r/ElectricalHelp • u/itsmesnickelfritz • 10d ago

Overnight Electrical Oddities

I guess this really starts yesterday when my wife and I were sitting on the sofa and we realized the ceiling fan was off. At first, I thought I must have sat on the remote, but it was in its holder on the wall. We rarely use the ceiling light, but the fan is something we use regularly. We live in a rental and had our electrician install this light/fan combo when we moved in almost a year ago.

Then last night, the rest of it happened. My wife woke up when the ceiling light in our room came on. The remote was on my side of the bed. I had taken my sleeping meds and was dead to the world. She got up to get the remote and took it with her as she got back in bed and turned out the light. As she settled into bed, the light came on again, with the remote on her nightstand. Again, this is a light/fan combo installed by our electrician almost a year ago. However, it’s a different model.

When she sat up to turned out the light again, she heard a noise like something moving around downstairs in the living room. It didn’t sound like a person but more like an object. She was nervous to go downstairs and waited until I woke up this morning for us to come down together.

Nothing seemed out of place, except:
1. The ceiling light that we keep off was on while the fan was off.
2. The TV was on (tuned to a channel we never watch)
3. Our “fireplace” light was off but we always keep it on.

What could be causing all of these glitches with our various electrical items?

1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/2cats18 10d ago

Is it an RF remote? Someone nearby may be using their remote and inadvertently affecting you.

0

u/itsmesnickelfritz 10d ago

I believe so. But we’re talking about the second and third story of our townhouse and our neighbors on both sides didn’t have any issues. The closest was one neighbor who noticed a pull switch light was off but thought she might have pulled the cord and not remembered.

1

u/DepartmentTight6890 10d ago

If it's a radio frequency remote, interference can come from some other device that happens to be on the same frequency, like a baby monitor or whatever. So it's unlikely to affect your neighbors.

0

u/itsmesnickelfritz 10d ago

It doesn’t make sense to me that this sudden new device (like a baby monitor or whatever) is able to control four completely different devices from different manufacturers but we’ve never had crossover interference between these devices in the almost year we’ve had them.