justgenius

Hi, I cut a length of cable from a regular PC lead, which in Europe is 3 core cable - live, neutral and earth. Any one of those 3 cores would do the job. I crimped on 2 terminal connectors (an end piece with a hole in it that is about 4mm in diameter). You can then screw one end of that cable onto one of the screws around the edge of the whiteboard, and screw the other end in using one of the screws holding the SC6 controller board. So, basically you have a piece of cable about 5" long, touching the SC6 controller board and touching a screw which makes contact with the metallic board. That's it.

All, Here are some pictures, as requested. The first 2 show the board and installation - notice the plug points to the left very close to the board, and the projector and wall mounted speakers are both using 2 pin plugs - so no earth. Also, if you look at the left edge of the board, you can kind of notice some aluminium foil which was used to try to shield any interference coming from behind the board. The later pictures are form SMART Notebook software - notice how the vertical lines down the board always seem to jump about 5mm towards the edges of the board when you get to about 1/3rd of the way down the board. Notice how much worse the jagged lines got when the board itself was earthed using a screw hole at the back of the board. And finally, notice how it all cleared up when the VGA cable was finally earthed - similarly to the pictures provided by Neon.

Hey Neon (and all), Okay, so further update on this. I went into the school last weekend, tried a few different things, like pulling the board away from the wall to see if the anchor points behind the tray were responsible for the interference, and got nothing. Also, tried running the board connected to the USB, but no projector and no speakers and no power to the laptop (so, watch the laptop screen for feedback as you write/draw on the board), and still showed slight interference. I went back in again today, and tried a repeat of a few different things, but the interference was more evident today. So, I tried what one SMART technician had suggested and earthed the board using a screw hole at the back or the board into the ground pin of a 3-pin plug nearby, and wow - it made the problem 100 times worse! The lines were spiking all over the place. Finally, as a last effort, I tried earthing the VGA cable, using Neon's tip above - I cut a length of plain wire, stripped both ends, fitted one side to the ground pin inside a 3-pin adaptor, and wrapped the other side around one of the srews of the VGA plug, and the problem disappeared (obviously the earth from the board which I tried earlier was also removed and retested before I earthed the VGA cable). But anyway, all seems resolved now. Will have to let the teacher run the board for a few days before I can get confirmation that it's finally gone. But what an amazing wild goose chase! PS. I have a SMART Notebook file which explains all my testing, showing symptoms through every step of testing if anyone's interested. Mail me on [email protected] and I can post that file here.

Hi guys, As you can see, the problem isn't fully gone for me. Since I was last here, I've now tried shielding the board with aluminium foil behind it, and then covering that up with 3/4 inch plywood, and then installing the board. This has masked the problem a bit, but the user reported re-occurrence of the jagged lines once since then, and a few mor occurrences of vertical lines having a "jump" in the middle. As you draw straight lines down the board, they all seem to jump about 5mm to the right, at the same distance down the board from the top. I haven't yet tried earthing the board, and I was curious about your suggestion to earth the VGA cable - how does one go about earthing the VGA cable?

No, I didn't try the aluminium foil - I tried using timber to box in the wiring, which did cut out some of the interference, but not all. I also just got off the phone with SMART Tech Support, and they suggested trying to earth the board into a plug socket, using one of the mounting holes on the back white surface of the board, which are usually used by floor/table stands. Sounds like a possible cure - I'll have to try this.

I have a similar problem. Boards were installed on solid block walls - not making contact with any metal whatsoever. Upon further inspection, I found that an electrician had subsequently installed additional sockets in the classroom, with the cable running horizontally behind the SMARTBoard. Although the cable was insulated, and inside plastic conduit/ducting, there was still some interference. I removed the boards, boxed in the cables using timber, and remounted the boards. The problem is now much less evident, but still not 100% gone. So, is this my imagination, and is the cause of the problem actually a mounting issue, or is it a known problem with interference caused by electrical cabling?