infra red TV eye not working

[ss5116]

The TV is working correctly, I have tried it from another room, the wall plat is not isolated. The TV eye has power LED which is not on. I will try soldering the connector on. It must be something to do with the voltage not being passed all the way.

If the cable is very long then the voltage maybe weak???

 

[ss5116]

The distribution box is masterplug which passes the infra red through all the outlets.

The annoying thing is that all the cables were put in when the house was built so there is no chance of changing the cable without masses of work.

Thanks

 

[ninjacat]

Quick question - how many TV eyes can the sky box power - you say you have 4 plugged in? Could you try unplugging the others and using this on its own?

Contact Sky customer services they will help you, I suspect

On non sky installed equipment. Maybe but I wouldn't hold my breath on that one.

 

[ss5116]

Currently I have 4 TV outlets with 4 TV eyes, 3 TV eyes work fine. I will try removing others when I get home - thanks for the info..

 

[electronicsuk]

I assume you've done the obvious thing and disconnected the cable at the distribution box end, then checked for continuity end to end, and also for a short circuit?

Apologies if this has already been covered, but its a long topic and I may have missed parts of it.

 

[ss5116]

Yep - the Cable is fine no short circuits.

 

[electronicsuk]

Ok, so we know the following:

The TV eye itself is in working condition
The cable is in good condition (i.e. continuity and picture)
The TV eyes in other rooms are working

Now, I can't see 15m of cable being enough to upset the TV eye, it's not a particularly long coax run at all. What happens when you take out one of the cables from a working outlet on the distribution amp, and replace it with the one running to the kitchen? That would at least rule out the distribution amplifier itself as the issue, and you've also ruled out the TV eye, leaving the cable as the only suspect. Assume you checked the flying lead you're using between the socket and TV too?

EDIT: Apologies, seems you've already tried other ports on the amp. Flying lead is about all I can think of now, that and checking for power on the outlet with a meter.

 

[ss5116]

Looks like I will have to test it with a meter, what should the voltage be to provide enough power to the TV eye???

The only thing I can think of is the voltage isn't high enough to power the TV eye, are there different types of TV eyes that need less power to make them work?? (I am just assuming) - this problem is driving me mad...

 

[electronicsuk]

Can't give you an honest answer on the minimum voltage, best thing to do is measure under no-load conditions and see what you get, and then try and measure with the TV eye in-circuit and see how much it drops. I think you should get around 9v under normal conditions. If all else fails, you can always buy a remote DC power injector and install it at the TV end to make things work. It's not exactly a fix, but...

EDIT: I also just read that the limit on cable length is 20m, so it turns out cable length is a possible issue. You might need an injector.

 

[Lectrician]

You will have 9v at the outlet.

It will not be a voltage issue - these eyes take milli amps, if that. Not enough to cause any volt drop.

Put your meter onto the wall outlet plate, and look 9v DC. If it is there, you know it is your fly lead. Often, the centre pin of the plug doesn't make good contact with the centre pin of the socket - bending the centre pin of centre VERY SLIGHTLY cures this.

The thing to do now is look for the 9v DC.

The length limit is actually due to the signal not being strong enough being sent back, not the 9v falling off.

 

[ss5116]

thanks for all your comments.

 

[RF Lighting]

OOI, I have a run of around 40 - 50 meters of coax between my loft box and the TV in the garage. My magic eye works fine at this length.