Electricity Overload Audio Problems

[FlamingHippo]

I have a 'man cave' set up in my house and have run into a rather worrying problem, every time an electrical appliance is given electricity (either through plugging in or turning on) the audio on my speakers cuts out. But first let me explain the setup.

Gaming PC (650w PSU), Xbox One and Sky box all connect via hdmi to an Optoma Hd141x projector. The connection is currently being supplied manually via a two sided female hdmi dongle. (Although HDMI switches have been used but more on that later)
The audio system used is a Logitech z906 which is connected directly to the projector with a 3.5mm audio jack and audio is supplied via Hdmi.
Attached to the underside of my desk are 2, 6 port extension plugs all surge protected up to 13,500 A. One of these extension cables is connected to a regular 3 port extension plug which then plugs into the wall socket via a surge protected adapter (also 13,500 A). The other 6 port plug is plugged into a regular 3 port extension which then plugs into the wall again through an adapter. All devices mentioned above including monitors and the projector are spread over the 2, 6 port extension cables. On one 3 port connector a lamp and a Husky mini-fridge is plugged in and on the other a digital clock and the sound system.

Sorry if that part is a little confusing.. Essentially all substantial suppliers of electricity are on surge protectors whilst low electrical use appliances are not.

So back to the problem when an appliance is turned on the audio cuts out for some reason, this especially a problem as it occurs every time the mini-fridge re-initiates cooling. At this point I reckon that it is a HDMI surge which is going through the projector and is not strong enough to knock out the projector video feed but is the audio. I came to this conclusion as when using a HDMI switch with an audio extractor all was fine. But, this then led to a problem... I am now down to my 4th HDMI switch, all previous 3 have been fried in some way or another at various points depending on quality. So, that leads me to the second problem... I am actually scared at this point to plug in my new switch incase it too follows the pattern of becoming fried. Therefor my second question is why is this happening?? Is it due to a HDMI surge overloading the PSU on my switch or something else. I have invested in a single HDMI surge protector yet I am not sure on which cable to put this, one of the inputs or the output? If you have any ideas please feel free to help.

Cheers,
Mark

 

[TheBeatPile]

Hi

First ill say nice setup man. So i would simply find another outlet thats on a seperate breaker and put the fridge on it. the fridge when the compresser kicks likely pulls more amps then everything else put together.

If you don't know how to find an outlet on another breaker I can help with as well.

 

[InvalidError]

If your equipment is split between outlets on different breakers or possibly even different outlets on the same circuit, it is possible that there might be a common-mode (ground) voltage difference between your projector, switch and PC large enough to fry one or more of those components.

That sort of recurring issue could possibly be a neutral-ground wiring fault (short or poor contact where there should not be any) with a weak/broken neutral connection somewhere in the wiring.

 

[Suzuki@1473780084@1473780163]

Hello,

I'm having the same issue as you describe with my projector. As soon as someone would turn on a lamp or something in my house, anywhere in any room, my speaker cut off and my projector displays a static. I'm looking into buying surge protectors between the outlets and the devices, but I haven't tested this yet. If you come up with a solution, please share!



All the best!

 

[FlamingHippo]

First of all thanks for your replies..

An update on the situation though. I fixed the first solution by simply using an audio extractor which separates the audio from the projector. I have re-wired everything in the room and made sure everything is on the correct socket and everything was working for a few minutes. But now my problem seems to be that the video feed to my projector is not working. When connecting one of the devices manually to the projector video and audio are all ok. But, when I run both audio and video through a HDMI switch the audio extractor picks up the sound and outputs it but the video is not picked up from the projector. So, I don't know much about what goes on inside a HDMI switch but it seems to be something that changes inside it that causes the projector to not be able to pick up the signal. I know that the HDMI switch works fine as I sent the output to my pc monitor instead and video worked instantly.

So, regarding this I don't know if anyone can tell me what is happening or if there is a way around this. Also note that the switch works great for the first couple days and then suddenly stops displaying audio. Also another interesting feature I discovered was the fact that when simply running the audio with no output it is a solid signal through the audio extractor to my speakers. But, when an output feed is added the audio periodically interrupts. I am not sure whether this is because the projector is attempting to update the video feed or whether it is caused by a HDMI surge. Also to note that both the HDMI switch and the projector recognise there is an output that is going through yet no image appears.

Cheer,
Mark

 

[FlamingHippo]

Hello,

I'm having the same issue as you describe with my projector. As soon as someone would turn on a lamp or something in my house, anywhere in any room, my speaker cut off and my projector displays a static. I'm looking into buying surge protectors between the outlets and the devices, but I haven't tested this yet. If you come up with a solution, please share!



All the best!

Hey, thanks for the reply,

I would hold of for the minute on buying surge protectors as they haven't actually solved anything for me up to this point. They are definitely worth having when using so many electrical outputs but as far as protecting from audio I don't think they really do much as I believe the surge that is occurring is only a minute surge that is strong enough to affect the audio and not the video. Although due to you receiving a static image it may be a larger surge so maybe a HDMI surge protector would be worth while.

Hopefully we can find a solution soon.

Cheers,
Mark