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Is this possible? RE: wireless interference
Fibretip
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Okay, so my wife is stuck under our new baby all day long, so I just dropped a fair chunk of cash to build her a pc for the bedroom, hooked up to our nice new HDTV. Great, works a dream, gaming life restored.
However
The main point of this build was that the keyboard and mouse would be wireless, so she could play from bed when she was nursing. I tested the rig over and over myself sat in the bed, and it worked great. So finally i unveil my work to my wife, she's very happy, sits down to use it... and the cursor won't move... the keyboard won't respond. I swear and sit down to see what the problem is, and it works fine. she has another go, and nothing works.
We've now tested it with 5 different people, all of them can use the pc except my wife, for who the wireless mouse and keyboard are completely dead no matter where she sits.
Is it possible that she's somehow generating some kind of interference that won't allow them to transmit? If she puts her hand over mine whilst i'm using the mouse it starts to move like it's in treacle, the moment she takes it off it goes back to normal.
Has anyobne heard of anything like this? I can't find shit on google at the moment
However
The main point of this build was that the keyboard and mouse would be wireless, so she could play from bed when she was nursing. I tested the rig over and over myself sat in the bed, and it worked great. So finally i unveil my work to my wife, she's very happy, sits down to use it... and the cursor won't move... the keyboard won't respond. I swear and sit down to see what the problem is, and it works fine. she has another go, and nothing works.
We've now tested it with 5 different people, all of them can use the pc except my wife, for who the wireless mouse and keyboard are completely dead no matter where she sits.
Is it possible that she's somehow generating some kind of interference that won't allow them to transmit? If she puts her hand over mine whilst i'm using the mouse it starts to move like it's in treacle, the moment she takes it off it goes back to normal.
Has anyobne heard of anything like this? I can't find shit on google at the moment
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"Do pregnant woman cause wireless interferance".... Next thing you know Starbucks wont allow pregnant woman in....
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Holy shit! Sony's new techno toy!
Wii Friend code: 1445 3205 3057 5295
PSN: Broichan
can't find a direct link to the one i bought, it's a labtec ultra flat usb wireless desktop, cost $60 it's the same as this one : http://www.ciao.co.uk/Labtec_Ultra_Flat_Wireless_Desktop_Keyboard__6277873 but usb rather than ps/2
I just can't get my head round it, i've been googling all day long for it and haven't found a thing!
Maybe you're acting as a waveguide? If she leaves the room and you sit in the same place as she does, does it work then?
Try a Bluetooth set instead?
PSN: Broichan
Very strange, I don't know if I've ever heard of anything like this. Does she have the same kind of problems with other stuff like the other poster above was talking about? Can she use other wireless stuff like cell phones, wireless land-line phones, gamepads, etc?
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she's had similar but not so severe problems with cordless house phones in the past, but never with cell phones.
and it still doesn't work even if she's the only person in the house, wherever she sits, whatever room we try the pc in...it's just dead to her. I think i'm pretty much stumped, it works beautifully for everyone else that tries it. I configured the pc sitting in bed where she does, and it always worked just fine, but for her whatever room i plug the pc in... she can't make the kb/mouse work.
I'll have to look into bluetooth, thanks for that suggestion!
guess i should email labtec and see if they have heard of anything similar
thanks for the suggestions guys... good to know i'm not the only one who finds it bizarre!
PSN: Broichan
I don't believe it - I'm on my THIRD PS3, and my FIRST XBOX360. What the heck?
I suspect that might be the problem right there. The device in question may may assumptions (or incidentially rely upon) certain aspect's of the user's capacitve coupling to ground, or electrostatic potential. If the user's body is used as part of the antenna circuit, that'd be one possibility. It's also possible (likely, actually) that just standing next to the thing could de-tune the circuit enough to throw it off.
The other thing is the bed/PJ's combo could just be whacking the mouse with ESD.
RF gets pretty esoteric on the boundary cases... Some folks I work with specialize in this stuff, although I suspect it'd be difficult to do anything other than speculate without knowing the specifics of the design.
It'd be nearly impossible to Google for, just choosing the correct keywords to search on would be difficult, and there are many other topics that would likely drown out any (if there is any at all) meaningful discussion on this particular subject.
Even knowing that something should exist and having a good idea of what keywords to use, my Google-fu still somewhat failed me. I did find a few things relating to RF design and the human body, however:
Finally, it should be noted that the gain of small antennas at FM frequencies is enhanced by the presence of the human body, in particular if the antenna or chassis is touched by the user. This is due to the human body being a fairly efficient antenna at around 100 MHz, as a half-wavelength is around 1.5 m and the human tissue is conductive at such low frequencies. This is in contrast to cellular antennas, which can lose more than 10 dB gain in talk position. (http://rfdesign.com/next_generation_wireless/transmit_receive_technologies/radio_builtin_handset_antennas/)
That article was referring to design that took into account, and used the user as part of the antenna circuit. At certain frequences, this is actually a positive design element. At other frequences though, the human body soaks up signal.
and,
"For example, water causes signal attenuation and the human body is made up of water, so the size of a human body and its orientation can result in different amounts of signal loss." (http://research.microsoft.com/~padmanab/papers/infocom2000.pdf)
I suspect most of the research regarding this goes into cellphone design, or medical monitoring devices, not keyboards and mice. Being consumer goods, I doubt much research or discussion goes on. People who aren't electrically compatible (or have incompatible operating environments) get fed up, and return the product or trash it, and move on. The other 999,999 people go on using the product.
Best bet is to try a different technology - preferably on a different frequency band. IR is very reliable (but requires line-of-sight - probably not a big deficiency in your case), but the downside is that I don't think I've seen any free-range IR mice/keyboard combos. IR keyboard with integrated pointing devices might be findable though.
Along those same lines, how is she holding it? Is it in her lap, or on top of a lap board/desk type of thing? If it's the former, try the latter. Basically try moving it as far away as possible from her body and see if it still doesn't work when she presses the keys.
Also, does she have any metal implants, like pins where a broken bone was repaired? I could *maybe* see something like that acting as an antenna and absoring enough of the radio waves that the signal no longer reaches the receiver, although it's kind of far-fetched.
http://www.thelostworlds.net/
Isn't iron one of the things pregnant/breastfeeding women supplement?
Heck, isn't a pregnant woman filled with amniotic fluid? That sounds like the most logical thing yet. (Or not... kinda makes sense though)
I don't believe it - I'm on my THIRD PS3, and my FIRST XBOX360. What the heck?
I think the most likely explanation is some kind of short circuit due to the way it's coming into contact with her body.
http://www.thelostworlds.net/