wrote in message
ups.com...

Unless your TV has an earth connection (3-core mains lead) the chassis
ground is connected to the mains in filter, this effectively means that
the
chassis is connected to a capacitive potential divider across the mains
input complete with high value parallel bleed resistors.

TV has 2 prong plug. I tested 4 different TVs that did this and 3
that didn't. 2 of the 3 that did where big screen projection TVs and
the other was a highend JVC CRT. The 4 that do this are run of the
mill brands Panasonic, RCA, Magnavox.

In plain english is this something that is suppost to happen with
lesser TVs? or are all 4 of them broken in some way?

Cable company says they can't hook up TVs as long as there is AC
coming from TV to ground when they use a multimeter. From what I read
TVs do output some AC until the cable is connected and with the proper
tester leakage if present can be detected. But a simple voltmeter
will ALWAYS read AC if RF from TV is not connected to anything. Is
that the proper understanding or am I out to lunch.


They're not broken, the AC voltage is due to the mains filter as I
explained - the more appliances you connect together (VCRs set top boxes
DVDs etc) the more current you can draw. If the cable company is refusing to
connect their box to TVs in this situation its hard to see how they stay in
business!