Page 1 of 1

Posted: Tue May 14, 2002 11:57 am
by Fede
Today, when I was working into the pc checking peripherals connecions trying to rescue my cdr, I took an electric discharge from that output cable that was temporaly disconnected: the PC was on with windows and Pulsar active in background, but in that moment no audio was playing. I thought it wasn't possible, so I retried and I got two others shocks (is it the correct term?).
... and this? I don't think this is quite normal :???:

may it be correlated to the recent burning of the tweeters of my NS-10s monitors (about a month ago)?

Thanks
Fede

Posted: Tue May 14, 2002 12:34 pm
by snoopy4ever
Your NS-10's??..ohhh..I'd die if that ever happen to me....

But you received and electric shock when you touched the wire form the output? or when you touched the output ?

It's important to know that you don't have mixed wires that touch the inner parts of your computer or other electric sources.

snoopy

Posted: Tue May 14, 2002 2:25 pm
by Fede
On 2002-05-14 13:34, snoopy4ever wrote:
Your NS-10's??..ohhh..I'd die if that ever happen to me....

But you received and electric shock when you touched the wire form the output? or when you touched the output ?

It's important to know that you don't have mixed wires that touch the inner parts of your computer or other electric sources.

snoopy
Yes, it's rather a not so good period :mad:
(then sfp delusion :evil:)

- sorry, I stop spreading depression :oops: -

well didn't exactly understood the difference.
It happened I touched the coaxial connector at the end (the part that is normally connected to the amp) of the cable which comes from "Pulsar Analog Dest". so this is "the wire from the output", is it?
I was pulling out the metal side panel of PC when the first time, then with pc opened that side, sat on the floor, I touched the connector, only it, again to know if I had dreamed or not :???:

Don't know if I've been enough clear...

Fede




<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: StratoFede on 2002-05-14 15:26 ]</font>

Posted: Tue May 14, 2002 2:34 pm
by snoopy4ever
I'm probably taking a guess here.., but all that seems like the ground of your MainBoard is going to the wrong place(s) ..., it can happen if some of the screws's isolation is broken, or may be you should check your Power Supply, they tend to get anoying and cranky whith the "age" :smile:. I builded my computer from zero, so I know what is to put all parts toghether and get anoying problems, but I'd recomend to reorganize your computer, ever if that takes to unplug everything and put it back again.

Hope you overcome this one.

Snoopy.

Posted: Tue May 14, 2002 2:53 pm
by Fede
OK I've just done the test another time: if I try to reconnect Pulsar out to the amp (audio not playing and amp volume off) I have not to touch the connector from Pulsar out and anything metallic of the amp. I can see also sparks while connecting...hmmm...it is repeatible every time...I think you are right, must be the power supply.

thank you Snoopy

Fede

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: StratoFede on 2002-05-14 15:54 ]</font>

Posted: Tue May 14, 2002 7:47 pm
by Yahweh
If you have a digital multimeter and any technical knowledge you could try measuring the potential between the inner chassis of your computer and a reliable earth, and also across the suspect output, could give an indication of any psu leakage. BUT I advise you don't attempt that unless you're confident.

Posted: Wed May 15, 2002 3:37 am
by FlatEric
I had exactly the same thing happen to me a couple of weeks ago, although thankfully my monitors weren't fried in the process.

Do you have a anti-surge powersupply block? It's a 4/6 block connector which allows you to plug all your PC and peripherals into it to ensure that they get a balanced, or at least protected power supply. The theory is that if the mains electricity supply in your neighbourhood is violently switched from one electricity network (grid) to another (particularly common during thunder storms), the electricity going into your house might increase or decrease significantly in voltage (causes your lights to flicker slightly), and this can often cause major damage to your PC equipment.

Well, enough of the physics lesson. I have one of these anti-surge blocks and it has some kind of output dial on it which presumably controls the maximum amount of power going to the PC and the other sockets on the block. I experimented with this and turned it down until it wasn't providing enough power to switch the PC on, and then gradually increased it until the PC worked again. This fixed my problem with getting electric shocks from the L&R analogue outputs.

Or course, like Snoopy4ever says.. it might be just that the grounding on the motherboard isn't working properly, or the power supply inside your PC. I didn't think to check this because turning down the power surge block solved my problem. By the way, if you don't have a power surge block sitting between the mains electricity supply and your PC, I recommend you get one anyway. I don't know how stable your electricity supply is in Italy, but I know a few people in Sweden and in UK who've lost data or equipment from power surges. You can buy them from most PC hardware retailers, although to be honest, this one I have if the first I've seen with a voltage dial.

Sorry it's not for an Italian company, but here's a link to one at an online store.

http://www.jungle.com/webapp/wcs/stores ... 1114644001

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: FlatEric on 2002-05-15 04:39 ]</font>

Posted: Wed May 15, 2002 11:34 am
by remixme
Yeah, antisurge protection is a must.
Mainly because of the fact the surges shorten the life of electrical equipment, I've had a motherboard go due to a surge.
Some cheap surge protecters might not do a good job. So shop around.

If you make a living from music you may want to consider power conditioning, a rack unit to power several pieces of equipment starts at about 150 euros and will reduce noise in your sudio.

Also some of the more expensive ones have also been known to improve the clarity of sound coming from the equipment plugged into it.

Posted: Wed May 15, 2002 11:44 am
by subhuman
I use a Furman AR1215 power conditioner. It raises undervolted AC outlets, lowers overvoltage, reduced/eliminated hum problems, and eliminated clicks I was getting (caused by undervolt). This is a 1U rackmount unit around $399. Even a cheap nonaudio/consumer UPS helps a great deal, and they will give you a few minutes of up time during a poweroutage so you can save before powering down! Check out the APC line ( http://www.apc.com ), and TrippLite ( http://www.tripplite.com ) products.

Posted: Fri May 17, 2002 4:23 pm
by bassdude
There's also Liebert which is what I'm running (Powersure Interactive).
http://www.liebert.com