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Ask HN: Does your microwave interfere with Bluetooth? Mine does

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Re: Ask HN: Does your microwave interfere with Bluetooth? Mine does

#171
post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably burnt paint from the inside of the waveguide. Happens frequently when the mica sheet that covers the injection port gets moisture from steam (who'd have thought - steam in a microwave?!?) Simple fix is to replace the mica (a few cents from AliExpress) and use steel wool to get rid of any carbon residue around the injection port.

It sounded like there was no magnetron load on the power supply, because the cooling fan was spinning a little faster and the interior was a little brighter. This was during the few seconds between the smoke show and from me pulling the plug. There was indeed a char mark on the mica sheet, but the beryllium terror at the time was enough for me to chuck it.

You would expect less load on the power supply if there was an arc causing a short in the waveguide.

Re: Ask HN: Does your microwave interfere with Bluetooth? Mine does

#172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And now my new microwave actually has Wi-Fi built-in, we've come full circle.

That's probably a good thing, because it means they have to take extra care to make sure the shielding is good enough that microwave energy used for cooking won't interfere!

Except it disconnects from the Wi-Fi when running, and only re-connects afterwards to send the notification about completion! A total cop-out...

Re: Ask HN: Does your microwave interfere with Bluetooth? Mine does

#173
My microwave sat Infront of a phone jack. (we had ADSL2 for internet) Every so often out internet would just stop.

Finally realized it was the microwave pumping interference into the jack it took out the internet.

Also worth noting, if it was a bad rain storm the internet would drop in speed.

Re: Ask HN: Does your microwave interfere with Bluetooth? Mine does

#174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions : > Microwave ovens are not tuned to any specific resonance frequency for water molecules in the food, but rather produce a broad spectrum of frequencies, cooking food via dielectric heating of polar molecules, including water. Several absorption peaks for water lie within the microwave range, and while it is true that these peaks are caused by quantization…

I would contest Wikipedia's description here a bit because I think it confuses the issue of microwave emissions. A number of ISM bands were allocated for RF heating applications originally, 6.78MHz, 13.560MHz, 27.12MHz, 40.68MHz, 915MHz (commonly referred to as 900MHz), 2.45GHz (commonly referred to as 2.4GHz), 61.25GHz, 122.5GHz. These are just examples taken from my NTIA chart which doesn't call all of them out. Th…

thanks for this great comment...i learned stuff i hadn't known for sure.

Re: Ask HN: Does your microwave interfere with Bluetooth? Mine does

#175
post #103

I once worked for a startup that was trying to stream ads over bluetooth using microwavable foods. It _worked_, but ultimately used too much bandwidth to be practical at the resolutions advertisers wanted.

Can you explain a bit more how this worked? The food item harvested energy from the microwave, and modulated the leaked microwaves/transmitted its own signal to hijack nearby bluetooth audio devices to play audio ads?

Basically, yes.

Re: Ask HN: Does your microwave interfere with Bluetooth? Mine does

#176

There's a particular spot on a local highway that interrupts my wireless CarPlay connection if I spend too long in it (eg when traffic is slow). It's right next to an exit with a bunch of buildings (including a hospital) so I'm sure there is some massive emitter in one of those buildings. I'm still at a loss about what could cause that kind of interference inside a major city and still be legal.

WiFi and Bluetooth have basically zero legal protection. FCC Part 15 "this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation."

Re: Ask HN: Does your microwave interfere with Bluetooth? Mine does

#177
post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because the equipment installed in the galley is going to be tested for operation with the specific aircraft. Meanwhile phone radios (not WiFi, not Bluetooth) used to have interference issues with various aviation systems (with some 5G bands still causing issues). Additionally, outside of interference issues from phone systems (and various other non-ISM band radios), the order helps preventing people from doin…

The restriction on cellular phone use on a plane comes from the FCC not FAA. As far as the FAA is concerned as long as you can demonstrate (through standard tests) that a class of aircraft is tolerant of electronic devices (which the manufacturers can do), it’s up to the airline if they want to allow it. They’ve even greatly simplified the process due to the explosion of different electronic devices over the last cou…

This is incorrect. The Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) expressly forbid operating in IFR conditions (or an IFR flight) with cell phones on.

Re: Ask HN: Does your microwave interfere with Bluetooth? Mine does

#178
post #147

Everyone, who see possible interference from microwave, should ask nearest service and make checks, as this could be manufacturer defect or just leakage of old insulation (rust under paint), and it could be dangerous for health. PS and yes, my friend once found rust hole in old microwave, so this is not very rare thing.

I have wondered about danger to health. The microwave interference is obvious with the airpods.

It's not good. May I just fortunate, but I have not seen any problems from old mature manufacturers, like Panasonic. Sure, I mean new microwave, or in absolutely perfect state.

Re: Ask HN: Does your microwave interfere with Bluetooth? Mine does

#179
post #9

Microwaves typically run 2.500GHz, most bluetooth and wifi is from 2.400 to 2.480GHz to keep some space between them (so if you want to minimise WiFi/Microwave issues on 2.4Ghz, use a low WiFi channel). Bluetooth is adaptive and will hop frequencies to find quiet space in the range above, however microwaves are an intermittent source so when they go on the leakage will kill any bluetooth that's on a nearby frequency.…

Where are you getting 2.5? 2450 +/- 50 is what I have seen.

From Nordic Semi (nrf52 chips behind most BLE/ANT+ implementations these days). Seems microwave ovens use the + side of the tolerance (2.45+0.5_ so they suggest sticking to 2.40 to 2.48 (channels 1 to 80 in their parlance).

Re: Ask HN: Does your microwave interfere with Bluetooth? Mine does

#180
post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where are you getting 2.5? 2450 +/- 50 is what I have seen.

From Nordic Semi (nrf52 chips behind most BLE/ANT+ implementations these days). Seems microwave ovens use the + side of the tolerance (2.45+0.5_ so they suggest sticking to 2.40 to 2.48 (channels 1 to 80 in their parlance).

Interesting, I wonder if this might just be due to the dominance of one particular magnetron design / manufacturer. Thanks for getting back to me.
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