Question Modem losing connection when garage door opens

[zombie2k]

Hello-

I've had this issue for a couple of years now. I have comcast as my service provider for cable internet and they've come to the property to replace all sorts of cabling but it hasn't resolved the issue.

Basically, my connection randomly drops, i've replaced the modem and router three times. The most consistent way of internet dropping is through the electric garage door. Anytime someone opens the garage door internet drops and I have to reset it by unplugging and replugging. At times, when the connection drops I am able to restore it by unplugging the coax from the wall and replugging it.

Can someone please help me figure out wtf is going on here?

 

[kanewolf]

Is the coax direct from the outside to the modem? Or are there splitters or connectors in between?

 

[zombie2k]

Is the coax direct from the outside to the modem? Or are there splitters or connectors in between?

Apologies in advance for a noob response but here it goes:

Coax goes from outside box (by curb) to a big electrical box hanging outside the house wall then assuming it runs through the wall and comes out in the living room via coax outlet.

 

[kanewolf]

Apologies in advance for a noob response but here it goes:

Coax goes from outside box (by curb) to a big electrical box hanging outside the house wall then assuming it runs through the wall and comes out in the living room via coax outlet.

But you don't know if there are any splices in between. I would start by running a brnd new coax across the floor to the outside box. Direct from the modem to the cable company. Then operate the garage door. If the modem is stable, then you have a coax problem. If not, you may have a voltage problem. When the opener starts it draws high current (maybe the start capacitor is bad). That drops the voltage at the modem. Easy way to check that would be running an extension cord from an outlet far from the modem.

But you need to determine if it is a signal problem or a power problem.

 

[jsmithepa]

If the ISP already came and replace cables, that's all they can do at that end. Replace the garage door opener, new ones should be quieter, mechanically and electrically. Resistance is futile.

 

[failboat]

I believe garage doors use 2.4Ghz. You might be getting interference with your wifi. Have you tested to see if a wired connection drops? Cordless home phones, microwaves, etc are also ones that can do it to.

If you're disconnecting while gaming I'd recommend going wired. Getting a wireless access point might help as well. Normally the wifi included isn't great.

 

[zombie2k]

So i've replaced the garage door opener few months back - new one is much quieter and nicer so I don't think its due to the opener.

Another thing I should probably mention is that we've had some electrical issues in the past when we bought the house in 2015 where certain bulbs downstairs will flicker every once in a while. Once the bulbs in our downstairs bedroom (located next to garage) blew up when i tried to turned them on. Electrician that came out to fix the fixture said we have too much load on the circuit (not sure what exactly that means) but could that be causing the modem to mess up?

On one of the comcast visits the tech plugged in his voltage meter to the coax outlet in the living room and he noticed a good bit of current and he said this current in coax should not be there and it is probably what is causing your issues. That does sound like a plausible theory since unplugging and replugging the coax cable does seem to address the internet issues at times.

Really appreciate everyone's responses here folks.

 

[jsmithepa]

U got some mess over there.

Current on the coax, this should be effectively fixable, so why didn't tech do anything? ah maybe ISP is not responsible for your in-house wirings. U may have to hire an AV guy.

Too much load, again this should be fixable, was it fixed? Move modem to another electrical circuit seems the easiest. Quick and dirty, put a UPS here.

 

[zombie2k]

U got some mess over there.

Current on the coax, this should be effectively fixable, so why didn't tech do anything? ah maybe ISP is not responsible for your in-house wirings. U may have to hire an AV guy.

Too much load, again this should be fixable, was it fixed? Move modem to another electrical circuit seems the easiest. Quick and dirty, put a UPS here.

I tried to get the ISP to fix the 'current on coax' issue but they refused saying its a wiring issue and we need to get an electrician to address this. If I do get someone out here to fix the current issue, would this be an expensive job?

Too much load was never addressed - looking to get someone out in the next couple of months to try and get this fixed.

 

[failboat]

So i've replaced the garage door opener few months back - new one is much quieter and nicer so I don't think its due to the opener.

Another thing I should probably mention is that we've had some electrical issues in the past when we bought the house in 2015 where certain bulbs downstairs will flicker every once in a while. Once the bulbs in our downstairs bedroom (located next to garage) blew up when i tried to turned them on. Electrician that came out to fix the fixture said we have too much load on the circuit (not sure what exactly that means) but could that be causing the modem to mess up?

