Lights Interfere with Cable TV

[Mocephus]

Hello friends, today while at a campground with cable TV, we discovered that if we turn on certain lights, we would completely lose our cable signal on every channel (like in the attached video) and other lights would make the channel signals sketchy. All lights are LED. 

Has anyone ever experienced this phenomenon?

’05 Sig

 

 

[jfasano88]

I believe one of your ballast is shot! 
john2009 Camelot kfq

[Mocephus]

17 minutes ago, jfasano88 said:

I believe one of your ballast is shot! 
john2009 Camelot kfq

Thanks John, all of my lights are LED.

[Marine Boy]

Do you have a Winegard amp panel for free to air reception and it also accepts the cable input.  I had a similar problem and I'd was a bad amp/switching unit.  FYI - the amp is powered by 12vdc, which also be picking up interference from other 12v sources in your bus.

[Mocephus]

2 hours ago, Marine Boy said:

Do you have a Winegard amp panel for free to air reception and it also accepts the cable input.  I had a similar problem and I'd was a bad amp/switching unit.  FYI - the amp is powered by 12vdc, which also be picking up interference from other 12v sources in your bus.

I do have an OTA amp that also connects to the incoming cable feed. I'm not sure of the maker. It's behind a panel which is a bit of a pain to remove. Sounds like that may be the problem.

I have determined that there are only 4 light circuits that interfere with the cable signal...the main living area overhead light shown in the video, the dining overhead light, the driver overhead light and the passenger overhead light. No other light switches create the interference. I'm guessing they are all on the same circuit with the OTA amp.

I'll have to pull the panel and get a part number for the amp. On another forum others have suggested I plug the TV into a different AC outlet via an extension cord, to see if the issue is related to the TV disable switch, which turns off the TV when the engine is started, so I'll do that too when I open the panel. I'll also connect the incoming cable TV coax directly to the cable box and bypass the amp to see if it eliminates the channel interference. I think your suggestion is more likely the cause.

Thank you!

 

Edited October 29, 2023 by Mocephus

[MyronTruex]

Loose connections can allow those nasty stray signals to creep into the ground side of things.

I do understand it is isolated to a few circuits, but sometimes simple maintenance solves strange problems. As you work your way through things, tighten any coax connections you find and make a mental note of the feel. That is, does it take a 1/4 turn for example to get them tight? 

 

[Mocephus]

UPDATE: Issue Resolved

I pulled the cabinet panel and first connected an extension cord to the TV plug, bypassing the cutoff module. That didn’t resolve it. Then I started checking all of the connections to the splitter and booster switch. Sure enough, just as a member on a different forum had suggested, I found that one of the coax connections on the booster switch was very loose. Tightened it up and that resolved the issue. I also tightened up all of the other coax connections while I was in there.

I would have never guessed that a poor coax connection would in any way be related to house lights interfering with a cable TV signal. Who knew.

Thanks to all!