Radioshack Wireless FM Intercom System troubles!

[WallRunner]

Alright, so we bought two sets of Intercom systems from Radioshack about 2 years ago, and aside from the minor quirks here and there, nothing majorly wrong has happened with them. The intercoms are used to communicate with my Grandmother from any of the 3 floors of the house (She lives in an apartment in the basement).

They plug into the AC outlets in the wall, and that is actually how the messages are transmitted (apparently an AM signal, False advertising much?)

The intercoms worked perfectly fine for a year, until problems started late last year when I installed a new power supply in my desktop PC, which is where the weirdness starts:

The problem is when the Downstairs computer (MAINPC) is plugged in, the upstairs computer (MYPC) has to be plugged in and turned ON, otherwise the intercoms start to make a "buzzing" or "crackling" noise, for most of the last year I could atleast have MYPC on sleep mode when I wasn't using it, but now I can't even do that, otherwise the Intercoms start buzzing after around 30 minutes from MYPC going into sleep mode.

MYPC and MAINPC have the same model power supply, some generic brand and I'm going to buy a new one very soon. MYPC's power supply, after running almost non-stop for 6+ months, is having troubles with the fan running against the back of the case. In order to relieve MYPC, we unplugged both MAINPC and MYPC in order for the intercoms to not make noise.

However they've become even worse, going off every 30-45 minutes regardless of the PC's being on/off/plugged in/unplugged. Research shows these intercoms use the powerlines for transmitting sound, and that they have trouble "jumping" from one of the house's 110v AC power lines to the other. Attempting to remedy this, I've unplugged all intercoms except for the one in the upstairs living room and the one in her living room. So far that has worked, but it has only been about an hour since I did that (I actually did it whilst typing this post)

I'm looking for a more permanent solution to the problem, maybe even fixing the problem for good where I won't burn out my power supply 💡, the intercom has 3 channels, A is the main channel we use which was going off every 30-45 minutes, B has the same schedule and C is a constant buzzing when I last checked.

From,
Chris.

 

[wfooshee]

What do you have between the PCs and the wall? Power strips, surge protect strips, or UPSs?

You may be simply S.O.L. though. Power line signal transmission ain't what it used to be. I've not used the intercoms, but I had the X10 system of lamp and small appliance controllers at one time. Plug a reciever into the wall, and the lamp into the reciever, and you could control the lamp with a handheld remote control, even dim it. They even had units that replaced wall switches so you could control the ceiling lamps or external lights. I also had remotes the kids could carry, looked like a keyless remote for a car, that could turn on the porch or driveway lights as they approached the house.

As my entertainment and computer systems became more complicated (more devices like DVD players, media servers, game consoles) the X10 stuff got less and less reliable. Even a cell phone charger being in use would completely disable a whole section of X10 devices. I've finally abandoned it altogether, although I truly miss being able to dim my bedroom light or turn it on without actually getting out from under the warm covers, or start the coffeemaker from the bed.

 

[WallRunner]

What do you have between the PCs and the wall? Power strips, surge protect strips, or UPSs?

Surge protector strips.

I'm probably S.O.L. then though, most of the intercoms are surrounded by tons of electronic stuff, one is even on the entertainment center.

I guess we'll have to look into more options, the intercoms seem to work right now with most of them unplugged, but I still can't turn of MYPC...

From,
Chris.