Static Electricity Problems

[EarPlug]

Eddie,

If you are grounded to two different locations you can have what is called a "ground loop". If you take a meter you would probably measure a voltage difference between the two. I have seen a difference of up to 100 volts! This can cause your problem.

The ground on the ac cord is connected to the coax. The coax is connected to the dish. The dish is connected to a different gound. PROBLEM. Get the whole system grounded to the same point.

Jack

 

[CharlieTR]

Hope you were able to resolve the issue.
If not...
Just a couple of tings...

Is this new problem or always been there?
If always (since installed) the grounding issue seems more likely.

The ground is the outter conducter so static shocks are not unlikely.

Is this only the web, I think you mentioned web?
But TV is OK, yes.

When I looked into this type of hi speed. The Dish guys said I lived out of radio range. That the WWW signal came from ground tower, line of sight, 5 mile limit, but it went into house via dish. Can you tell us if you have same or some newer techno. Is the a separate head on the dish for Internet?

Notice any performance differences with weather/wind?

If this is recent problem, and worked for long time, I would persue PC, NIC, LAN troubleshooting.

What exactly happens? Modem "Data" or "Network" LED goes dark and that the only indication? Does it every recover on it's own?
Sorry if I asked something you already mentioned.

Sorry to give so many ??? and no answers.

Good luck

 

[PBinWA]

I had a conversation on this issue with my installer (who had done tons and seemed to know his stuff). Basically, the Dish and the Modem need to share a common ground. If your dish is grounded seperately from your houses main ground then that may be the problem.

Otherwise, the blue sparks are the result of too much TBN. It's just flowing everywhere through your system and you need to spend some time surfing elsewhere!

 

[EddieWalker]

I've been reading those links and what's in there without really understanding what they are talking about. Two things realy stood out for me. One, the ground needs to be on the same ground as the power supply. I'm a little unique in that I have to 200 amp boxes in my home. One for the house, one for the shop, all one building.

The second thing that I read is that the coaxal cable is DC current and there is no need to ground it. This got me wondering too. It's a little conflicted, but I got this idea to just disconnect the ground. I did that this morning and OMG!!! it's working great!!!!!

Hmmm, no ground at all and I'm solid, high speed without any issues.

I don't know if it will last or not, but for now, it's just amazing.

I had the system originally installed two years ago at a barn I used to live in. Last year, I built this house and had it moved. The install went fine, but later I started having issues. A different guy came out and spen most of the time badmouthing the guy who did the new install. He replaced all the cable ends, gave me a new modem and a new dish.

When he wasn't bad mouthing everyone else in the industry, and generally most every company he could think of, he also grounded my dish. It wasn't done from the previous guy, nor was it ever done when it was at the barn. He said I had to have it grounded to work properly, and when he was done with replacing everything, it worked fine for awhile.

Things worked great until winter. Then we started having problems. After awhile, we realized that if we had two space heaters on, the connection would die on us. One space heater was fine, but two, anyplace in the house would instantly kill the connection untill it was turned off.

After that, we were great again. Then when the heat got real bad here, this problem started up. Is heat and humidity related to static eletricity and grounding??? I think it must be, but it could also just be a coincidence.

Right now, I'm gonna take a wait and see aproach. It's working good, so I'm not changing anything else!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[rich_ncal]

"Is heat and humidity related to static electricity and grounding?" Static is worse in dry conditions. Grounding of the copper stake in the ground is best when wet.

The ground loop suggestion is a possibility. Not something that has happened to me often but can happen. Space heaters could pull a great deal of current and generate voltage spikes on the line when they turn on.

It is also possible you are picking up interference from other equipment, that is some way changed by removing the ground wire.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Eddie your ground rods might not be grounded.

I know this sounds silly but if you're suffering from the drought then there's a good chance I'm right. If the moisture is gone from the soil around the rod then there's a good chance they're not making contact with earth ground.

One of my jobs in my youth was at the telco in so California. I was once on a crew that tested ground rods. In sandy soil we had to sometimes drive in four of five ground rods to get the readings we needed. So I could see you having a problem if you drove in one ground rod at each panel and there's no moisture at that level.

Next time your service starts flaking out go out and put some water around your ground rod and see if that corrects it.

Hope it helps.

 

[CurlyDave]

Eddie your ground rods might not be grounded.

I agree with this, especially if you are having a drought.

I forget if you have a well or city water. I have a well with 75' of 6" dia steel casing. This is the best ground around. If you have anything similar, that is the right place to ground everything.

At a minumum, everything associated with the satellite dish (modem, computer, all computer peripherals, etc.) should be powered from the same side of the same electrical panel. Your electrical panel usually has two 120V sides, the circuits on one side are out of phase with the ones on the other side. The easiest way to do this is to power them all from the same circuit.

Also, get one of the little plug-in electric outlet testers (the ones with the little lights) and make certain that all of your outlets are correctly wired.

Another trick is to set up a drip irrigation outlet on your grounding rod to keep it wet. We have some incredibly sensitive electronics at work and do this in dry locations.

 

[EddieWalker]

Two days since I disconnected the ground wire from my dish, and it's still working great!!! No way am I changing or touching a thing. hahaha

I'm only an hour and a half from Harvey's place, but about halfway there, the state changes. It goes from red clay and pine trees, to black gumbo and scrub oaks. Kind of like two different planets.

My dirt must have more sand in it or something, but after months and months of no rain, there are no cracks in the soil. I can still dig down a few feet and find moisture. Of course, I don't know or understand the specifics on how ground rods work, so anythings possible.

I just do as I'm told and let those smarter than me figure out all the details.

Thanks for the help and suggestions,
Eddie

 

[CurlyDave]

Two days since I disconnected the ground wire from my dish, and it's still working great!!! No way am I changing or touching a thing.

Eddie:

After thinking about this for a few more minutes, I realized that we have Wild Blue satellite internet in OR, and the dish is not grounded. Just the dish on a metal fence pole, set in concrete. Since we are staying in our motorhome while we are trying to get a house started, and the only electricity we have is from the on-board generator, it is obvious that no ground at all is necessary...

 

[bugstruck]

Not sure what happened when Eddie pulled that ground or how he did it but I can only guess he eliminated a path that was creating a potential for static or other voltage to accumulate on that line. I did understand the two service issue and separate grounding and the two sides of the panel comments. Weird, but so is everything I don't understand