Bad earth to building ?
- Thread starter StephenB
- Start date
MJS
Technical Tinkerer
Vague, but exciting...
Is the building flats or houses? Does it have PME?
Are you speakers popping? Hissing?
Are you getting radio 4 longwave on your MC cartridge? Is your amp overheating?
Are your neighbours radio amateurs?
Do you have a NAP250? it's ALWAYS the 10uF capacitors on the power supply board. That fixes everything.
Is the building flats or houses? Does it have PME?
Are you speakers popping? Hissing?
Are you getting radio 4 longwave on your MC cartridge? Is your amp overheating?
Are your neighbours radio amateurs?
Do you have a NAP250? it's ALWAYS the 10uF capacitors on the power supply board. That fixes everything.
Semi detached, sometimes sounds like a static charge building up in my system, unplugging iec from rear of streamer usually clears it If using it as a source
tends to manifest itself about once a month
also volume levels from my amp seems to drift, usually have my pre, set at 25 but the next day on the same music I’m compelled to nudge it up to 30
using a shunyata hydra in the system so thought this should stabilise to some extent, wondering if I need to look at my ground and get a longer earth spike, but my knowledge is not great in this field
tends to manifest itself about once a month
also volume levels from my amp seems to drift, usually have my pre, set at 25 but the next day on the same music I’m compelled to nudge it up to 30
using a shunyata hydra in the system so thought this should stabilise to some extent, wondering if I need to look at my ground and get a longer earth spike, but my knowledge is not great in this field
If you are serious about the possibility of a bad earth you require an electrician with a tester. Having a poor earth is potentially dangerous as the impedance may not be sufficient to trip the MCB in case of an earth fault. However TT installations should be protected via an upfront RCD S type and further RCDs or rcbo's to all circuits.
Big John
pfm Member
Get a qualified electrician to check...
I live in a flat built in the 1950's mains in conduit I fitted brass light switches earthed to conduit, the conduit was earthed to the block earth cable. move on 25 years my son is a qualified electrician/gas/plumber & industrial HVAC he tested our electrics found that there were gaps in the conduit so my earthing was useless at best, lethal at worst brass replaced with plastic switches. Very soon after, we built in to the loft & built super bathroom & kitchen on original floor linking modern spec wiring and the old was interesting individual isolator's placed in the cupboard with a new much larger consumer unit and most of the original wiring replaced to current standards because of plastic pipe obviously extra earth cables.
I live in a flat built in the 1950's mains in conduit I fitted brass light switches earthed to conduit, the conduit was earthed to the block earth cable. move on 25 years my son is a qualified electrician/gas/plumber & industrial HVAC he tested our electrics found that there were gaps in the conduit so my earthing was useless at best, lethal at worst brass replaced with plastic switches. Very soon after, we built in to the loft & built super bathroom & kitchen on original floor linking modern spec wiring and the old was interesting individual isolator's placed in the cupboard with a new much larger consumer unit and most of the original wiring replaced to current standards because of plastic pipe obviously extra earth cables.
I'm getting a Puritan psm156 later this week to compare with my current Shunyata Hydra 4, pretty sure the noise I get periodically was there before I installed it but perhaps not
noticed on the web there is an earth point ? at rear of the puritan unit, and wondering if I should be utilising this
noticed on the web there is an earth point ? at rear of the puritan unit, and wondering if I should be utilising this
nope,
4 outlets from Hydra via us plugs to amp, dac, streamer and turntable linear psu
phono stage is fed from mains socket into battery unit then into phono [trigon pair]
I've made all the mains cables myself and ran the cable screen to earth at plug ends only
JemHayward
pfm Member
I had a house which was PME wired with no local earth spike. There was about 4v of noise on the earth, which apparently is 'normal' and within spec, but in the end I put in a ground spike primarily as my system 0v point. All my RF and noise issues went away, though some, especially the TV noise, were linked with local milking parlour which went away when they got some new kit. I can't remember if the electrician also bonded the mains earth to the spike - it was 25+ yrs ago. If you haven't got an earth spike I'd call in an electrician and ask their advice.
martin clark
pinko bodger
PME and local earth stakes do not play well together unless installed by someone who really, really knows what they are doing. idly bunging one in is risky. an a late 90s semi-D will almost certainly be on a PME (better known as TN-C-S) earthing system.
I think SQ is on the right track - this sounds less like a mains earth fault (the tester you show is probably enough for this), and more like a subtle interference issue; part of which could be the nature of the interconnects between the various boxes, and ensuring those have effective 0v links, and intact shield if relevant (for balanced // XLR types). Can you draw us a diagram or explain what yo have / how it is linked?
I think SQ is on the right track - this sounds less like a mains earth fault (the tester you show is probably enough for this), and more like a subtle interference issue; part of which could be the nature of the interconnects between the various boxes, and ensuring those have effective 0v links, and intact shield if relevant (for balanced // XLR types). Can you draw us a diagram or explain what yo have / how it is linked?
maybe should have mentioned this earlier..............
I do have a tp link powerline for my security camera at my detached garage as my wifi wasn't strong enough, its plugged in upstairs but still on the same ring main I'd expect, but definitely on its own RCD circuit if that makes sense. I read a lot of negatives on these devises so maybe I should run some cat6 to the garage and take it out of the equation ?
martin clark
pinko bodger
If you can test that, do.
Those plug in socket testers are not up to the job, you can trip the rcd by shorting neutral to earth with the socket switched off it proves nothing.
To be acceptable it should trip off within strict parameters to ensure the safety of both the property and occupants.
But never mind, so long as the Hifi sounds good who worries about electrical safety ? It's only life and death
To be acceptable it should trip off within strict parameters to ensure the safety of both the property and occupants.
But never mind, so long as the Hifi sounds good who worries about electrical safety ? It's only life and death
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
Aha! There's your problem no doubt. Not that this or anything else could change the volume of your amp! That's down to imagination... Strange buzzes and hums etc though yep they're known for causing this.