Radio noise!! The sound guy’s (gal’s) worst enemy!
We had a church built about a year ago with a really nice sound system that was AMAZINGLY better than the old one. I was constantly fighting noise of some kind in the old church, so this new one made me almost giddy with excitement. I was like a kid in a candy store!
Then it happened. We had a lightning strike! NOOOO!!!!
Not everything was taken out, but just enough to limit our capabilities for a couple of weeks. We called in the professionals and they replaced everything that was apparently affected, but now we have a country-western radio station rearing it’s ugly head intermittently.
Now don’t get me wrong – I have nothing against country-western music. I enjoy all types of music in their proper place. It’s just that I’m kind of a control freak and don’t appreciate uninvited music stations during the church service!!
I think it may be coming in through the electrical service somehow, but the electricians that wired the new church are now out of business and the elders are hesitant about paying for someone to come in and troubleshoot the problem, so it looks like I’m going to have to get off my lazy butt and spend some time tearing into the church’s electrical systems to see if I can find a clue.
Sigh…. honeymoon’s over.
One positive note, though – I do enjoy a good challenge, and by golly, I’m not letting a radio ghost kick my butt!!
More later…
I FOUND IT!!
Somehow one of the aux outs from my sound board got plugged into a line in.
I’m going to blame one of the video guys because it was behind their computer ;>).
I can see how it happened, though. First, let me explain how I have the video computer set up:
There is a dual adapter plugged into the video computer speaker jack – one line goes to the sanctuary sound system and the other one is supposed to go to the local computer speakers.
There is also an output from the sanctuary sound board that goes to the computer for recording the audio portion of the church service.
At some point, the speakers got unplugged and the recording input line got plugged into the dual speaker output adapter.
After I corrected it, the sound system output increased a lot, and the radio noise went away. (Please don’t make me explain where the radio noise came from or went to because I can’t) It took a couple of weeks to reset all my gains, but now I’m back in my happy place!
How do people feel when they’re about to do an electrical wiring project for the first time?
Suppose a guy has never done electrical wiring before, and he wants to do a project around his house that involves running new wire and tying into an existing circuit. How would most people feel in this situation? Do they know how to do everything correctly?
i would say anxious. They don’t know what they are doing. They do it anyways and know it is dangerous. They figure if someone else can do it, so can they.
It is easy to put a black wire on a black wire and white on white. But to have the knowledge in why we do it this way or that takes time, reading and a clear explanation of the code.
Home wiring is easy and pretty basic. But do you know how many outlets you can put on a circuit? How about lights? Can you put a 15 amp outlet on a 20 amp circuit? At what height should the outlets be? How many feet is allowed between each one? Where are GFCI outlets required? How many neutral wires can you put on each terminal or screw? How many wires can you have in a box?
Can you use the outlet as a tie point for the neutral wires? What does bonded mean? What do you have to bond to the ground in the panel? What are the maximum amount of circuits you can have in a panel? Can you add heaters or an AC unit to an existing panel?
I have been doing this stuff for almost 14 years and I am still learning!
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What’s hot, neutral and ground in a three wire electrical cable?
OK, I offered to install a ceiling fan at my g/f house,thinking it would be
a simple job to do. Now I find that there are 3 wires sticking out of a
ceiling light fixture box . with no color coding ! How do I find out which
is the hot, neutral and ground wire ?
I do own a volt meter but don’t know how to use it. Please help!
with no color code (which is illegal, so some amateur must have installed these)? you are in trouble. A voltmeter will tell you which is hot, but you can’t distinguish neutral from ground.
You will have to trace the wires back. If the wires are “sticking out of the box”, then look inside, the three may be tied to other wires inside the box, which will be color coded (I hope).
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We bought a house. The previous owners had a hot tub, and in the agreement, they took the hot tub and they also took the electrical panel. Now we have a hot tub on order, and I need to figure out what “electrical control panel” they took. It’s a 220V hot tub. and I think we need a seperate breaker for the hot tub. What does this all entail?
Well, first let me recommend you hire it done. If its done wrong you could either hurt yourself or someone else. Who ever you hire should be certified, bonded, and be able to provide you with materials needed.
As for what would be needed….
1) determine the amperage requirements of your tub. likely its about 40 or 50amps
2) get a power panel designed for hot tubs. These will be 240 volt GFIC protected
panels. GFIC protected is a *MUST* If the tubs heater shorts to the water, you
want this to trip!!
3) set the hot tub disconnect panel no closer than 6 to 10 feet from the spa.
4) install a UF 6/3 W G wire from a 240 volt 50 amp circuit breaker (non- GFIC)
from your main home power panel to your hot tub panel
5) install UF 6/3 W G wire from the panel to the tub
I have added a couple links for boxes you can get at lowes and home depot for your reference.
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Having worked in the PAT (Portable Appliance Testing) field for several years I have seen some astonishingly dangerous pieces of electrical equipment. Often this is down to poor awareness over the dangers of electricity. I’m writing this article to try and educate users to some of the dangers that can be found when using electrical goods and why faulty goods should always be repaired before further use.
In the UK alone around 1000 injuries occur due to electric shock every year, on average 30 of these will be fatal! This really shows that electricity needs to be taken seriously and is no laughing matter. View failed items found during PAT testing.
Below I have listed some of the most common bad electrical practices and why they can be dangerous:
Plugs without protective sleeves Some older plugs don’t feature the protective sleeves on the phase and neutral pins of the plug. Basically this means that if you are plugging or un-plugging an appliance with this type of plug you are in danger of electric shock if you hold the plug incorrectly. If you look at a modern plug you can see the protective sleeves on the pins as a different colour to the metal at the end of the pins. I have seen protective sleeves that have been melted off a plug when overheating has occurred, if this has happened the plug may also have suffered internal damage.
Plugs rewired incorrectly The most common fault when checking inside a plug is that the cable grip is either missing, loose or only clamping the individual insulation for the phase and neutral wires and not the insulation for the cable also. The cable grip is an important feature on plugs as a sharp tug could easily damage the wiring. Plugs that have been rewired incorrectly to the wrong polarity or are missing a connection to earth are less common but can still be a danger.
Fuses Not only is it surprisingly common for the wrong fuse to be found when testing an appliance but occasionally I’ll find tin foil, a bolt or anything else that will conduct electricity in place of the fuse. Using the correct fuse for the equipment in use is very important as should a fault occur using the wrong fuse could be the difference between a blown fuse or an electrical fire / severe electric shock. When an item is protected by the wrong or no fuse in the event of fault it can draw many times more current than it should be able to. If the item is short circuiting this will create a huge amount of heat and a fire before very long at all.
Cable repairs Badly repaired cables are surprisingly common on older appliances. I have often seen cables that have been cut and then repaired by twisting the phase and neutral cables together and covering in tape rather than using a designated cable connector. This is particularly dangerous as a poor connection will cause additional heat and if arcing occurs probably fire. Also if the children have access to the item they may well undo the tape and suffer electrocution or if strain was put on the cable it could split and expose the live cable.
Overloaded extension leads and splitters It’s now common practice that splitters and extension cables get daisy chained to allow for more appliances to be used simultaneously. If higher wattage appliances are been used this will easily cause overheating. I have seen burnt out sockets on many splitters where the plastic has melted causing the protective shutters to no longer operate. Not only does this mean that if someone pushed an object in to the socket they could be electocuted but the apperture for the overheated pin on that socket is often larger allowing for items to be inserted more easily.
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