i was recently called out to look at a churches sound system as they have been experiencing a large amount of RFI/EFI in their audio system. I noticed upon arriving that they have a ground lift adapter on the whole system and when I questioned them about it, they said that when you take it off and ground the system, you here radio stations, hum, and a ton of noise through the system. I did inform them that "Band-aid" type fixes were not really the answer and it is very dangerous should a piece of equipment fail. My question is wether or not an isolated ground outlet would solve this issue or if there are other things I should be looking for? Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks!
PA System Grounding and RFI/EFI
- Thread starter danfac
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hbiss
EC, Westchester, New York NEC: 2014
- Location
- Hawthorne, New York NEC: 2014
- Occupation
- EC
Re: PA System Grounding and RFI/EFI
It sounds like the system components are improperly grounded and/or interconnected. There is no reason that the system as a whole would have to be left ungrounded and this could be a disaster waiting to happen. An isolated ground isn't going to do a thing.
I suspect that like many church systems it was acquired, designed and installed by well meaning members of the church. Unfortunately knowledge and proper installation is usually seriously lacking.
There may not be a simple solution to this any more than there is a simple solution to a homeowner's mistakes in wiring a house. This has probably been a problem more or less since day 1 and may be impossible to fix without starting from scratch with the proper equipment and installation.
Unless you are familiar with sound systems I would refer them to a service company that can either fix it or give them the bad news. Unless you know what you are doing you will only be wasting their money.
-Hal
It sounds like the system components are improperly grounded and/or interconnected. There is no reason that the system as a whole would have to be left ungrounded and this could be a disaster waiting to happen. An isolated ground isn't going to do a thing.
I suspect that like many church systems it was acquired, designed and installed by well meaning members of the church. Unfortunately knowledge and proper installation is usually seriously lacking.
There may not be a simple solution to this any more than there is a simple solution to a homeowner's mistakes in wiring a house. This has probably been a problem more or less since day 1 and may be impossible to fix without starting from scratch with the proper equipment and installation.
Unless you are familiar with sound systems I would refer them to a service company that can either fix it or give them the bad news. Unless you know what you are doing you will only be wasting their money.
-Hal
Re: PA System Grounding and RFI/EFI
How many units (PA's, mixers, EQL, etc) are there, and where are they powered from? The best solution maybe to power all the units from a single dedicated circuit. That is usually the best place to start. Then you move on to interconnect cables.
How many units (PA's, mixers, EQL, etc) are there, and where are they powered from? The best solution maybe to power all the units from a single dedicated circuit. That is usually the best place to start. Then you move on to interconnect cables.
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