MH/TV interference

[jroescher]

My metal halides are causing snow and lines in my television. Is there anything I can do to isolate or shield the ballasts?

They are wired on a separate circuit from the TV. Doesn't matter if it's cable, DVD player or VCR.

I really don't want to rearrange the room, and moving the tank is out of the question.

[Dozer]

I had a problem with that at one point and in my case cleaning up the connections between the ballasts and the lamps solved it. Not sure if that's your situation at all but thought I'd throw it out just in case it might help.

[SBreef]

Do you have cable TV?

[jroescher]

I have DirectTV. I get the interference when I'm using the DVD player, the VCR or the cable. Went throught all the connections, everythings seems good and tight.

[LoneStar]

How close are the ballast's and lights to the television?

[SBreef]

As Dozer said earlier, check your connections. Make sure that they are clean and tight.
Do you have raw parts or are the parts in a ballast box?
If you have a ballast box, make sure that it is grounded, also are the reflectors/fixtures grounded.
When you have problems like this, always make sure you have a good ground.
Have you checked to make sure that the plug ground is good?
Do you know an electrician?

[Polkster13]

Sounds like a grounding problem. Did you "lift" any grounds? That is taking a three-prong plug and making it a two-prong plug. Another thing you can try is to by an isolation circuit from Radio Shack and plug your TV into it. Did you do the install of the DirecTV or did you have an installer do it? Check and make sure the gound wites on the satelite cable are properly grounded as well. The interference is either coming through the power supply or through the satelite cable. To figure out which it is, disconnect the satelite cable from the TV and turn the TV on and set to a local station. It will look really fuzzy, but that is okay for this test. Now turn on the ballast and see if it gets worse or stays the same. If it gets worse, the interference is coming though the power line. If it stays the same, then the interference is coming from the satelite cable.

You can also get a HT power center. You plug it into the wall and then plug all of your A/V components into it including the satelite cables. This will remove a lot of interference from all of the lines and give you a much cleaner sound and more vivid picture.

Feel free to contact me for additional information on anything A/V wise or check out the Austin Home Theater Group at www.hometheaterforum.com under the Local Meetings forum.

[mathias]

time for a new tv :)

[jroescher]

time for a new tv

Definately need a new TV. I think I've already seen everything on this one, and now I keep seeing the same shows being rerun again. :lol

With everything that everyone has posted already, it seems that I have a poor ground somewhere. I'm just going to have to spend some time to run it down.

The problem is intermittent. The last few days there's been none.

[Polkster13]

Has it been raining or very wet during the time you were having the problem? If so, you may have a bad place in your DirecTV cable which will cause all kinds of interference when it gets wet. Follow the cable from the dish back to where it goes into the house. Check for any chafing in the cable (do you see any places where the outer shield has wore through?) and check the coneections on your isolation block where the cable goes into the house and make sure the ground from the isolation block is connected tightly to the house grounding rod. If everything outside is okay, then start with the stuff inside.

[jroescher]

You may be on to something Polkster. I'll have to wait until things dry out more because the cable is underneath the house. There is a connection under there that my not be the best.