Window A/C making TV switch sources?

Factual Questions
1

TV, computer, all entertainment stuff is in the living room, plugged into a surge suppressor, and into a 15-amp outlet with a 15-amp extension cord, with just a lamp in the 2nd plug.

Small, 5,000btu A/C (maybe 6amps?) is in the bedroom, also on a 15-amp extension cord, plugged into a 15-amp outlet with just a lamp plugged into the 2nd plug.

Whenever the compressor comes on, my TV blanks for a second, with the “autosource detected” message, then snaps back to what it was doing before like nothing happened. None of the other equipment seems affected. Just the TV. The computer, DVD, tuner, amplifier, etc all seem fine. TV seems fine, too, except for the blip every 20 minutes or so.

Is this doing any damage? I can’t see how I could plug things in any better. I’ve spread the electrical load as well as I can in a vintage building. I checked the circuit breakers before I bought the A/C units. I have all of 6 outlets in the whole apartment, and there are 6 breakers, each with 15 amps. The two outlets involved are in different rooms, but the same side of the building and probably 15 feet from each other.

I’m resolved to not being able to change the blip, though it’s really annoying. All I’d like to find out is whether this might be damaging the TV, since I can’t replace it if it gets fried right now! Could it just be some kind of frequency traveling through the electricals that the TV is interpreting as a new input? The surge suppressor is a new Belkin.

Electrical experts please advise.

(on a side-note: in my old apartment all the entertainment electronics shared a circuit with the refrigerator. Whenever the refrigerator compressor turned on, my HDMI switch changed channels, but only from channel 2 (DVD) if I was using it, to channel 1! So if I was watching a DVD, sometimes it would switch in the middle of a movie. I wasn’t as concerned about that, though, because switches are cheap, my TV is not!)

Thanks to anyone who has some insight.

2

get a UPS for the tv and computer.

3

So, it turns out I think it’s the HDMI switch after all, and not the TV. It seems to do something different depending on which channel I’m using at the time the condenser turns on. I just hadn’t realized that yet since it just started yesterday with the new air conditioner.

If I’m on channel 2, it will switch to channel 1. Channel 1 seems unaffected, and if I’m on channel 3, it just does that blip for a second, which makes sense that the TV would “autosource” briefly while it loses the HDMI signal and goes looking for a different input. So it’s the same thing it did in the old apartment when the refrigerator turned on, I just hadn’t been using channel 3 then and what it does on that channel is “new”.

So, maybe just a new switch that costs a few bucks instead of the hand-me-down that I think was pretty cheap in the first place will do the trick.

Thanks for the UPS suggestion - I didn’t really even know what those were about. It seems like it might be overkill, though? I’ll try the new switch first - I could use a 4-channel anyway - so it won’t be a waste even if that’s not the solution ultimately.

4

Try plugging the HDMI switch into something like this.

5

You should have 2 phase power, in other words for half your breakers you have one wire from the utility, for the other half you have another separate wire, try to plug the TV or AC into different outlets in the apartment trying to get them on separate phases.

6

First determine what you have. For example, put an incandescent bulb on that power receptacle. Does the air conditioner cause that bulb to dim noticeably? If yes, then a human safety problem may exist in wiring.

All electronics must work fine even when that bulb dims to 50% intensity. If the switch is defective (will not work at voltages that low), then today the problem may be on channel one. Tomorrow a greater voltage drop may appear also on channel two.

First you must define what you have. Is voltage dropping so low as to significantly affect light bulb intensity? If yes, then fix household wiring - symptom that may be reporting a serious human safety threat. If not, then only the switch may be defective.

Why does everything else work normally? Well computers are required to be even more robust. That incandescent bulb must dim to less than 40% intensity - and every computer must be uninterrupted.

A most irresponsible solution is that UPS. He is saying ignore the human safety threat. Cure symptoms. Ignore the problem. Have fear of such responses.

I am also concerned about that air conditioner on a 15 amp extension cord. Without saying why, you should know that a 15 amp extension cord is very bad for such devices. First, because it can accelerate air conditioner failure. Second, because extension cords for 15 amp operation are typically too small for dynamic 15 amp loads.

First test with an incandescent bulb to learn what you really have before fixing anything. Do not use wild speculation. Learn what is wrong before fixing it.

7

Hi westom, thanks for the info, though I’m not sure I understand it completely. Each of the outlets where I have the electronics in one room and the A/C in the other also have a lamp plugged in. There is no dimming when the condenser kicks in. If there is, I haven’t noticed it so I would think it’s not reducing much if at all. I’m fairly sensitive to changes in light brightness.

The air conditioner is rated at 4.8 amps (checked the manual), and the manual states specifically that if one must use an extension cord that it should be one that is rated at 15 amps. The circuit is 15 amps. So I used a 15 amp extension cord.

My OP was made before I used either of the other channels on the HDMI switch. My second post was after, and after I discovered that the switch is doing the exact same thing it was doing in my last apartment when the refrigerator kicked in. (different plug-in situation). So I think it’s really not a load problem, but more some kind of frequency issue with the switch. I’m using channel 3 now, where I hadn’t used it before, and the problem between channel 1 and 2 is the same as before.

I’m thinking the suggestion by beowulff to use a noise filter might be just the solution?

8

If an incandescent bulb was dimming, you would know it. Those bulbs are saying the electriciity is more than sufficient. And that voltage variations (and noise) will not cause any swith to fail.

