Power Supply: Buzz/Vibration

[Silence Kid]

The power supply for my pedal board has a two prong plug; tonight, I managed to accidentally stuff it "backwards" into my surge protector...

And was alarmed by an actual, feel-able, electric vibration in my hand when I touched any metal part of my guitar. I've had polarity cause noise issues before, but... This felt um, 'exciting' would be a word.

Should I assume that it's the power supply itself, my guitar, or the wiring in my house trying to execute me? As a side-experiment, I plugged in a curling iron with a two-prong plug, polarity reversed; this exhibited the same "buzz" behavior. Is this somehow normal?

[Darg1911]

Re: Power Supply: Buzz/Vibration

How are you getting the wide blade (neutral) to fit in the small slot of a polarized outlet? You'd have to really force a plug into a receptacle such that the wide blade fit in the small slot. Even then, I'd imagine that the plastic around the small slot would have to break for the plug to go in that way. In the "old days", before polarized plugs and outlets, it was common enough that swapping the plug around would reduce hum/buzz in guitar amps and other audio gear. Right now I can induce hum in a headphone audio system if I plug the CD player in one way. Even if the CD player is off, the system hums. Turning the plug around, the hum is gone. The CD player does not have a polarized plug. Polarized plugs and outlets are safety features but I don't think it matters for some electrical items in terms of operation. For others, it probably does.

At any rate, I would say that this is sound advice ... don't force the wide blade into the small slot. On a serious note, yeah, maybe get your wiring checked because I don't think it should make a lick of difference for something like a curling iron.

[Silence Kid]

Re: Power Supply: Buzz/Vibration

Guess my power strip has very low tolerances as far as the width of the spade holes... I've had old two-prong amps that I recall having noise when plugged in the wrong way, or with the polarity switch backward, but this is like... Feel-able electricity, not just noise.

[Darg1911]

Re: Power Supply: Buzz/Vibration

Maybe it's a problem in the strip? ...