Turn Light Switch Off and TV loses sound

Yep you read that right.

Spent a few days in a Motel over the weekend and while watching NRL on Channel 9 Friday night I turned off the light switch to the 15 watt fluro and lost sound to the TV.
Now I have seen some odd things in electrical but never something like this.

Only way I could get the sound back was to turn the TV off and back on again just like you would to hopefully reset a computer.

Then for a while I tried to make it happen again and every time I turned off the light switch the sound did jump/flicker but not totally off as the first time.

Next morning still the same, flicker but not totally off.

I reported it to management but whether the young lady takes it any further or not is up to them, but I did tell her it could be fluro starter ? loose wires in the switch ? etc etc

On the ceiling is the fluro, then TV coax, then smoke detector, then tv power point all within about 1 metre.

It has me intrigued so any suggestions from those in the know would be appreciated ?

You've got me curious. My only suspicion is that the fluro (or starter) is behaving like a remote control in some weird fashion to mute the TV.

Traditional fluro's use a ballast which will create an inductive spike when turned on or off. This will often cause a flicker or disrupt sound on a TV particularly if signal strength is not the greatest.

Not sure why the sound would stay off unless it triggered the mute function on the TV.

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Originally Posted by droog

Traditional fluro's use a ballast which will create an inductive spike when turned on or off. This will often cause a flicker or disrupt sound on a TV particularly if signal strength is not the greatest.

Not sure why the sound would stay off unless it triggered the mute function on the TV.

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Thanks for the reply Droog, pretty well what I thought, but having seen real trouble with loose wires/poor electrical (toaster lead blown out of a 3 pin plug was one experience) I didn't want to not mention it to management.
The Motel was at Amberley and the TV coverage from Brisbane.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by droog

Traditional fluro's use a ballast which will create an inductive spike when turned on or off. This will often cause a flicker or disrupt sound on a TV particularly if signal strength is not the greatest.

Not sure why the sound would stay off unless it triggered the mute function on the TV.

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The TV possibly has a bad capacitor or two allowing the voltage spike/sag to get to the audio processor causing it to crash.

Is it common in motels for lights and power to be on the same circuit?

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Originally Posted by r3nov8or

Is it common in motels for lights and power to be on the same circuit?

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I would not think it would be and I did not say it was.

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Originally Posted by r3nov8or

Is it common in motels for lights and power to be on the same circuit?

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No.
Does not mean it is not for some devices in particular circumstances.

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Originally Posted by rambunctious

... I did not say it was.

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I didn't suggest you did :)

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Originally Posted by droog

No.
Does not mean it is not for some devices in particular circumstances.

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Some I've stayed in, there is definitely the potential for dodgy work and/or DIY electrics over years/decades

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Originally Posted by r3nov8or

Some I've stayed in, there is definitely the potential for dodgy work and/or DIY electrics over years/decades

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Yes, agree, and there is a lot of DIY electrical everywhere as I found in the Building Industry over many years but hopefully anything combined is marked in the board.
Sadly there are also a lot of dodgy electricians