Why is our baby monitor like a terrible theremin, and is it common?
November 22, 2014 2:57 PM Subscribe
For the last three+ years, we've used this Graco baby monitor to hear our little guy during naps and at night, but since moving to our new home (built in 2007), it's been like a terrible theremin, with interference noise increasing as you move away from it, or towards it, or turn off a light, or plug in another device in the same room. What might be causing this, can we fix it ourselves, and is this issue present in video models? More thoughts inside.
We live in New Mexico, which is usually pretty arid, so we've occasionally run a humidifier in the kiddo's room, where the receiving end is plugged in.
On the video front, I'm interested to hear if people have found them valuable, compared to plain audio monitors. I think it could save us trips into the room of kiddo #2, whose arrival is upcoming. Mrs. flt is not sure it's worth it to get a to get a video device, but we are looking for a second monitor, because we'll eventually put kiddo #2 in his own room.
We live in New Mexico, which is usually pretty arid, so we've occasionally run a humidifier in the kiddo's room, where the receiving end is plugged in.
On the video front, I'm interested to hear if people have found them valuable, compared to plain audio monitors. I think it could save us trips into the room of kiddo #2, whose arrival is upcoming. Mrs. flt is not sure it's worth it to get a to get a video device, but we are looking for a second monitor, because we'll eventually put kiddo #2 in his own room.
Is it possible you're getting some kind of feedback? Are the monitor and speaker somewhat close together, possibly in adjacent rooms?
posted by Fleebnork at 3:30 PM on November 22, 2014
posted by Fleebnork at 3:30 PM on November 22, 2014
Ours started doing that after a year of use. I don't know why.
posted by jbenben at 3:56 PM on November 22, 2014
posted by jbenben at 3:56 PM on November 22, 2014
Ok. Ha. Now that I have googled theremin and listened to an example ... ours is making this sound right now. It has happened for a few weeks at a time over the last few years, a couple of times. We think it's some sort of interference. It has always gone away on its own. When we take it on vacation it stops right away though.
posted by semacd at 5:22 PM on November 22, 2014
posted by semacd at 5:22 PM on November 22, 2014
Best answer: We love our video monitor. It has multiple channels and scan mode for two room surveillance. Other than the different noise levels making the scan mode sound weird sometimes, it is great.
Our old audio only monitor got feedback from wireless headphones that were in the 900mhz range I think. Maybe your wifi or your phones (maybe DECT is in the 900mhz range)?
posted by cmm at 5:25 PM on November 22, 2014
Our old audio only monitor got feedback from wireless headphones that were in the 900mhz range I think. Maybe your wifi or your phones (maybe DECT is in the 900mhz range)?
posted by cmm at 5:25 PM on November 22, 2014
Best answer: WiFi is in 2.4GHz and about 5GHz, so it shouldn't mess with 900MHz, but cordless phones may. Cellphones are sometimes sending data in the 800MHz range as well.
I would start by changing the channels; per the manual (730KB PDF), it does have multiple channels.
It looks like it came with 2 parent units-- assuming you have both of them, and they work, are you hearing the theremin noise on both, even if they're in difference places? If so, it's the transmitter that's the location of the noise. Try place it in different locations, including outside away from everything and everyone. If the noise goes away, that points to interference. If it sticks around, that points to a defect.
If it looks like the noise is in one or more parent units (the noise is present when the child unit is out of range, off, or wrapped in foil (shielded), try the same test. Detecting interference sources can be a bit challenging, but you can kill power to things selectively, and also selectively shield things with aluminum foil; you can also kill power to whole rooms with your breaker panel/fuse box. Such foil shielding can be done diagnostically even if it's impractical for a permanent fix.
You should also consider what's directly in between the two ends-- anything that gives off electric or magnetic fields?
The manual above has a brief troubleshooting section-- if you haven't already, try those things as well.
posted by Sunburnt at 7:01 PM on November 22, 2014
I would start by changing the channels; per the manual (730KB PDF), it does have multiple channels.
