Flash, buzz but no bang or wallop.

[amfisted]

Hi all

Bit of a strange one, this. Wife and I were sitting at the table in the living room last night, when all of a sudden there was what I can only describe as a loud buzz and a flash of light from the corner of the room. The buzz, I can only describe as akin to the noise you got if you plugged an electrical appliance into the wall socket but didn’t insert the pins quite far enough. The light, I think was more of a flicker than a single flash.

Anyhow, I got up right away and checked all our appliances. No appliance was dead, all circuits were still working, nothing had tripped at the consumer unit, there was no burning smell. At a loss to work out what happened, and to my knowledge it’s only happened the once.

It came from the direction of a CD mini system which we relocated recently. Yes, it was a stretch to get the power lead to reach the socket on the back of the main unit in its new position, but it was moved weeks ago without anything like this happening. I checked the security of the connection this morning, and it seemed to be OK. Everything on the side of the room where the “flash and buzz” came from was on standby, but switched off.

My first thought was "power surge", but I’ve no idea how such a thing would manifest itself, it at all. Google didn’t provide any answers.

Anyone any idea what might have happened?

 

[JohnD]

immolation of insect?

 

[amfisted]

Well, we don't have one of those insect killer lamps, if that's what you mean.

Could an insect create that kind of effect if it got inside, say, a CD player and touched a live part without tripping the appliance?

 

[davelx]

Your nose is a valuable tool in this situation. I'd suggest having a sniff at every item in that area - you will very likely be able to locate the source of the problem. It could, for example, be something like a capacitor in a PSU giving up the ghost, which might not affect the general operation of the device in question - but you should be able to smell something odd.

 

[JohnD]

Could an insect create that kind of effect if it got inside, say, a CD player and touched a live part without tripping the appliance?

yes

 

[amfisted]

Thanks both.
On further investigation, my wife noticed what she described as a "sooty smell" in the vicinity of the manifestation, but I have a good sense of smell and for me there was nothing.

Everything is working fine today. Most odd.