[BubblePuppy]

Missy and I hadn't been home more than ten minutes when she said she smelled something burning. She was standing by the tv. I walked over and could smell something but the smell was very slight. I went back to the couch, looking in the tv stand I saw flames coming up from the Deca unit. Long story short I got the flame out and ever thing unplugged.
I'm not going to get into the call into Directv right now but it was a bit frustrating.
This was the first they had heard of this happening. Well that was a relief.
All I can say is I'm glad Missy and I didn't linger over dinner or who knows what we would have come home to.

 

[sigma1914]

That's really scarey and freaks me out. I have a real fear of things catching fire, especially electronics.

Glad you guys are safe and your home is ok.

 

[Sixto]

I never did like dongles and extra external stuff. Glad it worked out.

 

[Alebob911]

Glad to hear things worked out for the best! Did Directv asked to send it to them?? I have 3 currently in use and like sigma I'm always concerned about electrical fires.

 

[Davenlr]

Looks like the coax center shorted to the shield and started the fire. Im going to inspect all my coax pigtails tonight for damage or harsh bends.

Thanks for the heads up and glad it all worked out for you.

 

[Stuart Sweet]

Eek! That's really scary.

 

[Steve]

Thank goodness you guys got back when you did!

I use one of those + a power inserter as my CCK and it's sitting up in the attic, which gets hot as heck in the summertime. After reading about your experience, I think I'm going to retire it and use the HR34 as my DECA to LAN bridge going forward.

 

[Laxguy]

Wow, glad you saved it from being worse!

Probably a good idea to not let any such gear hang out where air circulation is limited or it is in contact with fabric, carpet or anything flammable.

 

[TXD16]

As a very long-time pet owner, I'd suggest you ask the dog (assuming that's not you in the avatar) what he/she has been up to.

 

[Mike_TV]

As a very long-time pet owner, I'd suggest you ask the dog (assuming that's not you in the avatar) what he/she has been up to.

Well the dog's name is Smoke... :eek2:

 

[jcrandall]

I'm sorry we nearly burned your house down, I can offer you $10 off for the next 6 months, would that resolve your concern?

 

[dennisj00]

Go buy some lottery tickets today! Although you may have used up your luck!!

Seriously, glad nothing was harmed other than the DECA.

 

[hdtvfan0001]

WOW - glad to hear the situation didn't get escalated to something worse.

This is the first I've heard a DECA unit fry from normal installed use....so perhaps you had the "bad fortune" to have a defective one.

I learned a long time ago when many thousands or more of any electronics are manufactured...there's going to be a bad one now and then. I know someone who had a 1-year-old Yamaha AVR "burn up" inside about 18 months ago.

Most important - its good to hear things are OK there now for you and your spouse.

 

[BubblePuppy]

In hindsight (of course) there were a couple of warning signs that something was going on.
First, when I would turn on the living room tv there would be a notice that there wasn't a connection to the satellite, but that would go away within a few seconds. I never put the HR20-700 in standby. I thought that was a little weird.
The second warning started Thursday night. we were in the living room watching a movie that was recorded on the bedroom HR23-700. The movie disappeared and a notice popped up indicating that the home network connection was lost. I had to run the network setup on both dvrs to get it back. This happened several more times that evening. It continued Friday morning. I was thinking that since I have the protection plan I would call Directv and schedule a service call. We went to work, came back after, watched a bit of tv and then went out to dinner. It was just ten minutes after we got home and turned on the tv when Missy was walking by the tv when she said she smelled something burning. The rest is explained in the first post.
Now I don't know if the deca would have caught fire without the tv being on or not. But caught fire it did.
A new deca is being sent (the black one), I took the white one from the bedroom dvr and connected to the living room unit. So far no more fires. ;-)

As for as my avatar, that is a picture of my constant companion and canine soul-mate of 15 years Smoke (Cossack's Smoke-In-The-Aire). It was taken when we were moving to Florida, crossing the Georgia/Florida state lines. Sadly two years ago he crossed over the Rainbow Bridge. I still miss him very much.

"I'm sorry we nearly burned your house down, I can offer you $10 off for the next 6 months,....." Hmmm....not sure if that is a joke or not but it is better than the response from the first csr I talked to, which was...."What do you want me to do about it?". I won't repeat my response.

I'm thinking about calling Directv and seeing (under the protection plan) if they will replace the two dvrs with the HR24 with the built in deca. I don't have a lot of trust in those external ones anymore.

 

[veryoldschool]

I keep looking at the photo.
I see the coax is what overheated and caught fire in the end.
The receiver can only output 13/18 volts and less than half an amp.

It's too late to know, "but" seems like the coax had a short, or stray strand of the shield that caused this.

 

[hdtvfan0001]

I'm thinking about calling DirecTV and seeing (under the protection plan) if they will replace the two DVRs with the HR24 with the built in DECA. I don't have a lot of trust in those external ones anymore.

The added info on your late companion SMOKE was nice.

Yeah...the external DECAs here actually worked well during their time...and I still retain several of them as "emergency spares" for older HD units that require them if I decide to reactive those devices. In the mean time, everything here is internal DECA, and that's the overall direction things are going with DirecTV hardware for a while now anyway since anything x24 or x25 were released.

The new black DECA units should work for you just fine. Glad you're all OK.

 

[veryoldschool]

The new black DECA units should work for you just fine.

"Unless" it has the same manufacturing defect.

 

[hdtvfan0001]

"Unless" it has the same manufacturing defect.

Good point...I guess we don't know if the "insides" are made up of the same identical components or construction attributes. I suspect somebody might know that information though...and I also suspect DirecTV would want to know about this incident.

 

[veryoldschool]

Good point...I guess we don't know if the "insides" are made up of the same identical components or construction attributes.

"I just" keep seeing the coax as what failed.
The DECAs get warm, but this heat [mostly] comes from the transmitter, which is on the other end.

 

[veryoldschool]

Good point...I guess we don't know if the "insides" are made up of the same identical components or construction attributes. I suspect somebody might know that information though...and I also suspect DirecTV would want to know about this incident.

"Well you know me"....

I'd remove the coax, inspect and try another to see if it works.