grounding problem?

xchangx

Golden Member
Mar 23, 2000
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My subwoofer (connected to my reciever) gets a grounding hum like every other hour. I opened the reciever and all the wires were connected and none were loose, does anyone know what it is? If I turn the subwoofer off, everything's fine, which means it's only going through the subwoofer. If I tap (or bang) on the reciever it goes away, making me believe it's a grounding problem.

Thanks,
Chang
 

ScottMac

Moderator<br>Networking<br>Elite member
Mar 19, 2001
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If it's a two-prong plug, reverse it (rotate it 180 degrees). If it's a three-prong power plug, check the grounding on the outlet.

Good chance it's just a flakey shield on the audio cable from the amp to the SW.

FWIW

Scott
 

Evadman

Administrator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Feb 18, 2001
30,990
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It may be feedback from the dc/ac converter as well. Frankly, it totaly sounds like a connection issue. Is the PCB fully grounded to the chassis with screws? Most PCB's require grounding at every mounting point so the ground trace does not get overloaded.
I saw your original post in Tech suport, that really is where this post belongs :)
 

TurboMan

Member
Feb 17, 2002
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Are the receiver and sub plugged into the same outlet? If not check both to make sure both outlets are wired correctly. I'd say about 33% of the outlets I've replaced for customers are wired incorrectly (backwards). The neutral (white) wire needs to be connected to the side with the big slit on the plug side.
 

Jerboy

Banned
Oct 27, 2001
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<< Are the receiver and sub plugged into the same outlet? If not check both to make sure both outlets are wired correctly. I'd say about 33% of the outlets I've replaced for customers are wired incorrectly (backwards). The neutral (white) wire needs to be connected to the side with the big slit on the plug side. >>




You maybe having a ground loop in your grounding circuit in the wall. Do you see many pros cutting off their third prong off? I do. It's the easiest way to escape ground loop. Instead of cutting off, I'd use a three prong to two prong adapter though.
 

TurboMan

Member
Feb 17, 2002
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<< You maybe having a ground loop in your grounding circuit in the wall >>


That's exactly what I was getting at. However, you should never cut off the 3rd prong - unless you have a death wish. It is there to shunt current back to the panel in case of a short. You usually only see 3 prong outlets on things that have a metal case. I mention the ground loop because that's what my parents house had. When I hooked up their DSS system a ground loop popped up. The computer (server) was connecter to one of the receivers in a room on a different circuit. The outlet the receiver was hooked up to was wired backwards. System kept locking up. Corrected the wiring on that outlet and all is well. I would definetly check the outlets.