History: the above arrived from Hong Kong, worked for 30 minutes or so,
died. Swapped all around, nothing, smelled magic smoke. Bugger.

Emailed seller... emailed seller... emailed seller... started Paypal claim
and seller immediately wakes up and rolls out the usual guff about USB ports
and stuff. Told him it's definitely broken and could I have a new one
please? Apologises and asks me to post it to him for inspection. Fairy nuff.

Just been to earth the coax, as suggested previously, and saw pretty little
blue sparks when making the final connection from the coax to the pc's case!
Oops. Looks like my naughty coax/aerial booster might have killed the tv
stick. Surely it must be a bit ****e though, if that's all it took? My meter
couldn't pick up any voltage on the coax so there's not very much there.

Does coax usually spark? I've never looked.

Si

Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot wrote:
History: the above arrived from Hong Kong, worked for 30 minutes or
so, died. Swapped all around, nothing, smelled magic smoke. Bugger.

Emailed seller... emailed seller... emailed seller... started Paypal
claim and seller immediately wakes up and rolls out the usual guff
about USB ports and stuff. Told him it's definitely broken and could
I have a new one please? Apologises and asks me to post it to him for
inspection. Fairy nuff.
Just been to earth the coax, as suggested previously, and saw pretty
little blue sparks when making the final connection from the coax to
the pc's case! Oops. Looks like my naughty coax/aerial booster might
have killed the tv stick. Surely it must be a bit ****e though, if
that's all it took? My meter couldn't pick up any voltage on the coax
so there's not very much there.
Does coax usually spark? I've never looked.

Sounds like a signal earth issue to me....

" cupra" wrote in message
...
Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot wrote:
History: the above arrived from Hong Kong, worked for 30 minutes or
so, died. Swapped all around, nothing, smelled magic smoke. Bugger.

Emailed seller... emailed seller... emailed seller... started Paypal
claim and seller immediately wakes up and rolls out the usual guff
about USB ports and stuff. Told him it's definitely broken and could
I have a new one please? Apologises and asks me to post it to him for
inspection. Fairy nuff.
Just been to earth the coax, as suggested previously, and saw pretty
little blue sparks when making the final connection from the coax to
the pc's case! Oops. Looks like my naughty coax/aerial booster might
have killed the tv stick. Surely it must be a bit ****e though, if
that's all it took? My meter couldn't pick up any voltage on the coax
so there's not very much there.
Does coax usually spark? I've never looked.

Sounds like a signal earth issue to me....

Mine did - and I could feel a tingle - got about 14 volts with a digital
meter. However, I expect there is little current as I assume it is induced -
or something to do with the TV Amplifier Power Supply which feeds up the
co-ax to the masthead amplifier.

John wrote:

" cupra" wrote in message
...

Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot wrote:

History: the above arrived from Hong Kong, worked for 30 minutes or
so, died. Swapped all around, nothing, smelled magic smoke. Bugger.

Emailed seller... emailed seller... emailed seller... started Paypal
claim and seller immediately wakes up and rolls out the usual guff
about USB ports and stuff. Told him it's definitely broken and could
I have a new one please? Apologises and asks me to post it to him for
inspection. Fairy nuff.
Just been to earth the coax, as suggested previously, and saw pretty
little blue sparks when making the final connection from the coax to
the pc's case! Oops. Looks like my naughty coax/aerial booster might
have killed the tv stick. Surely it must be a bit ****e though, if
that's all it took? My meter couldn't pick up any voltage on the coax
so there's not very much there.
Does coax usually spark? I've never looked.

Sounds like a signal earth issue to me....


Mine did - and I could feel a tingle - got about 14 volts with a digital
meter.

Never, ever believe a digital meter when measuring low AC voltages. Get
something that loads the wires and tells the truth. An old Avo would be
ideal. The reason is, is that there can be induced voltages in the cable
from others that are along side it.

Having said that, I did get a bit of a shock from the mains cable when I
was changing our son's cooker over to a new one. This was from neutral
to earth. Unexpected, but quite normal. Wall switch was off, but circuit
switch was engaged.

However, I expect there is little current as I assume it is induced -
or something to do with the TV Amplifier Power Supply which feeds up the
co-ax to the masthead amplifier.

You could be right here, but I would expect the voltage to be DC so that
the signal path could pass through capacitors and the power be passed
to the amplifier, by bypassing the capacitors.


Dave

"Dave" wrote in message
...
John wrote:

" cupra" wrote in message
...

Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot wrote:

History: the above arrived from Hong Kong, worked for 30 minutes or
so, died. Swapped all around, nothing, smelled magic smoke. Bugger.

Emailed seller... emailed seller... emailed seller... started Paypal
claim and seller immediately wakes up and rolls out the usual guff
about USB ports and stuff. Told him it's definitely broken and could
I have a new one please? Apologises and asks me to post it to him for
inspection. Fairy nuff.
Just been to earth the coax, as suggested previously, and saw pretty
little blue sparks when making the final connection from the coax to
the pc's case! Oops. Looks like my naughty coax/aerial booster might
have killed the tv stick. Surely it must be a bit ****e though, if
that's all it took? My meter couldn't pick up any voltage on the coax
so there's not very much there.
Does coax usually spark? I've never looked.

Sounds like a signal earth issue to me....


Mine did - and I could feel a tingle - got about 14 volts with a digital
meter.

Never, ever believe a digital meter when measuring low AC voltages. Get
something that loads the wires and tells the truth. An old Avo would be
ideal. The reason is, is that there can be induced voltages in the cable
from others that are along side it.

Having said that, I did get a bit of a shock from the mains cable when I
was changing our son's cooker over to a new one. This was from neutral to
earth. Unexpected, but quite normal. Wall switch was off, but circuit
switch was engaged.

However, I expect there is little current as I assume it is induced - or
something to do with the TV Amplifier Power Supply which feeds up the
co-ax to the masthead amplifier.

You could be right here, but I would expect the voltage to be DC so that
the signal path could pass through capacitors and the power be passed to
the amplifier, by bypassing the capacitors.


Dave

I understand about the digital meter - that is why I qualified it as digital
in my note. However, whatever is causing the voltage it may well be enough
to fry a sensitive electronic device. Do you agree?

John wrote:

I understand about the digital meter - that is why I qualified it as
digital in my note. However, whatever is causing the voltage it may
well be enough to fry a sensitive electronic device. Do you agree?

It was certainly sparking quite well so I would think so!

I've stripped off a ring of the aerial coax's outer sheath and connected a
wire from the earth braid to a screw in the pc's case. Hopefully that should
be enough to stop the replacement stick from 'sploding.

Si