Using the noise filter is curing symptoms. If the switch power supply is good, the switch will operate even when dimming and noise occur. You have no dimming. If switch failure is due to AC electric problems, the switch is 100% defective inside. A superior noise filter must already exist inside that switch. Followed by a power supply that makes any residual noise even more irrelevant - if the switch is properly designed.

Now above assumed failure due to AC electric. Either the switch is defective OR something is causing interference on other incoming (signal) wires. Since you have ot detailed those connections, nobody can post useful suggestions. Yes even define how each wire enters the building, how it is wired, and what else might connect to it.

Your light bulbs say nothing on AC electric explains switch failure. That is without doubt. Move on to other suspects and do not look back. Move on to identifying, then fixing, actual problems.

9

Please describe this “human safety problem.”

10

I think the safety problem may be somewhat overstated. I would agree that it should be looked at by an experienced electrician. Starting at the meter, and working towards the loads in question it is certainly possible to locate the problem.

Still, there are times that it something as easy (and non-life threatening) as a compressor that is hanging up at start up.

Should it be looked at? yes. Would it keep me up at night if the electrician couldn’t get there for a week? no.

11

Huh, and I’d’ve just assumed it was EM interference.

12

Ditto.

13

… which can be fixed by using that noise reducing plug?

14

Lights did not dim. That is a 100% complete answer to that suspect. Move on to other real suspects.

Your replies will be only as useful as facts that you provide. Requested was:

You did not do even define which appliances need a three wire AC plug and which are using only two wire. So those with serious knowledge can only remain silent.

Tie a knot in the power wire. That is a filter with numbers equivalent to number from that beowulff filter. Read its numbers. Or simply assume it must do something because it is called a filter.

Electronics already filter beyond what beowulff’s filter does. Fitlering done before AC is converted to DC voltages; and then fitlered again. Superior filtering even required by FCC regulation. Bulb did not dim. AC electric is exonerated. Move on. Or did the manufacturer dump an defective switch in the market that does not even meet FCC and other requirements?

First, that beowulff filter must be connected to the air conditioner. A 5 amp filter on an air conditioner that must have only 15 amp connections. Second, read its fine print. That filter is designed to not harm AC line noise. X-10 controllers transmit and receive ‘noise’. So that ‘noise’ signals are not harmed, that filter is located where it will protect noise from appliances that might reduce that noise.

That filter does what its numbers say it will do.  But it is called a filter.  Therefore it must be a solution?  You are curing speculations with speculated solutions. Do what was requested.  Your answers are only as useful as the facts that you provide.
15

No.
Connect the filter to the HDMI switch.

16

Read the fine print for that filter. It is designed to be located on the air conditioner, refrigerator, etc. It is designed so that ‘noise’ (X-10) signals on AC wires are not harmed (diminished) by appliances.

17

Look -
We’re not talking about X10!
This is a Low-pass filter - it filters out high-frequency noise. If you put it on the power supply to the HDMI switch, it will filter out some of the noise coming from the compressor switching on. I don’t guarantee that this will solve the problem, but it’s a cheap solution if it does.

18

Why are you recommending a filter designed to protect X-10 ‘noise’? Designed so that X-10 signals are not diminished. What are you trying to do? Diminish those signals (noise)?

If it does filtering, then you have specs or numbers. None are provided. A filter to protect X-10 signals (noise) will somehow diminish that same noise? Junk science reasoning.

A filter already inside every electronics is superior to maybe ten of your X-10 filters. Why? Because filters inside electronics are required to diminish that noise. And is required by FCC, et al. Your X-10 filter is designed to not diminish those higher frequency noise signals.

The OP said lights do not dim. AC not wire is no longer on a list of suspects. Move on to real suspects. Either the switch is defective OR problems are incoming from other paths. If noise is causing switch problems, that noise is incoming elsewhere. Or the switch is defective.

Where is even one reason to beleive it addresses his problem? Magic boxes promoted by hearsay and without numbers are solutions to wild speculaton based only in speculation.

You keep promoting an X-10 filter. A magic box without any tech numbers works only because it is called a filter? Tie a knot in a power cord. That is also a filter. Instead find and fix the problem. OP’s problem is apprently elsewhere among a rather long list of other suspects. A list made more complex due to insufficient information about everything that connects to that switch.

19

What you’re saying here doesn’t make sense. The filter is designed to block noise from being transmitted. It’s true we don’t know if the frequencies that the filter blocks will help the problem.

It’s incorrect that the AC wire is no longer the list of suspects. The lights not dimming just means that the cause isn’t the AC drawing so much power that it causes an undervoltage. It does nothing to rule out the possibility of high frequency noise coming from the AC along the power cord, and affecting the HDMI switch.

Also, it sure would help if you could write in complete sentences and coherent paragraphs.

20

I’m so confused.

Electrical wiring schematics of my entire 40-unit building? Ain’t gonna happen. I doubt anybody even knows!

As to the HDMI switch, seriously, I found a pretty obvious correlation between the last place it was located and the present one - in both cases there was a compressor involved. Last apartment was the refrigerator, this apartment is an air conditioner.

Since I’ve determined that it’s the HDMI switch again, and not the TV itself having the problem, I’m not even that concerned about it any more. It’s just annoying on occasion. I’m afraid Westom’s posts make my head hurt a little, though I do appreciate the attempt to help.

The switch is at least 5 years old, it had a previous owner, and it was a cheapie one to begin with. I think I can spare 60 bucks or so for a new one which just may solve the issue.

Thanks Dopers!