Magic eye stopped working

[Anonymous]

Hi, not too dissimilar question to others which are variations on a theme. 

I have an early Sky HD+ box in the lounge running to a TV in the dining room using magic eye .  The set up has been in place for 4 years and no problems.  Yesterday, the remote stopped adjusting the Sky box when used in the dining room and the red light has gone out on the magic eye.

The same remote still works the Sky box if I use it direct in the lounge (so no problem with the remote) and the picture and sound comes through fine on the TV in the dining room from the Sky box meaning the co-ax cable seems to be OK.  The only way to adjust the TV in the dining room is now to go into the lounge to do it - a real pain.  I have checked that the RF out on the Sky box on the engineers menu is still switched to On - which it is.  I have purchased a new magic eye thinking that has failed but this doesn't work either - no red light.  I have checked all the co-ax plug connections - they all are good to.  I have tried re-booting the Sky box (no change) and I am coming to the conclusion the problem is with the Sky box itself?  Does anyone have any better ideas or things I could try?  Grateful for any assitance - thank you.

[Mark39 · Accepted solution]

@Anonymous test the magic eye by plugging it directly into the RF2 socket.

If the power LED lights, the problem is definitively with the coax cable, or more likely one or both of the connectors at the ends of the cable.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Mark.  Hadn't considered that.  Both the old and new magic eyes do not light up.  Seems to support a box fault.  Not surprised as we have it for a long time.  Grateful for the prompt response.

[Mark39]

Yep, points towards a box problem.

You could resetting the RF Output Power by turning it off in the box settings, turning your box off at the plug and waiting at least 5 minutes before turning on again. Then try turning RF Output Power back on and see if it's restored.

[Anonymous]

Already tried that. Thanks again for your help.  

[DorsetDave1]

Hi, Been having the same problem, just discovered by trial and error that it's the LED house lights causing the problem,some worse than others. I recall some years ago we could no longer use an FM radio due to interference, guess it's a similar frequency. Some LED's seem to give more interference than others, but with all the leds off there is no problem, hence fine during the day and not at night. Worse ones seem to the floodlight 80mm  bulbs. Hope that helps you all.

Dorset Dave

[Anonymous]

Sorry for not confirming my earlier post.  It was, as suspected, a box fault.  I switched the box over with a second box we have in the bedroom and all now works OK.   

[PR3]

Hi, have Sky done something overnight? Magic eyes not working in both rooms.  RF Out has been turned off and channel set to 30 in Sky box?  Turned RF Out back ON, set channel to 48 and retuned on one of the TVs (found analog channel) but remote still not working (magic eye red light is on)?

[PR3]

Signal is getting through to the TV but the remote is not functioning to change channels, etc.

[Mark39]

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@PR3 wrote:

Signal is getting through to the TV but the remote is not functioning to change channels, etc.

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First check that your Sky box is functioning correctly. You can do that by plugging one of the magic eyes directly,into the RF2 socket, fully covering up the front panel of the box, then pointing the remote at the magic eye to check that it still controls the box.

[PR3]

Hi, OK done that and it is working when trying as you described. I can't understand why the RF Out was set to OFF and the channel set to 30 (can't remember exactly what I set it at originally but fairly sure it wasn't that).  It has been working fine for months/years and was working OK all day yesterday and late evening on both our magic eye TVs.  It's as if something happened at midnight last night.

[PR3]

Sorted! Changed it back to channel 30, retuned TV and it's working again.  Can't understand why it switched RF Out to OFF but I'll know what to check first if it happens again 🙂

[Mark39]

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@PR3 wrote:

Sorted! Changed it back to channel 30, retuned TV and it's working again.  Can't understand why it switched RF Out to OFF but I'll know what to check first if it happens again 🙂

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Thanks for letting us know.

[jjwebwise]

same problem here on 4th April Magic eye recieving power but not working!.. I've re set RfOut to ON   and it worked for a while but on April 6th problem returned !! 

[Annie+UK]

A short in the RF coax cable can make the Sky box turn off the RF2 power output