Amazon Fire FREAKS OUT when near tank!!

ps2cho · Jun 28, 2016

This is the weirdest thing I've ever seen. I bought the Amazon Fire to dedicate itself as a controller for the Apex and I put some HD Velcro on the canopy...BUT

I can't put it near my canopy because the screen goes WILD!! It will start scrolling up and down really fast, opening the keyboard popup, the drop down menu for changing brightness etc...

What's going on here? Some sort of magnetic interference? Is it telling me its afraid of water and its having a panic attack?

Here's a video (once its finished processing)

jsker · Jun 28, 2016

Something to do with the balist and the wifi? That would be my guess

Sabellafella · Jun 28, 2016

Wow thats very wierd. Maybe the screen is temperature driven? Is there any sort of heat comming from up top there?

bobman · Jun 28, 2016

What type of lighting do you have? And what type of ballasts (if any)? IT does sound like the lighting maybe making some type of magnetic field. Is the fixture properly grounded?

ps2cho · Jun 28, 2016

I have a Reefbreeders Photon24 LED and two T5's (retrofit kit).
The ballast is located at the other side of the canopy, not near the front.

jsker · Jun 28, 2016

ps2cho said:
I have a Reefbreeders Photon24 LED and two T5's (retrofit kit).
The ballast is located at the other side of the canopy, not near the front.

Then return the fire, it may be defective.

bobman · Jun 28, 2016

I would first try to use the fire by a TV or a decent sized speaker thats known to give off a magnetic field.

cobraz · Jun 29, 2016

LOL... mine did the same .. I have a Radion.. I mounted mine on the wall next to tank with no problem.

TheEngineer · Jun 29, 2016

bobman said:
What type of lighting do you have? And what type of ballasts (if any)? IT does sound like the lighting maybe making some type of magnetic field. Is the fixture properly grounded?

My thoughts too. That looks to me like interference from something not properly shielded.

DanDaMan · Jun 29, 2016

Another good thing to try is foil on the back of the tablet to shield it from the RF Noise. Maybe between the tablet and case.

ps2cho · Jun 29, 2016

cobraz said:
LOL... mine did the same .. I have a Radion.. I mounted mine on the wall next to tank with no problem.

So you experienced the same thing with your Radions...interesting.

Can anybody else test who has a Kindle by holding it up close to your light source and see if it goes haywire too?

Dom274 · Jun 29, 2016

It shouldn't be magnetic interference....

Does it come with a remote? Remotes operate on IR, the t5s are giving it off.

NanaReefer · Jun 29, 2016

Don't put it near the light [emoji38][emoji38]

TheEngineer · Jun 30, 2016

Dom274 said:
It shouldn't be magnetic interference....

Does it come with a remote? Remotes operate on IR, the t5s are giving it off.

The touch panel is likely capacitive. The magnetic fields are changing (they'll oscillate at the frequency of the light). Those changing fields will generate a voltage in whatever unshielded lines they come across. (See Maxwell's equation for more information) In this case, some element of the touch panel seems to be unshielded.

Dom274 · Jun 30, 2016

icecool2 said:
The touch panel is likely capacitive. The magnetic fields are changing (they'll oscillate at the frequency of the light). Those changing fields will generate a voltage in whatever unshielded lines they come across. (See Maxwell's equation for more information) In this case, some element of the touch panel seems to be unshielded.

Yeah, but capacitive touch screens are used in nearly every fast food restaurant under floresent lighting with out issue. I don't need to check out maxwell's equation, I know "magnetic interference" won't do that to a tablet.

It appears the Amazon Fire has a built in IR blaster/receiver from a quick Google search. The problem is definitely IR from the t5s. I've seen this before. When my fish tank was in my server room, the lights flooded out my IR extender for a computer remote.

reefwiser · Jul 1, 2016

Its the T5 ballasts doing this. Have had issues here at work with PLC control's and ballasts.

TheEngineer · Jul 2, 2016

Dom274 said:
Yeah, but capacitive touch screens are used in nearly every fast food restaurant under floresent lighting with out issue. I don't need to check out maxwell's equation, I know "magnetic interference" won't do that to a tablet.

It appears the Amazon Fire has a built in IR blaster/receiver from a quick Google search. The problem is definitely IR from the t5s. I've seen this before. When my fish tank was in my server room, the lights flooded out my IR extender for a computer remote.

I'm not going to take the time to search out whether or not it has IR. The fact that this happens only when close to the side of the lamp and without it being exposed to the lights tells me this isn't IR. The odds of the proper signal coming out to make that happen are infinitesimally small not to mention I don't it would allow for control of the screen scrolling position. IR interference is not plausible. If it was that easy to mess with walking near a window would do the same thing.

How many of those touch screens in restaurants are mounted 2" from the fluorescent lamps? I'm not saying I'm right but your insistence on being right makes a response necessary. You are guessing, as am I, but I don't claim to be right with a complete lack of foundation based on unrelated anecdotes.