babadono Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 I tryed your suggestion with the Ground loop isolator. That didn't work. It just made the hum even worse. Any suggestions? Martin Pedersen Denmark Yes, find out the REAL problem. Go to the Jensen Transformer website and download their tutorials on how to scientifically track down what is causing your problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubo Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 My point and I believe Don's also is that if a piece of equipment has a 3 prong power cable, the 3rd prong is meant to go to ground. For whatever reason the manufacturer deemed it is necessary. Do not defeat it on a permanent basis to get rid of a ground loop. Totally agree, the Engineer put it there for a reason, use it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubo Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 (edited) A few thoughts: A lot of the gear that we use is high current, and it can hurt or kill depending on the person and the circumstance. If gear arrives with a 3 prong plug, use it. A lot of Vintage gear does not have a third prong, it floats (hope I am using the term correctly) Electricity wants to go to ground via the path of least resistance, which could be through another piece of gear if not wired properly. Many homes the breaker box is wired to a water pipe in the basement. When I added 2 roof antennas, I followed the methodology of a commercial radio mast from a white paper after reviewing it with an electrician, by some freak occurrence it was the one who wired my house 25 years earlier. Both antennas tied together, then down 2 sides of the house to grounding rods, an additional 8 ft rod was driven into the ground next to the meter box. All three rods were tied together in a ring. Since my house has an aluminum skin, it too was on the same ground. All of my gear including the sub are on the same 15A breaker, all of the gear is plugged into good quality power distribution units that provide RF filtering, high and low voltage protection. By plugging them all into the same distribution, they are all tied to the same ground the shortest path to earth. All power cables must not be touching speaker or RCA cables etc as it could induce a signal under the right conditions. Sometimes, it's worth the $200 to get an electrician in to verify the house wiring and the box and isolate a 15 amp circuit for the stereo gear. A trip to the Emergency Room $500.........a trip to the Morgue priceless..... Better wall sockets than the crap the builders install are a few dollars each, if you are not sure read the directions and watch a few youtube videos and methodically replace every cheapo in the house, same goes for light switches. If you have a friend who knows what they are doing get them to help you do some until you are comfortable then buy them lunch somewhere. On the RCA and other cables, shielded cables are dirt cheap, there is no excuse for not using them. PCs can be very noisy, so if they are a problem connect to them via toslink aka optical isolation. Things like lamps and the CFL bulbs can cause buzz and emit RF. Spend the $60 for an RF and EMI meter and go around the house measuring everything in every mode, if cordless phones and cell phones don't give us brain tumors ........they should judging by their energy plumes. Note: The electrician I mentioned earlier who had retired and was working at Home Depot, I purchased 4 whole house surge protectors from him that day for my home and buildings, kept asking about the grounding I installed. I started to think I was missing a cue and had made a mistake, so I asked him straight up why we were going over it again. Answer: This weekend I am going to upgrade the grounding on my home, and my brothers home and add roof antennas. On his brothers house he was also going to ground the metal roof to the grounding rods on both sides of the house. I have zero grounding issues (knock on wood) and my daughter asked me what I had done to the TV the day after we completed the grounding. I asked her why, "sharper picture, better colors, everything looks better". Verify the house wire, tie the house to earth at multiple points, tie all earth grounds together via a ring, replace all the cheapo sockets and switches, plug all of the gear into the same power distribution box ADT, Monster etc........ just get a good one, and use a dedicated 15Amp outlet if possible. Upgrade the box with a whole house surge protector, $50 plus labor. It may save your Air Conditioner, furnace motor and all major appliances some day. The builders are too cheap to put them in unless forced to by code, even on million dollar new build houses. Edited February 10, 2015 by Bubo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubo Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Optical Isolation http://www.amazon.com/C2G-40018-Coaxial-Toslink-Converter/dp/B0002J2MV4/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1423603959&sr=1-1&keywords=coax+to+toslink http://www.amazon.com/C2G-40019-Optical-Coaxial-Converter/dp/B0002GV876/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1423603959&sr=1-2&keywords=coax+to+toslink Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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