Electrical interference

[TScottusmc]

2017 3965DSS
We just purchased our unit. Everything seemed to work or we didn’t notice, but now we are getting interference in our bedroom tv when we plug in our phones to the USB ports in the bedroom. We also cannot get any reception on our main tv, which did work fine. The only thought I have is there was a storm the other morning, but we were not there during the storm. We have been at the same campground since we purchased it two weeks ago. Has anyone ever had this issue? Is there a good place to start to look for damaged wires, maybe? Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[danemayer]

Hi TScottusmc,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum.

1st - are you sure it's the USB connections? Does the interference go away when you unplug the phones?

2nd - is your living room TV problem also when you have phones charging in the bedroom? Or is it a more general problem where the living room TV doesn't work?

Never heard of USB charging ports causing TV interference. And I'm doubtful there would be circuitry on those charging ports that causes TV interference. So I would look for a more general problem where the TV signal is weak, in which case any interference at all would show up.

Is your signal booster turned on? You need it ON for over-the-air antenna TV. OFF for cable TV.

If you see the LED light on the signal booster is glowing, also check the fuse box (blade-type fuses). You could have a blown 12V DC fuse in the fuse box (the LED next to the fuse will illuminate when the signal booster is turned ON).

If those things look ok, you may have a problem with the coax connection at the antenna on the roof. Also, if you have a directional crank inside, under the bedroom, there's likely to be a barrel connector above the crank. It may be loose.

 

[cookie]

Since you mentioned a storm, my first thought was whether or not you have a good electrical surge protector.
If not, a nearby lightning strike may have damaged some electrical components.

Peace
Dave

 

[wdk450]

Putting together parts of both Dan's and Cookie's replies, I thought of a large induced voltage from neighborhood lightning activity that could have blown out the input circuitry of your antenna amplifier. You would have to swap in a new one to test this theory.

If you are SURE the RFI comes from the USB charging ports, you can buy outlet cover adapters that have their own USB ports.

A small AM transistor radio tuned between broadcast stations is handy in sniffing out RFI sources.

 

[RoadJunkie]

I have never been annoyed enough with the USB/TV interference problem to track down the source, but our rig is also affected by this issue. So probably not lightning, power surge, voodoo or anything other than cheap components. Most people have probably not connected the dots to identify that the problem is coincidental with charging phones. Weak TV signals are most affected by the issue. We just don’t charge phones until we’re done watching TV.

 

[sengli]

Our big horn was affected by something similar to this. We would get no TV reception only when the bedroom lights were on. I think the RF interference is real, you just lucky if you dont get affected. We never did do anything about it, other than the obvious.