How not to destroy your gear

[Saculus]

Lesson learned the hard way.

OK I got two FP10's all hooked up with mics set up and a quick monitor mix set up. So its time to run the headphone amp. The power lead for the headphone amp is only so long so plugging it into a different outlet for convienience sake seemed an OK thing to do. Well the power to that outlet was wired wrong so when lead from the headphone amp was connected to the FP10 there was a huge ground phase conflict and the breaker tripped. Now I have one functional FP10 and a bad digital noise machine with only one output channel functional. I know some will say I just have two bad digital noise machines with one having more character than the other.

Never use more than one outlet if you can manage such and always use a tester when operating in the field.

 

[Metaltastic]

Holy shit dude, that sucks that it took out the FP10 even though the headphone amp was what was connected to the bad outlet! Thanks for the lowdown, I'll have to invest in one of those testers if I ever start doing field stuff!

 

[John_C]

i'm guessing the outlet was wired pos to neg
yeah i can see that'd kill stuff

yeeeouucchhhhh

 

[Saculus]

I checked the outlets after the fact since this was the same place our amps were plugged into and the Hot and Neutral were swapped on the bad outlet.

 

[-J-]

who in the heck would have an outlet wired like that?

 

[Saculus]

It was in a basement and by the look of the fixture it has probably been that way since before I was born.

 

[TheDriller]

Kill the electrician

 

[cobhc]

Kill the electrician

+1,000,000

 

[Torniojaws]

Kill the electrician

Somehow I think his profession already did...

 

[colonel kurtz]

who in the heck would have an outlet wired like that?

you'd be surprised how many buildings are wired completely incorrectly - even when done by "qualified" electricians

i work in an electrical dept. at a huge hardware/home improvement place, and you wouldn't believe the sort of shit people come in asking me...the other day some guy called me saying he was changing out an outlet, and that there were 2 blue and 2 red wires, and which one goes where?

 

[Metaltastic]

the other day some guy called me saying he was changing out an outlet, and that there were 2 blue and 2 red wires, and which one goes where?

Hey, that could easily been me, fuck if I have the slightest idea!

 

[colonel kurtz]

LOL...true, true - many people don't know...but for the record, you should have a black, white, and green/bare...possibly another black if wiring a 3-way or 240V outlet

anyways, dude got pissed when i told him that outlets are typically never wired in red and blue, and that i couldn't help him - especially over the damned phone