/C and your new equipment that you probably like and for which you probably spent a good amount of time researching before you bought it.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Maybe it's time for a hearing test. LOL! My pair of rear speaker literally blew out smoking. I need a hearing aid!

[Oren]

Huh?

Hey. I had a single floor speaker catch fire. I was headed up the stairs from the basement one day and flames were just starting to burn the front material. Solution? Tossed it out the front door, flames and all, and into the snow. I had never witnessed such an event.

Never even looked for a _reason why_ but the floors were vibrating from the full volume :;

[Bob]

Some devices have a remote address setting so that you can have two similar units in the same room and not have the remotes conflict with each other. You may be able to change the address for the audio system so as not to conflict with the air conditioner. If not, you may need to cover the IR receiver on the air conditioner and control it the way grandma did.

[Lee B]

Not that this sheds any light on it, but a few yr ago I had a similar problem. I bought an electric space heater with a remote, for my computer room/den. Turns out that the remote from my Motorola DVR would also trigger the heater! The heater would respond randomly to various buttons, and then once it started doing that, would randomly change settings even if a button hadn't been pushed. Weird thing was that if I power failed the heater and then didn't use its own remote, it wouldn't react to the Moto one, but if I once used its own remote to fire it up, it would start reacting to the Moto.

Never could figure it out, and either could the heater company. I finally just quit using its own remote, and just turned it off and on manually, and it never misbehaved again.

[Ed Pawlowski]

"Peter" wrote

Its really not a big deal, I thought it funny after I found what was going on. The AC gets turned on, later turned off and is rarely ever adjusted. Same with the sound level as that control is usually only use with an input aside from the cable box. . I'll either tape over it or make some provision for the few times they may interfere.

[jamesgangnc]

If you can find the ir pickup on the ac you could try gluing a small tube over it. That would keep it from reponding to stray ir as easily. You would need to point the control more directly in front of it then.

[Tony]

I thought this was going to be about thermal expansion and contraction.