Sony Bravia TV earth/grounding issue

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Sony Bravia TV earth/grounding issue

SpartanVXL

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#280399 12-Dec-2020 18:14

Got a bit of an issue with the lounge TV. Recently the Samsung 1080p TV from 2010 started getting horizontal lines on screen, ended up replacing with a sony bravia a8h.

The TV works great, but theres a slight remaining issue. Both the old samsung and the new sony are two-prong plugs and both have a grounding issue. Running fingers along the back or edges gives a slight buzz feeling and hdmi cables will zap whoever is unfortunate to pick them up by the connector end.

Now the samsung tv had this issue for over 10 years, but with the new oled tv I’m a bit concerned. Reading up on this it seems like TV’s with no ground for their power is normal? And that voltage leakage into their chassis is okay and by design? It’s plugged into properly grounded outlets (fancy power bords with surge protection and ‘not grounded’ indicator lights on them). When everything is hooked up eg. Apple TV, mac mini, android box, all are two-prong and will end up having a static charge on them when outputting to the TV.

I tried finding if there where any adaptors out there where you could plug a two-prong and have a ground wire coming out which could be hooked onto a chassis screw or something but either my search was bad or they don’t exist anymore.

elpenguino

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#2620616 12-Dec-2020 18:23

Have you got an aerial connected?

If so, unplug it and test for zappiness again. Report back.

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

SpartanVXL

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#2620619 12-Dec-2020 18:28

No aerial/coaxial connected, same with the samsung tv. Got rid of that a while ago when cord-cutting and moving to digital.

hsvhel

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#2620627 12-Dec-2020 18:41

Anything else on that circuit doing the same?

Or does it present if you move the TV to another power circuit?

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Oblivian

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#2620628 12-Dec-2020 18:42

So you have HDMI, so connected to something else. And you get zapped when touching the tip?

Remove that. Isolate to just the tv.

Something in the chain is possibly using the other device as the earth. Shortest path of resistance and all that.

SpartanVXL

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#2620629 12-Dec-2020 18:50

TV will build up a charge after 10s or so of power on with hdmi connected to nothing. Have tested on a few power outlets near lounge with same issue. Both TV’s do this hence the confusion as to why they make $3000 appliances without ground.

hsvhel

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#2620666 12-Dec-2020 19:45

are those outlets on the same circuit as the normal lounge one for the TV/AV system

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elpenguino

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#2620724 12-Dec-2020 22:03

A mains earth is only needed for appliances with exposed metal (simplified answer) and would be of no functional benefit to a TV.

Disconnect all av appliances from the TV. Does the zappiness still occur?
If yes, report back.
If no.
Plug the appliances back in, one by one. Test for zappiness each time.

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

EMB

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#2621124 13-Dec-2020 23:14

This could possibly be a faulty earth-neutral link in your switchboard - if so that's dangerous territory and should be rectified ASAP.

If you have suitable equipment and know what you are doing you could run a few perfunctory tests yourself - but I expect that if that were the case you wouldn't be asking for advice here. So get an electrician to do a proper check of the property to confirm that this isn't the issue and that all is safe.

tripper1000

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#2621233 14-Dec-2020 11:29

While it isn't ideal, it isn't uncommon either. Been talked about here before:

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumId=141&topicId=279743

It is an effect caused by floating voltages at extremely low currents which is why it doesn't give you a proper shock and isn't a health hazard.

Some manufactures talk about it to allay buyers concerns:

https://www.dell.com/community/Laptops-General-Read-Only/Two-prong-AC-adapters-tingling-sensation/td-p/3640871

Don't believe what people say about faulty wiring (to the TV at least). If it is unearthed, bad earth wire in the house won't affect it.

SpartanVXL

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#2621478 14-Dec-2020 17:52

Yes, isolated by itself the tv will have a vibration feeling if you put the back of you hand to the metal(?) part which holds the panel, best description is like those reports of macbooks on charge feeling a bit fuzzy when touched. The plastic part at the back housing i/o and probably the android tv is fine.

Tested on multiple sockets around the house including a UPS which has pc plus other gadgets which are okay. Same issue across all.

When measuring V in a hdmi cable plugged in to tv (nothing else, just a cable running off an input) it spikes around 2 (the reader set to 200’s setting grounded to earth) and quickly drops to 0. All other appliances do this too on their hdmi cables with the exception of the apple tv box reading constant 29 on same setting( A’s measuring 3.5 with reader set to 200µ).

I read about the floating voltage info before (re: tripper1000) and hope thats the case and there isnt much to be worried about. Everything in the lounge are is plugged into these belkin surge protectors with a ‘not grounded light’ which are not lit (ie. grounded properly). Mum also swears all outlets were done properly when the house was built.

richms

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#2621488 14-Dec-2020 18:22

Its normal, its leakage current thru a capacitor across the isolation in the power supply to help RF noise dissipate back into the mains.

Put a piece of coax between the TV and a powerstrip with a coax surge protector in it, and it should ground away via that. This is also why people end up saying that those stupid overpriced power conditioners have helped with things, because it gives an alternate path to ground for the chassis leakage which is often a source of noise in the analog circuits in things.

When you plug 7-8 devices together all with a little leakage, it can get to be big enough to worry about. 30-40 devices and its enough to trip an RCD.

Richard rich.ms

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SpartanVXL

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#2621531 14-Dec-2020 20:48

I don’t think I’ve seen a surge board with coax on it, only rj11 phone ones.

Theres only four devices plugged in and the buzz is mild. Somewhat resolved the apple tv’s constant output. Swapped power cable to a two pin figure 8 plug with an UK end into a adapter. Has a metal third prong for ground, not sure how that works vs the nz two prong. Hdmi coming off apple tv is now less zappy and now similar to others ie. has a minor charge but dissipates if grounded.

I think I’ll take the advice that it’s normal for this to happen. I did take a wander into jb hifi to see if their display model did the same thing. Must have looked a bit sketch rubbing the side of a tv for a bit, but quickly found that the store model didn’t have this issue.

richms

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#2621541 14-Dec-2020 21:24

SpartanVXL: I don’t think I’ve seen a surge board with coax on it, only rj11 phone ones.

Plenty of home theater ones have one or more coax passthrus on them.

SpartanVXL: I think I’ll take the advice that it’s normal for this to happen. I did take a wander into jb hifi to see if their display model did the same thing. Must have looked a bit sketch rubbing the side of a tv for a bit, but quickly found that the store model didn’t have this issue.

They share an HDMI source to everything, so it will all be earthed thru the HDMI cables back to their splitter and over to something that is earthed. They may have found the problem with many devices and intentionally earthed the splitter or something to dissipate that.

Richard rich.ms