Help! Pre amp turning on by itself.

I'd guess that it's being turned on by a remote elsewhere, but you can't rule out poltergeists.... 

Smudge

We've got a ceiling fan that does that too.

I'm guessing another remote.

Because of your handle, Winoguy, are you sure you haven't been indulging a bit too much?...:)

Cover the unit's IR sensor.   That will rule out external poltergeist.   

I have the same problem with 'Harvey' the invisible rabbit. He is such a rascal.

Thanks gdaddy1, when you finish conquering the audio world you have a great future in comedy...

"Help! Pre amp turning on by itself.” - any response from manufacturer? who is it? 

Do you have any dolls with a really creepy smile?

Sometimes LED lights can affect the sensor

 Was told by manufacturer that only the  remote could turn it on . They said to remove batteries from remote. If that is indeed the cause, they said the button on the remote is sticking intermittently...needs repair. 

 Call Fathers Damien Karras and Lankester Merrin, and bring towels. 

@winoguy17 

@larsman 

Wino, before I even got done reading your post I already anticipated larsmans response.

You have to admit some of these responses were pretty funny.

On a serious note; my wife has the same issue with her iPad. She'll charge it, turn it off, unplug it. But damn if the next morning she's down to 20 percent on her battery . Different technologies, but similar frustrations. 

Hope it's just your remote. Good luck.

Stop having sex in front of the preamp. It can't help but get turned on.

Some time ago I had a similar problem with a Meridian CD player.  I came to the conclusion that the cause was sunlight, filtered a little by a window at an angle to the rack, hitting the IR receptor.  The problem never occured when the sun had moved on and no longer shone on the rack.

This may have nothing to do with your problem ofcourse. 

If it is external blocking the IR sensor should help confirm.  

 The odd thing is the remote is in the drawer of a small end table when Im not using it. Not sure how it could be the culprit, but following advice of manufacturer. Other issue is it generally happens once a week, so it could be a while before I can draw any conclusion. It can happen in the morning or afternoon. Came out at 4 A.M. yesterday and it was on.  Just odd...

Thanks for your input oddiofyl.

This might explain the problem!

https://www.jeepzine.com/remote-starts-turning-on-by-itself-causes-solutions/

One thing for sure, audiophiles are not nearly as funny as they think they are.

Lots of remotes affect other products...my friend was about to buy an expensive BAT preamp remote, then accidentally realized his Marantz CD remote also worked on the BAT...my Cambridge radio regularly turned itself on...

With the remote in a closed drawer seems impossible for it to turn on the pre-amp. As already suggested above I would put tape over the sensor on the pre to ensure its not another remote.

Oddly I have several appliances that occasionally "reset" themselves or turn on if off.  They do this in unison!  Took me a while to figure it out but what was happening is a small voltage dip and then a slight overshoot which caused them switch on.  I doubt this is of any help to your sitch.

Regards,

barts 

....maybe your pre is feeling lonely and ignored.
Have you been thinking about 'moving on' to a different one?

The 'HAL Effect'?  Has it been calling you 'Dave'?

When not in use, turn it off. All my stuff (except a couple of REL subs) goes off when I shut down the power conditioner. 

I have a ceiling fan that turns on by itself. I went from a hardwired one to a remote controlled fan. It will go from off to full speed and the lights will also go on. I’ve had the remote stored in a cigar box when it self started. I hit the wall switch and kill the power when not in use. I wonder if it’s triggered by a power fluctuation. Here’s one that will leave you scratching your head. I have a ‘23 Ford F-150 Powerboost, twin turbo V-6 hybrid with 7kw generator. It’s pretty sophisticated and has experienced computer glitches in the past. One day it was parked on the side of my house locked and the key fob was about 90 feet away. I was right next to it and slammed a section of pool hose onto the garbage bin lid which created a loud bam ! Plastic hitting plastic and the car locks all popped and it booted up and started. I couldn’t duplicate it , and the dealer almost didn’t believe me. Yes sir it’s always something, and I’m sure Modwright will have your back. Cheers , Mike B . 

 Thanks to all for the suggestions and info. Right now the batteries are out off the remote. I like the link from yogiboy about the possibility of weak batteries, as the batteries in the remote are years old and have never been replaced. 

Besides there being a ghost in the machine it could be your mains power dipping and then returning to full power. This happens to my preamp.

Remove the power cable or switch off the preamp using it's power switch.

Ghosties and ghoulies can't get around that.

We have a heated towel rack that is on a wall timer.  This is all hardwired and there is no remote.

Lately, occasionally, when I get up at say 3AM to take care of business, I'll find the towel rack on!

All I can figure is that late night line spikes/fluxuations are triggering it and perhaps an a/c filter cap that used to take care of this on the wall timer is going away.

So...,

Ghost in the machine. 

System is plugged into a Furman Elite conditioner surge suppressor. Don't get the numerous suggestions saying to turn it off, it IS off until it turns itself on ...

Does it turn itself on if you plug it in?   Meaning first time it receives power at it's AC in, does it turn on?   Like a TV does if left on a switched outlet ?

If so, you may be loosing power at the conditioner for a split second.  

All I can think of is a condition like that or extraneous light of a certain wavelength. 

You can test the remote to see if a button sticks by holding the IR  in front of a Samsung Tab camera or Samsung phone camera.  Most will show the IR as a purple light when in the camera mode.   

 oddiofyl, thanks for your concern. Right now, as per Modwright, I have taken the batteries out of the remote and will see where that leads. It's only doing this about once a week, with no consistent time frame. I haven't unplugged and plugged back in as it's a PIA to get behind my rack. I did kill power to the Furman and when I powered it back up pre did not turn on. Really hoping it is something menial like old batteries in the remote  .. I will update when I get more info...

Good luck. 

My dCS Bartok comes on without fail from it's warmed up quiet state every time there's a power surge or temporary outage.

Had any surges lately?