Interference with remote control operation?

Question

I never had this happen before. The other night I had 2 remotes not working - one for the DVD player and one for the satellite receiver - completely unrelated systems, but the one for the tv still worked fine. They would barely or not work if an inch away even. I changed the batteries in both - no difference. I put some christmas wrapper cardboard tubes together and the controls would work from one end of the tube with the other end right at the sensor.  Finally after midnight they started working fine again.  What could cause interference like that from outside or another house?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Assuming that these are Infrared (IR) remotes, and not FM radio remotes, there was lots of infrared light in the room, and it was striking the remote windows of the DVD player and the Sat rcvr.  Possible causes would be a nearby heat source (fireplace?) or lighting.  Did you have some lights dimmed in the room? Often, they put out more energy in the infrared range as they are dimmed, "blinding" the sensors with IR "noise".
Here's a similar scenario:
I once witnessed a CD player with built-in output level control raise the volume "all by itself".  I lowered it with the remote control, and as soon as I released the volume button, it went back up again.  Turned out, the sun was shining directly on the CD player's remote sensor, and happened to be giving it a "volume up" command.  It only did this on one particular day for an hour or so, and never again after that.

Interference with remote control operation?

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