Arcade causing garage door interference.

lpeters82

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Has any one else noticed that there arcade game(s) are causing interference with their garage door?

I'm 99% sure that mine is. A few days ago all of our remotes to our garage door stopped working. I didn't know it at the time but this was the same day I plugged in my arcade (Lethal Enforcers). I changed the batteries, no help. I adjust the antenna, no help. So then I start doing some research and they talk about doing a whole house power cycle. Instead of doing that, I start thinking about what's changed. The first thing that comes to mind in a new wireless router. I unplug that, still no help. Then I think, we'll it sounds crazy, but I recently plugged in this game. I unplug it. To my amazement the garage door is now working perfectly.

Any ideas on how to prevent or block this interference?
 
Use an extension cord to power the game from an outlet in another part of the house. If it still happens then move the game to another part of the garage. It could be the game is to close to the garage door receiver.
 
Arcade games were notorious for causing RF interference. Make sure you have a good ground through the plug. If the ground pin has been removed, replace the plug. Also make sure the socket you plug it in is wired correctly. You can get a simple plug in tester at Home Depot or Lowes that will tell you if the wiing was done right. Every time we by a house I check every outlet. It is surprising how many are done wrong.

If the grounding doesn't work, you may need to make a Faraday cage for the CPU board. The easiest material to use is some steel window screen mesh. Just shape the screen like a box around the CPU boards and ground it. Because it will interfere with airflow you might want to consider getting a small fan like they use in PCs to blow air across the boards to keep them cool.

ken
 
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