Ground Lifting a Laptop

harass · Post by **harass** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 11:14 am

Has anyone had some experience with having to ground lift their laptop's power pack?

stefan erhalder · Post by **stefan erhalder** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 5:15 pm

noise from the power supply on the audio output?
i prepared a short cable without ground connector to use between the pwr supply and the socket outlet. on my system this works perfect to get clean sound on firewire, usb or even the onboard soundcard. ground lifting the audio signal usually doesen't help to remove power supply noise.

harass · Post by **harass** » Mon May 01, 2006 12:51 am

stefan erhalder wrote:noise from the power supply on the audio output?
i prepared a short cable without ground connector to use between the pwr supply and the socket outlet. on my system this works perfect to get clean sound on firewire, usb or even the onboard soundcard. ground lifting the audio signal usually doesen't help to remove power supply noise.

Yup, it's pretty loud too. Did your laptop have any issues not being grounded?

stefan erhalder · Post by **stefan erhalder** » Mon May 01, 2006 1:49 am

harass wrote:Did your laptop have any issues not being grounded?

the laptop doesne't care about grounding - but you probably will ;-)

i think chances are low for getting an electric shock, even in humid club atmospheres. and most laptop cases are made of insulating plastic, this lowers the hazard even more.

but its still only a workaround - i'm gonna buy a new laptop soon and i hope the new macbooks don't suffer from grounding problems..

harass · Post by **harass** » Mon May 01, 2006 2:48 am

I was just told to check with my supplier first, might give them a call today. I didn't know it was such a big issue with laptops.

midgetfidget · Post by **midgetfidget** » Mon May 01, 2006 9:09 am

Are you getting ground noise with your audiophile or the built in sound card?

I have roubles with my internal one, but when I got my indigo io it went away.

You can also buy power filters that provide a cleaner current, I've heard this can fix it. I think they cost around $60-100.

harass · Post by **harass** » Tue May 02, 2006 12:40 am

midgetfidget wrote:Are you getting ground noise with your audiophile or the built in sound card?

I have roubles with my internal one, but when I got my indigo io it went away.

You can also buy power filters that provide a cleaner current, I've heard this can fix it. I think they cost around $60-100.

I’m pretty sure its power because, there’s no problems when I’m running off the battery

dncn · Post by **dncn** » Tue May 02, 2006 8:40 am

i use a ground loop isolater, er.... hmmm, i'll find a pic, its a pretty simple device though, unless your battery is fucked though just run off that.