Hi everyone!
My problem involves a television and I need a reason for it to turn itself off and on and change channels by itself at all hours of the day and night.

I've heard lots of people talk about TV's turning themselves on and off, so I'm guessing this is a pretty common occurrence and is not paranormal, but I don't know why. So any explanation would be helpful.

Here's what's going on, we've had some really weird things going on in this house since we (me, husband, 2 teenage boys) moved in 3 years ago. 9 times out of 10 I can find a rational explanation and settle everyone's nerves.

My husband has a TV next to the bed, that's his TV. He just lays in the bed watching car shows on it.
So about a month ago the TV started coming on in the middle of the night at full volume, waking him up. It doesn't wake me because I sleep like a log. He started complaining about it and saying that he couldn't turn it off with the remote, so I checked to see if it had an alarm or a wake-up timer or something like that. It doesn't.
Then he started complaining that it would change channels while he was watching it and he couldn't change it back with the remote, he had to use the buttons on the TV to change the channel back, God forbid he have to lean over to change the channel!

Then in the last couple of weeks I've noticed that when I come home for lunch and when I come home after work that TV is on and sometimes the volume is way up.
The other night, I decided maybe it was the batteries in the remote and decided to change them.
My husband came in, to supervise the changing of the batteries, and I kid you not, I took the batteries out of the remote and before I could get the new ones in, the TV came on and the channels began to change.
He was totally freaking out and I'm laughing at him.
So the TV is still acting up, even with the new batteries in the remote.

He wakes me up and says, "You see that! it's still coming on by itself and look it's changing channels!"
I tell him to unplug it and he does and I get a little sleep.
Pretty soon, I'll have to watch the Speed Channel in the living room!
Lately, he's been talking about moving because he thinks something evil is in the house.

Is there an electrician or a TV repairman in the house that can tell me why this is going on, so that I can give him a logical explanation that will settle his nerves? If not, can someone make up an explanation that makes sense, that I can tell him to hush him up?

I'm not a tv repairman or an electrician, but I play one on tv.

I am pretty good with google though. Try some of these links HiVeld and see if they help. If nothing else you should be able to show your husband that it is a documented problem that other people have had as well. The best cause I saw was that it might be a heat problem. If there's a portable heater in your bedroom, or if the tv is full of dust, it may be getting overheated. Just needs to be vaccuumed out. Anyways give these links a look and see if they help

http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=8615

http://www.satelliteguys.us/old-voom-news-...els-itself.html

http://en.allexperts.com/q/TV-VCR-Stereo-1...nels-itself.htm

http://en.allexperts.com/q/TV-VCR-Stereo-1...urns-itself.htm

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/15149


Might be able to find better ones with more info about your tv. Make/model/age.

Sounds like simple frequency problem. Sometimes remotes from other parts of the house or even houses can change the channel. Infact, i've seen a video where a guy was able to control a television with just a flash-light,camera film and laser pointer.

Was "the guy" MacGyver?

This reminds me of a car I had once that we had nicknamed Christine (after the car on the Stephen King movie). The windshield wipers would go by themselves at random, it locked me in the car (luckly the window was down as I couldn't get the lock to pull up), locked me out, would randomly start flipping through the radio stations, the dash board would go all wacky and the speedometer would start going up and down from 0 to 150, the headlights would go off and the last straw was when I was driving down the road it shut off. So, I did what any good person would do and sold it to a relative.

LOL... That..Is..Funny, Cheryl...(an in-law i bet..)

Very good guess. You are right on!

hahahahaha!

Yes, only he used a slice of American Cheese,
A butter knife
A small compact mirror
and a squirrel.

LMAO!

And Cheryl, you did the right thing...hahaha

You guys are so funny!

Thank you Luna for the links! I feel kind of stupid because I google everything and didn't google this duh!

I showed the husband the links and he says they don't count for his TV because his TV is new.

I'm just going to throw the thing away and buy another one, maybe that will shut him up.




Cheryl!

Don't throw it away.....put it on ebay...."Haunted TV"....

ROFL Sammy! this is a neat idea! what a shame i didn't think about it before hahaha...

yep.. is it a plasma? sell it on rebate..

You'd be surprised at the events surrounding electrical equipment... and how random it can be... and how easily explained it can be Good Luck!!!

I'd sell it as well.

There can always be an internal issue within the TV itself.

With so many electronics being made and with the efficiency of their production things arent exactly made with the same quaility materials and components of equipment built in the past.

My bet is there is an internal problem with the wiring. Possibly a soldered connection cracked and is making making/breaking a link inside causing it to turn on and off / change channels. So many components, capacitors, inductors, coils etc etc problems are not that uncommon.

Does it happen throughout the day? or Specific times? Could be internal, external (a machine within the house operating on a specific frequency range that the TV responds to), or a ghost.

Either way, If its new I'd just return it and get a new one =), or swap TV's and see if it happends with your other one, even though you might have to watch TV on a small TV for a couple days just to see if its the TV, or something else.

I agree vibe, Occams razer seems to apply here

Try wrapping the TV in aluminium foil. This may sufficiently shield the TV to prevent signals from outside the room from effecting the TV. Mind you, most TV remotes operate on infra-red not radio signals so this will probably not help. More likely the fault resides inside the TV itself. Simple solution call a TV repair man - they know more about TVs than the average G-M member I suspect.

that'd make the tv look kinda ghetto I don't think her husband would do it haha

Ah, well experiments don't have to look elegant.
Probably wouldn't work anyway as I said.

Just write "Versace" or some other designer name on the aluminum foil, and tell people you paid $800 for it. Suddenly it will transform your TV from ghetto to chic, and next week you'll hear about how Paris Hilton has her TV wrapped in one that's diamond studded.

Just a thought.

ROFL!! eek that'd be just neat if someone actually bought it =))

Had the same thing happen to me once and I never did figure it out. I'm pretty sure it's just an electrical interference issue though because alot of the current technology uses the same high frequency of 2.4GHz and they can interfere with each other. For example, a cordless telephone can easily interfere with your wireless router because they work on the same frequency. Not saying that this explains it but I would lean toward a non-paranormal explanation for this one.

I would just take the TV back where you got it from and exchange it for another one. And if it keeps malfunctioning, well you could have a ghost in your house. Sorry!

It could be interference from fluorescent lighting - particularly 'compact fluoros'.

http://neptunlight.com/files/IR-and-CFLs.pdf