USB turns off sometimes when kitchen light is turned off

[OzzyOscy]

On occasion, not all the time, whenever the kitchen light downstairs is turned off, the USB on my PC upstairs turns off for a split-second before reconnecting.

I'm not sure it does it for my keyboard and mouse connected in the back, but (when it does happen) it'll occur on my gamepad or possibly USB drive connected to the front USBs.

 

[OzzyOscy]

So this is normal then?

 

[OzzyOscy]

LOL, thats brilliant and no its not normal, I suggest you get an electrician in to check your wiring.

Cables can act like antenna and therefore are prone to disruption if a strong enough electrical field hits them. At the very least you should phone an electrician and see what they think, as it may need addressing.

An electrician has been round for the 5-year check once or twice if that counts.

LED lights in the kitchen by any chance?

We have some cheap LEDs at work, that when you switch one room off, it'll briefly knock the LEDs out in the next room. I'm assuming they've got rubbish filtering, and create a spike when switched off.

I'd get one of the basic plug in socket testers with the row of LEDs on the front that tell you if a socket is wired correctly, and check all your sockets have good earths.
If all that is good, there's not much you can do, short of fitting better quality lights in the kitchen.

I bet you have cheapo LED lights in the kitchen and they don't actually meet EMC/EMI requirements, even though they will claim to do so.

If they're retrofit lamps then change them for something from Philips, Osram or similar. Whilst they're all made in China for peanuts at least the big names take their obligations to produce market-legal products seriously!

If an LED light is the one that's a strip that takes a second or two of flickering before turning on, and bugs fly in it and can't get out and die, then that describes my kitchen light.

It's been happening for years but sporadically. When I wrote this thread it seemed to be happening once or twice a night for a few days, now it hasn't happened since, then it might happen again in a few days, weeks, months...

 

[OzzyOscy]

Sounds more like a fluorescent lamp, as although LED lamps can take a couple seconds to turn on, they generally don't flicker into life.

However fluorescent lamps can cause interference issues as well, in fact, they're probably more likely to cause issues, as they use higher voltages than LEDs. Only thing you could try is either fit a new lamp, or convert it to a decent LED. Converting is easy if it's a ye olde fitting with a separate starter, as you just swap the starter for a dummy, but if it's an electronic ballast, you have to rewire and bypass the ballast.

Yeah that's the word, fluroescent, haha I couldn't remember what it was.

That would drive me crazy, you say you have an electrician come around every so often. Have you mentioned this problem and been able to show it?

No I said the electrician had been round for the 5-year check once or twice. Also it wasn't mentioned as I forgot all about it at the time(s). That tells you how long it's been since it started and how sporadic for it not to be a real problem!

 

[OzzyOscy]

Still, it was annoying enough to post about it. Looks like others have some good suggestions.

Feel better?

 

[OzzyOscy]

You misunderstand me, I'm not annoyed. I'm saying that you felt the problem warranted posting a message, meaning it must have been annoying you.

Or I was curious!

 

[OzzyOscy]

Either way, you've had a good response.

Erm... thanks?