Mains hum when recording with pc

[enbe]

Hallo,

 

Perhaps someone might know the best way to cure mains hum on my PC. I have tried rerouting the cables, but it didn't go away.

 

I live in Thailand and we have 2-pin electrical wall sockets. My computer and power supply have 3-pin plugs. I use an electrical multi-adaptor to provide the required number of sockets for everything.

 

Does anyone know if the software to cure hum works?

 

Do the inline gadgets work, such as a ground loop isolator or a 100kohm resistor in the audio cable shield?

 

I am concerned that nothing will work because the mains outlets are only 2-pin.

 

So, I have connected some flex to my PC chassis and power supply chassis and I will bury the other ends in the garden! Any idea if this will work?

 

Any authoritative help would be welcome.

Uh

Best regards,

 

Nigel Barksfield

[enbe]

I am happy to report that my new earthing system worked perfectly.

I push the ends of the wires into the garden soil. Presto!

[Ed Forshaw]

Hi Nigel,

 Just saw your post or I would have replied sooner.

You are right about the lack of a ground being the cause of the hum.

Congrats on your ingenious solution.

 

 A more permanent solution would be to drive a 3 or 4 ft. piece of 3/8 copper or aluminum rod into the earth and connect a length of 12 or 14 gauge wire to the ground lug on an outlet strip with surge protection in the house.

 Then you could connect your comp, etc. using your 3 prong plugs and have everything grounded without the added risk of a lightning strike frying your stuff if it hits your yard.

It's not exactly "Up to code" but it will work!

 

 All the best,

[jonjenkins]

I worked in television audio post-production for many years, and we often filtered out hum on software with very good results. That was really just for fixing field/location recordings. Equipment hum would either be down to earthing problems, as you found, or wiring incompatibility. Connecting equipment that had different ways of connecting their shielding, or going between balanced and unbalanced cabling, would often require the use of a transformer,

 

cheers,

 

Jon.

[John Priestley]

I just had the cable man in as we were thinking of moving our Internet connection from the phone to the cable TV system. He insisted on having an earthing spike driven into the ground before he did anything. I expect they have had similar problems with two pin connections here in Germany.

 

Glad you sorted it out Nigel.

 

Have a grand day, John.