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c/alarm-system-installersthe_robinthe_robin7h agoProlific Poster

Caught myself running sensor wire too close to main power for 3 years straight

I was troubleshooting a false alarm at a retail job in Portland and the senior tech pointed out my wire was running parallel right next to a 120v line. Turns out that induction hum was messing with my zones the whole time. Anybody else learn this the hard way?
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shane_bell
shane_bell2h agoMost Upvoted
That bit about fluorescent ballasts is spot on @stella_scott96, those things are absolute noise factories in my experience. Did the induction hum change at all whenever the retail store dimmed or switched those lights on and off?
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stella_scott96
Wait, didn't I read somewhere that induction interference is actually way more common in commercial buildings with those long wire runs? I saw a post on a security forum where a guy said he had a whole zone acting flaky for like two years before someone figured out it was a wire running near some fluorescent ballasts. Idk if it's exactly the same thing but it sounds close. Maybe it's just me but I feel like those long parallel runs basically act like a cheap transformer and just bleed noise into everything. That must have been super frustrating to deal with for three years though.
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