Pretty sure it’s static building up on the AV reciever (shock, touch it again no shock, and wearing shoes on a wooden floor so would 230V be able to earth itself though me?) and it occasionaly causes everything to flick on/off or interupt the signal to the TV.

Is it:
a) the whole circuit should be earthed through the plugs (and thus to each other), implying the earth in the flat is faulty? everything else is a plastic case so hard to prove that the charge is on everything.
b) the FM ariel? it was fallen down the back of the stand so potentialy coiled round a load of power leads and gettign an induced voltage from those.
c) something else?

Got the multimeter out but couldn’t find a voltage between the case of the reciever and earth, which backs up my idea of static, but where’s it coming from? Whatever it is isn’t having any effect on sound or picture quality apart from when it presubably builds up enough to momenteraly disrupt the picture to the TV (HDMI lead).

Death by stereo ….

(The Lost Boys…if you haven’t seen it, do so )

If it’s a sharp snap of a shock then it’s static. If it’s a constant tingling then you have a fault of some kind.

I got a shock from a TV aerial once whilst fumbling to plug it in around a telly. Not sure if it was the aerial or the telly to be honest. Thinking about it – must’ve been earthing from the aerial through the telly.

Any thunder in the air near you?

Listening to too much Van der Graaf Generator?

shock, touch it again no shock

Sounds like static.

Are you sure your speaker cables are, you know…

[pedant]If you’ve been electrocuted, you must be typing from the “other side”[/pedant]

Is the volume knob turned up to 11 ?

AC-DC?

yeah, I know….. coat 😳

DezB – Member

[pedant]If you’ve been electrocuted, you must be typing from the “other side”[/pedant]
I never knew that DezB – I now feel that I’ve learned my ‘something new’ for today. Thanks!

If it’s static, then it’s you discharging through the hifi’s case which is earthed.

What are you wearing? If it’s not too kinky of a question 😉

FM ariel

Is that a new type of soap powder?

FM aeriel is my guess, they can give you a pretty decent kick

You need to bond some cutlery to your stereo with carbon fibre. 😀

Molgrips – tv aerial and tv will be at different earth potentials until you connect them together. You tend to complete the circuit as you plug the aerial in – zap.

You need to bond some cutlery to your stereo with carbon fibre

use a knife or spoon. You don’t want fork lightning.

Molgrips – tv aerial and tv will be at different earth potentials

Hang on.. you mean the aerial has a charge…? I can see how that would happen if it’s windy, say.

[pedant]If you’ve been electrocuted, you must be typing from the “other side”[/pedant]

[bigger pedant] not according to the OED .. 😉 [/bigger pedant]

wwaswas – Member

You need to bond some cutlery to your stereo with carbon fibre

use a knife or spoon. You don’t want fork lightning.
Gag of the week to you sir!

Isolate stereo from all powered devices. Unplug, and plug back into strip adaptor backwards so only the earth pin is plugged in. If it still zaps you, its static from you 🙂

you mean the aerial has a charge…?

Potentially.

its static from you

considered that, but it ddin’t explain the random interuptions to the picture which I assumed was the charge earthing itself through the HDMI lead, or at least reaching a level where the signal was obscured.

Are you sure your speaker cables are, you know…

You know what??? (clearly don’t)

Any thunder in the air near you?

or lightning.

(The way you love me is frightening)

nealglover – Member

[pedant]If you’ve been electrocuted, you must be typing from the “other side”[/pedant]

[bigger pedant] not according to the OED .. [/bigger pedant]

[super pedant] Some editions of the OED do indeed (incorrectly in my view) have it as meaning just getting a shock – but given electrocute is a portmanteau of execute and electric – the OED is dumbing down. It is a genuine portmanteau so blends not just the words but also their meanings. I’ve had a letter published in Private Eye on this very subject.[/super pedant]

Is it all plugged into the same mains adapter? Also I get quite a shock of some types of HDMI lead (mainly cheap ones) but that may be just me justifying expensive ones 😀

The momentary HDMI glitch will be due to the sudden and short term ground potential shift(when you discharge your static potential into the chassis of the device) which will temporarily shift the differential voltage signalling levels outside of the thresholds.

Potentially.

🙄

If I were a mod you’d be on thin ice.

I was once told by one of our engineers that (some) current does flow through cases of some domestic equipment, and this is allowable. This was backed up by other engineers, including one guy that could build ANYTHING electronic (so much so we’d buy a new item, and get him to make cheaper but just as good or maybe better ones!).

I’m sure someone that’s knows what they are talking about can expand on this.

I’ll ask my Dad when he gets back from his Saga holiday in the USA.

[Quote]Cougar – Moderator
you mean the aerial has a charge…?
Potentially.[/Quote]
Boom, and, quite possibly, tish.

If I were a mod you’d be on thin ice.

I wonder if, under that thin ice, there are strong currents.

Molgrips – they are both ‘earths’ but at different potentials. The ‘earth’ on the aerial point on the tv will be at a different ‘earth’ potential than that of the aerial which is bolted to the roof, when you connect them they equalise, but sometimes the difference is enough to cause a spark or give you a small shock.

and coax cable can hold a charge for quite a while until you dump it down yourself or a colleague.

you only want one earth, this is the same issue guitarists face when using mains powered effects/amps/etc

google “ground lift” and tell me what you’ve figured out…

Is this soon to be another thread where molly thinks he’s right?

Your problem is that you’ve plugged your directional cable in the wrong way round, so that any static shocks flow towards you rather than away from you. I’m sure if you turn it round you’ll notice a difference.

Static possibly, and what has not been mentioned is high earth leakage current.

Does the circuit have a RCD?
Have you got other IT/TV equipment plugged into the same circuit?
If no RCD, and other kit plugged in, then you may well be getting a belt from the equipment.
RCD’s typically trip at 20-25mA, they are designed to trip before 30mA, most trip sooner.
An old computer ‘leaks’ around 8mA of current to the earth pin, and the casing of the computer. TVs/DVDs/Wiis can also leak current. Generally, any metal cased hi-tech kit will be leaking current directly to earth, other stuff does too.

If you havent got a good earth connection, either at the plug connection, or at the fuse box/consumer unit, then the current may find ti easier to go through you than works its way around the house back to the main earthing terminal at the meter/fuse box etc.

If this is happening, then you should be looking at putting another (extra) earth conductor in for that circuit, or, checking you have good connections throughout the circuit.For a typical office, this is usually designed in. It is only the last 10 years that such equipment has become prevalent in houses, and people come across this problem occasionally.

If it is static, then ignore all of the above.

Sounds like a fault with the mains cabling to your hi-fi, try one of these £3156 mains cables and i’m sure it will cure the problem, if not then you’ll need a £3000 BMU Balanced Mains Unit , if after all this you are still getting shocks then i suggest you by a transistor radio.

Mr Nutt has explained what I was trying to describe quite succinctly.
Once connected they are at a common potential, until that point current can flow between the two different potentials via you.