Electrical Weirdness

[allan_evett]

 

My teaching space is part of a musical retail/teaching studio facility, located in a historic former home. The power includes two different circuit breaker units, but I understand it to be an older 100-amp service. Due to what appear to be voltage dips - especially when space heaters or air conditioners are running, I brought in a Tripplite line conditioner/voltage regulator for my space (an LC-1200). It definitely helps with most of my gear - keeping displays and instruments functions stable, and maintaining capable power for my MacBook, audio interface and small monitors.  From working at Tripplite in 1990s, I understand that line conditioning is not the best long-term solution for power problems, but the building owner is not able to afford a major upgrade to the electric system at this time.
 

The problem is that a couple of keyboards do not power-up well while connected within  this setup. Even with other instruments powered off, these instruments displays go haywire. Meanwhile, the studio-provided Yamaha P45 and my Kurzweil SP6-7 do fine using the line-conditioned connection. The first errant instrument was a Casio CT-500, which has worked fine in at least half a dozen hotels across the US over the past two years. At the music studio its display goes bonkers - sometimes showing gibberish combinations of letters and numbers, though more often just ‘snowing over’. The second keyboard is a recently purchased Arturia MiniFreak, which presents some rather amusing display anomalies - random circular panel light strings whipping around, flashing words from the display, and random synth tones. It works well at home (and I suspect it’d be fine in most other locations, just like the CT-S500). 
Each of the studio instruments and audio interface is connected via its own DC adapter, though I wonder if the wall warts of the CT-S and MiniFreak are particularly sensitive to what might be somehow corrupted/dirty power - even if voltage regulated. Also, each of those have the same problems even when connected directly to various wall outlets. Meanwhile the MicroFreak I have used there previously powers up like a champ. 
None of the instruments with IEC mains I have brought in have ever had a similar problem, when connected to my line conditioner. But purchasing a higher end analog poly synth to teach basic hands-on programming is a $$ non-starter, much as an OB-6 or  Take-5 would be a dream. But the MiniFreak should work, under the circumstances. Not sure exactly what’s going on, and what any affordable fixes might be.

Any ideas?

[RABid]

It sounds like you may not be getting enough power. While a line conditioner will help with noise, phase and spikes it will not help with near brown-out conditions. You might try stepping up to a UPS. I used one for years with my DAW and keyboards because the power at my house blinks so often due to tree limbs close to the electric lines. Do you have a voltage meeter? Check it before anything is turned on, then watch the level as devices are turned on and booted up. Some keyboards are more sensitive to low voltage.

[Finale]

One word : UPS

[PianoMan51]

Two words:

 

Volt Meter

 

Monitor your AC voltage. Meters are cheap and accurate. Stick the probes in an empty AC outlet. At least find out what’s going on before you determine a plan of action.

[Delaware Dave]

Three words.......       except I can't remember what they are.

[PianoMan51]

How about this…

 

Three words:

Call an electrician today!

[Docbop]

4 hours ago, Delaware Dave said:

Three words.......       except I can't remember what they are.

 

Buy a UPS.  

[David Emm]

I'd like to strongly echo the UPS recommendation, with an added suggestion. SSDs are more sensitive to voltage changes than spinning disks, so you should find one that uses a simulated SINE WAVE. Lesser ones use a square wave model, which is harder on your gear in a pinch. I bought a CyberPower model for just a few bucks more than usual. I consider it a wise investment. Its performed flawlessly for a couple of years now. A certain number of devices readily handle the square wave models, but its one of those un-romantic e-music realities that can really count under the hood.

[allan_evett]

A haiku for today:

 

Tried the U P S

It did not solve the problem 

Radio station 

 

Yep, our building hosts a small, local station’s transmission gear. And the room is right next to my workspace.

Perhaps we’ll wrap my studio in aluminum foil, or something…

[Joe Muscara]

The CT-S500 also runs on batteries. I know, but it gives you an alternative.

[Finale]

There's also that company who built the Chernobyl sarcophagus... they are pretty good at that stuff, but not cheap.

[Old No7]

12 hours ago, RABid said:

Do you have a voltage meter? Check it before anything is turned on, then watch the level as devices are turned on and booted up. Some keyboards are more sensitive to low voltage.

 

That sounds much like a critically important part of the excellent "Apollo 13" movie...  They got a favorable outcome by doing so, and the OP should do that too -- AND get the UPS as others suggested.

 

Old No7

[allan_evett]

Well it's not an AC power problem after all. The MiniFreak still freaks-out when running completely on the CyberPower UPS I sometimes use live. Meanwhile I now recall a few instances when the CT-S500 behaved badly at the studio when running on batteries (Ihaven't used it there for couple years). One of my adult students - who is also a fellow KC'er - was helping me source the problem this afternoon. His final conclusion was: " It's got be in the air, then"; and that was my  moment. A local radio station rents the room next to mine for its transmission equipment. So we're thinking it's likely there is some interference affecting the internal workings of particularly sensitive keyboard gear. 

 

So, now what? Are there ways to shield the MiniFreak and/or CT-S500 from interferring radio signals(?), ones that apparently wreak havoc with some electronic music gear? 

[GRollins]

Not to be alarmist, but have you considered the health implications of RF leakage on your body over time...? It sounds like there's more RF in the area than there should be. I'd stop worrying about your keyboards and start worrying about your frail human protoplasm.

 

Just sayin'.

 

Grey

[David Emm]

You can buy MuMETAL as well as copper foil tape on Amazon. Got a Minimoog on top of a Rhodes and its humming like a giant bee? A layer of NuMETAL will isolate the Moog from the power supply in the Rhodes. That's one scenario that works out well and you only seem to need a small amount of it.

 

It seems unlikely that you're going to line a whole room with it, so you should consider moving, especially if you hope to have children in the future.   

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu-metal

[allan_evett]

I just posted this issue to the Arturia community as well. If they have any additional insights, I’ll post those here. 
Thanks, so far, everyone!

[D. Gauss]

get a wire chicken coop.  it's drastic, but has been done in studios before to stop guitar pickups from humming. not a joke. google "Faraday cage." 

 

 

[Moonglow]

Allan,

 

From the Wikipedia link in David’s post, tell Chad to get you one of these:

 

 

“Five-layer mu-metal box. Each layer is about 5 mm thick. It reduces the effect of the Earth's magnetic field inside by a factor of 1500.”

 

[The Real MC]

I'm an EE with experience in residential power.

Frankly with the radio station and high power appliances sharing the same service, the load is too much and there's not much that can solve the brownout condition.  Voltage regulators boost the voltage at the expense of higher current and they don't respond to changes instantaneously, so booting up anything with a computer is going to be a crapshoot.  UPS is not a solution either.

Either switch to lessons on something without a computer, or move the teaching studio elsewhere with more favorable power.

[D. Gauss]

50 minutes ago, The Real MC said:

I'm an EE with experience in residential power.

Frankly with the radio station and high power appliances sharing the same service, the load is too much and there's not much that can solve the brownout condition.  Voltage regulators boost the voltage at the expense of higher current and they don't respond to changes instantaneously, so booting up anything with a computer is going to be a crapshoot.  UPS is not a solution either.

Either switch to lessons on something without a computer, or move the teaching studio elsewhere with more favorable power.

 

OP literally said that it is not a power issue. i.e. <<"the CT-S500 behaved badly at the studio when running on batteries" >>