On one of the comcast visits the tech plugged in his voltage meter to the coax outlet in the living room and he noticed a good bit of current and he said this current in coax should not be there and it is probably what is causing your issues. That does sound like a plausible theory since unplugging and replugging the coax cable does seem to address the internet issues at times.

Really appreciate everyone's responses here folks.

Are you in the USA? 220V 200A with breakers is fairly standard in the US. loading a full rail would cost you a fortune, something like $11,000 a year in power. each breaker/circuit is likely 15 or 20A. you might have one of those overloaded. a garage door might be code to be on it's own breaker. So if you have a ton of outlets on that same breaker you might see large voltage drops. you would need a multimeter to test. when voltage drops all your stuff pulls more amps and they might not be able to handle it.

it's less likely, but possible you temporarily are loading a rail. if your large utilities were all 110V and not loaded evenly across the rails it will cause problems to everything on that rail. in most breakers every other is on the same rail on the same side. a 220V breaker would take up two spots right next to each other. your central air, oven, hot water, dryer, etc probably use 220V.

in both situations I would guess that someone cut some corners. it's also concerning that the breaker isn't tripping. a voltage drop would cause your amps to rise very quickly and the breaker would trip. 15A rated wire on a 20A breaker would be very dangerous because the breaker won't trip and the wire can't supply the amps.

A short term fix might be putting the modem and router on a UPS. this would prevent power loss to those devices.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

Too much load means you’ve got too many appliances plugged in on one circuit. The answer is yes you need to get an electrician to run some more lines and balance things out in your house else risk house fires and things like that

Answer two. is it going to be expensive? well you tell me if electricians ever cheap? But it will be worth it for your safety

 

[jsmithepa]

Expensive? That's why is good to know a friend, a relative, u can talk to, who knows a bit about these so at least he can give you idea of what's involved. A good friend/relative asks lots of question, will do a walk-around, will ask to look the electrical panel. The excellent ones would bring his toolbox to take a few measurements.

Agree with ^about, if you have an overloaded circuit and is not tripping, that's dangerous. Got bigger problem than Internet.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

you may end up spending over 200, but it will be so worth it to have solid, clean power and insure your pc health and operation too.

in my high school days, our school had Electricity and Electronics, and in it they would train you to pass your Apprentice tests so you could go pass the exam and get a job right away after that. Great skill to learn. the rest of the 3 yrs was all electronics, which I loved.... what a great time.

 

[zombie2k]

Alright, it sounds like my problem might be the overloaded circuit here. I will get a tech out to the crib and see if we can rectify this issue. Will monitor and report back.

Thank you all!

 

[jonathan1683]

cant you just buy a ups instead?

 

[zombie2k]

cant you just buy a ups instead?

I can certainly try that but would that prevent the coax from contracting current?

I think opening/closing the garage door is somehow sending current to the coax. At times during the day the connection will drop randomly and if i unplug/replug the coax it brings it back to life.

 

[bill001g]

It should not be possible for it to introduce current into the coax.....that is what it is designed for. The shield should take any signal and ground it protecting the inner wire from interference. There generally is a small splice block that has a ground wire connected to it where the cable company comes into the house....this is a code requirement in many areas to prevent lightning from coming it. Your internal wires should be connected to this cable that comes in from outside and should also be grounded.

Now if you have a ground issue in your house where some device has a issue and it putting current on the ground then you get all kinds of strange issues. In cases like this maybe find the coax grounding block and replace it with a simple coax barrel connector until you find the house problem.

 

[zombie2k]

Would getting something like this potentially address the issue with the modem?

https://www.amazon.com/Ancable-F-Type-Voltage-Blocking-Capacitor/dp/B074K51D7X

I'm assuming this thing screws into my coax outlet and absorbs any current coming in so I shouldn't have the random connection issues and modem reboots.

 

[bill001g]

I am going to bet the power is AC if it is related to the electrical power in the house. A capacitor passes AC power through.

 

[colonelcorto]

The coax is probably grounded to the house electrical either through a splitter or through a box on the house. You may have an appliance in the house or some bad wiring that is shorting to ground and energizing the ground bus, thus energizing the coax. Do what the one guy said and run a coax directly from the modem to the main box outside by the curb, do this as a test. If this solves the problem get an electrician to the house before your home burns down. You should not have current on any conductor that is grounded and coax shielding should be grounded (if it’s not that could be the problem, too.)