MagicEye not working...

[LSainsbury]

Hello,

Some advice please!

In the new house we have a aerial socket in the lounge and also another in the bedroom. I thought I'd do the same as we did in the last house - which was to go into the loft and find the two ends and join them together with a coax coupler.

I've connected two RF leads - on going to "RF2 Out" on the Sky plus box and one to the TV in the bedroom, enabled the RF2 socket through the setup / hidden menu (401) and success - nice picture on the TV in the bedroom (after tuning of course), BUT the magic eye doesn't work...and the LED on the magic eye is not lit...

Any ideas?

Cheers

Lee

[multiskilled]

Hi, have you switched rf 2 power to"on".Think setting is in same menu.Don't have sky so can't check which menu it's in.

[LSainsbury]

Originally Posted by multiskilled

Hi, have you switched rf 2 power to"on".Think setting is in same menu.Don't have sky so can't check which menu it's in.

Didn't see a power option there - will check again though!

Menu 401 - correct?

---------- Post added at 12:46 ---------- Previous post was at 12:09 ----------

Just checked again - yes I had switched on the RF power...ummm...a problem me thinks!

[Zeph]

Do you have another box you could try it with?

[LSainsbury]

Originally Posted by Zeph

Do you have another box you could try it with?

It was working perfectly fine at the last hose with a Sky (standard) box - must be something to do with cabling...

[iain_herts]

is there outlet sockets if so are they non isolated ones as if they are isolated they will stop the power from going through.

also check to see wether there is anything touching the center core

[LSainsbury]

Originally Posted by iain_herts

is there outlet sockets if so are they non isolated ones as if they are isolated they will stop the power from going through.

also check to see wether there is anything touching the center core

Isolated sockets - That's possibly the issue - how can I check to see if they are the wrong sockets?

Think the wiring is all ok - mind you - I've not checked the actual sockets yet...

[Tempest]

If you take the socket off the wall, check for any components connected to the PCB where the cable connects. There shouldn't be any. You should just have the cable connected directly to the socket.

I had the same problem recently. There was a DC blocking capacitor and this was stopping power getting to the eye. I replaced the socket with an inexpensive one from my local DIY store.

[LSainsbury]

*Bump*

OK - sorry to bump the thread. As I've got a bit of time this week, I thought I'd revist this in attempt to get it working.

I've now unscrewed the coax faceplates and checked the PCBs . There's nothing on them - just centre pin and wire braid connected as it should be. I've checked both ends as well.

I'm now stumpted and don't know what to try next.

Any ideas?

I know the magic eye works - if it plug it onto the RF out on the Sky box it lights up.

[Raistlin]

Sounds like you've got the same problem I had HERE

I'm guessing that whatever you've used to couple the two ends together isn't correctly allowing one part of the signal through. You should have a +ve current through the central core of the co-ax and a -ve current through the shielding. The Magic Eye needs both parts of this to work.

---------- Post added at 12:43 ---------- Previous post was at 12:39 ----------

Forgot to say, as you're getting a decent picture it's probably the -ve part of the signal (carried by the braiding around the central core) that isn't getting through.

[LSainsbury]

Originally Posted by Raistlin

Sounds like you've got the same problem I had HERE

I'm guessing that whatever you've used to couple the two ends together isn't correctly allowing one part of the signal through. You should have a +ve current through the central core of the co-ax and a -ve current through the shielding. The Magic Eye needs both parts of this to work.

---------- Post added at 12:43 ---------- Previous post was at 12:39 ----------

Forgot to say, as you're getting a decent picture it's probably the -ve part of the signal (carried by the braiding around the central core) that isn't getting through.

Thanks for the quick reply...

I've used a standard coax coupler like this one and two connectors.

This worked perfectly fin in the old house.

Picture from RF2 from Sky box is excellent but BBC1,2, ITV, Ch4 and Ch5 are rubbish - does the SKy box output those via the RF2 or am I just picking up the signal via the coax cable acting as the aerial?

I suspect you are correct - its the cable connection as it's the only thing I cannot isolate. One of those boxes are are on the cards I feel!

Would it be worth soldering up the joints - or as a test I could just wire the two bare coax together to see if that works!

---------- Post added at 13:17 ---------- Previous post was at 12:58 ----------

Edit - I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!!! After all the mucking around - it's the bloody coax connector!

I've just wired it up with bare wires it it bloody works!

Right - were did it put the insulation tape.....

---------- Post added at 13:47 ---------- Previous post was at 13:17 ----------

Edit #3: Decided to reuse the coax connector as I could not find my insulation tape but this time I have made sure the braid was connecting to the outside shield and now it works so it was the connection all along!

[Raistlin]

Ah well, glad you got it sorted matey

[LSainsbury]

Originally Posted by Raistlin

Ah well, glad you got it sorted matey

Yeah - after much hair pulling....nearly bald now!!

[the-cable-guy]

Originally Posted by LSainsbury

nearly bald now!!

lol