A neighbour has a Toshiba 10" screen TV, the portable job. The TV just switches itself off for no reason indicating a problem with the remote control side of things. Do mobile phones in the same room affect the remotes of TVs? It just happens that this started when he got a mobile phone.
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maybe someone nearby has one of these ?
Not usually - mobiles use radio while remotes use IR. Is he sure it only goes off when the mobile is in the same room?
Alan.
Sounds more like coincidence and that the TV has simply developed a fault.
I suppose it's possible, though not very likely, that RF from the phone is causing interference problems with the the TVs circuitry. Tried removing the phone, or at least turning it off? ;)
Lee
Mobile phone's IR port active and somehow controlling the TV? I know some apps can be written to use IR ports of PDAs etc to control IR devices...
D
I'd think it unlikely, but some fault finding can be easily carried out.
What you've written doesn't necessarily indicate that there is or isn't a problem with the remote control either.
How often does the tv switch off - frequently/ reliably, rarely, it's happened once? If its the latter two you may have difficulty finding the fault at all - user error is also a possibility if the tv has a "sleep" or timer mode - ie switch itself off after 1 hour.
Switch off phone - does it still happen? Yes - phone in the clear. No - case still unproven (unless it normally happens so frequently that it is obvious that the phone is the cause).
Remove batteries from remote control. Still happens? Then the remote's in the clear.
Stick something opaque over the IR sensor on the TV (elastoplast or something?). If it still happens then likely it's a fault within the TV.
I've never had a problem with any of our tvs (all with remotes, variety of vintages) where they switched themselves off, even when the RF interference from mobiles, DECT phones etc is visible on the screen. Of course this doesn't mean to say it can't or doesn't happen, but with more mobiles than people in the country now it'd surely be a problem that would have surfaced by now.
I know that if i put my mobile on top of my clock radio, when it rings or receives a text message, the alarm on the clock radio turns on for some strange reason. Maybe its the same kind of thing
I have this problem with my wireless mouse, it looses communication with its basestation, but only if the phone is sat within a foot or so of the mouse. So unless the phone is sat on the TV I would not think that thats the problem.
Regards Jeff
TV remotes are normally infra red. But mobile phones put out quite large bursts of RF when contacting their base station, and poorly screened etc electronics will often pick this up if the two are close. My car radio does - even when listening to a CD. And that interference could have near any odd effect.
Try separating them by about 6 ft minimum.
FWIW, Orange seem to me rather worse than others. But I've got no explanation as to why.
Hi All
Strange this. We just got a wireless doorbell which goes off all by itself - once at 4:30 am! I've changed the 'code' twice (little tabs inside bell push & bell that are removed or moved) and it hasn't gone off since.
I wonder if a mobile could have been triggering it?
Dave
Have they got an energy saving bulb in the light of the room ? These give out Infra Red and can cause false signals.
Dave
For what we are about to balls up may common sense prevent us doing it again in the future!!
???
All bulbs give out IR, but incandescent ones give out a hell of a lot more IR than CFs.
Give you that, but when energy saving bulbs came out, they were noted for causing similar problems. Tv trade press had a field day.
DAve
Chances of mobile phone / infrared interference randomly generating a compatible "off" code for the remote control circuits of this TV is slight. I'd expect other funnies like channel changes & picture / volume variations as well, if it is the mobile.
I'd suspect that the TV itself has a fault, maybe in the overvoltage protection circutry of the power supply section. Whether it's the mobile phone triggering it, or some other reason (dodgy solder joint, dried out PSU capacitors, cooked components) is something that an experienced relatively expensive repair person will find. If it's not a cherished item, skip it....
Sounds like an urban myth to me. Two points come to mind:
Amplitude modulated at 100 Hz and relatively harmless to I-R controls.
Amplitude modulated at tens of kHz, i.e. in the range of carrier frequencies typically used by I-R remotes.
Maybe this NEMA report will convince you that it's not a complete myth:
Basically that report says the same as Andy posted.
This is the relevant bit:
"The infrared radiation is emitted at wavelengths between 800 and 1200 nanometers These wavelengths fall within the sensitivity band, or range, of IR receivers used for TV, cable boxes, VCRs, etc."
and "In addition to the IR at the fundamental excitation and power frequencies, the harmonics (or integer multiples) of the excitation frequency or power frequency can also cause an interference if they fall into the carrier frequency range of an IR receiver. There are instances of a compact fluorescent lamp operating at about 19 kHz [...] interfering with IR receivers at 38 kHz and 56 kHz."
Lee
It sounds unlikely, but random noise can do all sorts of weird stuff. Theoretically there is every possible code in the noise, so the chances are that a valid code will come along sooner or later. It can even get past error detection protocols.
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