Cable box is making a ticking noise
mi...@nowhere.nope
started making a ticking noise when it's on. The ticking noise is
coming from the box itself, not the TV speakers. If I remove the
coaxial cable that's coming from outside the noise goes away, screw
the cable back in the noise comes back. No problem with the TV
picture or sound. I presume it's a component inside the box that's
dying, and when it does picture and sound will die as well. Anyone
have any ideas what could be causing this?
And no, I don't think the box is about to explode. At least I hope
it's not. :)
John Robertson
Well, its either very bad news (boom!) or more likely the sign of a
failing capacitor on your switching supply.
If you have a capacitor checker I'd pull it out and check all the caps
before it fails.
The Blue ESR cap kit is a good start...
John :-#)#
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Allodoxaphobia
With over-the-air antennas and coax feeds, one can experience the effect
of high static buildup arcing from the center conductor to a nearby
ground -- probably right at the back of the coax connector on the
chassis. tick - tick - tick - tick - tick ....
I would not expect that to happen with a cable lash-up. But, when
'things' are not working as expected, they are - well, ummmm - not
working as expected.
Jonesy
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Meat Plow
Could be static bleeding off from the center conductor of the connector.
They do build in protection for this. Other than that it's anyone's
guess. If you rent the box from a cable company ask them for a
replacement. If a replacement still makes noise, the cable company needs
to know about the problem.
--
Live Fast, Die Young and Leave a Pretty Corpse
N_Cook
news:1fbt865l06l4fiij5...@4ax.com...
Is there a small relay inside ?
Mike
John Robertson wrote:
I don't have a capacitor checker.
Mike
Meat Plow wrote:
I own the box. Have another box I'll try after work today, but will need to
call the cable company to activate it.
Mike
Allodoxaphobia wrote:
I opened the box yesterday, turned it on, couldn't see any kind of arcing.
Was hard to tell where the noise exactly was coming from, but there's a
large thin aluminum box that the coax cable plugs into, the noise could have
been coming from there. Of course, could have been arcing inside of that
box.
Mike
N_Cook wrote:
I opened the box yesterday, didn't see anything that looked like a relay.
Meat Plow
I would think that being active wouldn't make a difference but swapping
the set top box with another of the same make/model is the definitive
step in troubleshooting.
Geoffrey S. Mendelson
>
> I opened the box yesterday, didn't see anything that looked like a relay.
>
Generally the ticking noise is a self destructing swithing powersupply. Some sort
of internal fault detection (or a fault itself) is causing it to shut off, and
then after it resets, it trys again.
This causes the oscillator to start up again, and makes the core of the
transformer "click".
Checking capacitors is a good idea, they are often at fault.
Occasionaly, they have enough juice stored in the filter caps that it stays
on without being noticed as a failure.
We had a combination satellite box and pvr that did it for the last 3 years.
It still worked fine until it reached over 100F here (first time in the
14 years I've been here), when it crashed.
Since our cable bill included insurance on the unit, they came out and replaced
it with a new one. It runs much cooler and does not click.
Geoff.
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Mike
Meat Plow wrote:
It's a different model.
Mike
"Geoffrey S. Mendelson" wrote:
So it could die tomorrow or work for years? I'd just leave it alone until it did
die, but I can hear the noise while watching TV and it's quite annoying.
Meat Plow
Then swapping it out will not mean much.
Jamie
Has the cable company been in your area lately? Are you using a legal
box? are you sure your friendly cable company didn't install a charge
pump device on your line to burn out your illegal box ?
Inquiring/creative Minds would like to know..
mi...@nowhere.nope
Yes, it's a legal box. I bought it used on ebay from a guy who had
moved to a different city and he'd switched to a different cable
company. When he left, he had the cable company de-activate the box
and when I connected it to the TV I had to call the cable company to
activate it before it would work. I think the cable company would
know if the box was legal or not...
Is your mind satisfied now?
mi...@nowhere.nope
I always hate it when someone posts a message asking for help, gets
replies and then doesn't bother to post what happened. Well, that
someone isn't me...
I gave up on that Explorer 3200 cable box. So I've re-connected the
box I'd been using before I bought the 3200 (it's an Explorer 940 - no
display or buttons on the front, and cheaply made - the box itself is
plastic - it's a piece of crap, but it works and doesn't tick...).
Thanks to everyone for trying to help.