It looks like it came with 2 parent units-- assuming you have both of them, and they work, are you hearing the theremin noise on both, even if they're in difference places? If so, it's the transmitter that's the location of the noise. Try place it in different locations, including outside away from everything and everyone. If the noise goes away, that points to interference. If it sticks around, that points to a defect.
If it looks like the noise is in one or more parent units (the noise is present when the child unit is out of range, off, or wrapped in foil (shielded), try the same test. Detecting interference sources can be a bit challenging, but you can kill power to things selectively, and also selectively shield things with aluminum foil; you can also kill power to whole rooms with your breaker panel/fuse box. Such foil shielding can be done diagnostically even if it's impractical for a permanent fix.
You should also consider what's directly in between the two ends-- anything that gives off electric or magnetic fields?
The manual above has a brief troubleshooting section-- if you haven't already, try those things as well.
posted by Sunburnt at 7:01 PM on November 22, 2014
Do you have any dimmer switches? Do adjusting those have any effect? I had a dimmer switch that wreaked havoc with my guitar amplifier similar to what you're describing.
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 7:11 PM on November 22, 2014
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 7:11 PM on November 22, 2014
It could be related to grounding plane of the antenna. Put it near a large metal grounded item like a washer or the fridge and see if that helps.
We have cheapo ip cameras in each of our child's rooms attached with 3M command strips to give a good look-down in the crib, and it is pretty amazing from the standpoint of I didn't know they wiggled around so much when asleep. It lets you gauge the severity of the noise and cause, like when teething, or a leg stuck through the slats and they don't know what to do but cry. With the IR pseudo-night vision you can see when they've thrown up. Also you see if they are crying but rubbing eyes and laying down, you know they are on their way to sleepy land.
posted by nickggully at 7:41 PM on November 22, 2014
We have cheapo ip cameras in each of our child's rooms attached with 3M command strips to give a good look-down in the crib, and it is pretty amazing from the standpoint of I didn't know they wiggled around so much when asleep. It lets you gauge the severity of the noise and cause, like when teething, or a leg stuck through the slats and they don't know what to do but cry. With the IR pseudo-night vision you can see when they've thrown up. Also you see if they are crying but rubbing eyes and laying down, you know they are on their way to sleepy land.
posted by nickggully at 7:41 PM on November 22, 2014
I can't answer your question about your existing monitor, but I love having a video monitor - it is especially helpful in determining if baby echo is likely to fall asleep again after chattering away for a while if we leave her alone, of if she's up and moving around in the crib and definitely awake for the day. Also at night time and for naps - sometimes she just needs to chat with herself for a few minutes, but sometimes she chats herself awake and needs a "reboot" of her sleepy time routine. The video monitor helps me decide which type of chatting she's doing (is she still laying down? Is she sitting or standing up and chatting?). We have the infant optics from Amazon - it works great in our 3 floor townhouse and has a feature where it drowns out white noise and only kicks on if there is a different noise so you're not constantly listening to the white noise on the monitor (this was an issue with the hand me down audio only monitor we originally had).
posted by echo0720 at 12:32 PM on November 23, 2014
posted by echo0720 at 12:32 PM on November 23, 2014
Response by poster: While I should have looked at the manual for our audio monitor, we got a video monitor a few months back, and it's great for all the reasons others have mentioned: easy way to peak in on little people who should be asleep, and who might hop up if the door opened a crack and they're not napping yet. Bonus points for being able to monitor more than one room, remotely guide the camera, and take the monitor around the house wirelessly for a while (the battery life isn't great on the monitor, but that's not a deal killer for us). And the set-up was brainless (as simple as charging the devices for a while, then turning them on).
posted by filthy light thief at 11:11 AM on March 12, 2015
posted by filthy light thief at 11:11 AM on March 12, 2015
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We have a video monitor and use the video feature all the time to see if the kiddo is trying to sleep or has give up.
posted by semacd at 3:10 PM on November 22, 2014