what are the dangers of unplugging mics with phantom power on?

[videodrone]

When Phantom Powers on, what are the dangers or risks when unplugging or plugging in items to the input?

I ask because I did this by accident last night, also what are teh chances that something will occur right away by doing this?

[DJL]

Well, if you were to cause a short to ground by doing that... you could damage your gear... on the bright side, it smells kind of nice.

[Son of Mixerman]

It depends. You could get lucky a few times or you could blow the op amp for the phantom on that channel.

depending on the cost of your console depends on howm much it will cost to fix it...Its almost always more than $200 to fix it...even though the part is less than $1.


SoMm

[caleb2438]

Yeah I blew mine on my Omni Studio doing just that! It didn't cost me anything cause it was under warranty. Although two weeks without it was the worst!

[eeldip]

you could stop the earths core from spinning, thus causing san francisco to be hit by a tidal wave.

you need to get some sort of deep earth drilling machine and "restart" the earth.

[videodrone]

what would nessasary break if i did that? the input? all my inputs? anything in particulary?

ALSO - whats the proper technique to plugging in and out phantom powered mics?

[Herm]

Ya know i am thinking when I had my Mackie 24/8 they told you
to have the phantom power on before you plugged the mic in.

But thats Mackie, Got rid of it. never looked back

[DJL]

Think about it for a moment... it's a good pratice to power-down a device or system before unplugging it, because...

[eeldip]

is the jury out on this issue?

i did a quick search on RAP and it seems that many people think that there shouldnt be a problem with unplugging with the phantom on...

[DJL]

Originally posted by Herm
Ya know i am thinking when I had my Mackie 24/8 they told you
to have the phantom power on before you plugged the mic in.

But thats Mackie, Got rid of it. never looked back

Humm, I don't believe it says that in my Mackie 32x8 bus manual... strange, oh well.

[DJL]

Originally posted by eeldip
is the jury out on this issue?

i did a quick search on RAP and it seems that many people think that there shouldnt be a problem with unplugging with the phantom on...

Yeah, your right about this being an old internet debate... but, when it fucks-up you'll know... lol.

[caleb2438]

YEah I can honestly tell you that my Omni got screwed doing this! They asked me "did you pull the mic out when Phantom was on"?
I said "no"

They then said : "it's still covered under warranty if you did"
Then I said "okay, I did"

[mshilarious]

Physically I don't get how this could happen on an XLR cable. You'd have to cross two pins or the hot pin to the case ground while the plug was still in the console, which doesn't seem possible as the plug would still be in the console and thus physically prevented from shorting. Pretty much the same story at the mic end, although I guess it is conceivable that some foreign object could enter the female XLR and cause a short to ground.

[Joe Recorder]

This may be an answer to videodrone's question.
http://www.artistpro.com/ubbcgi/ulti...c;f=2;t=000032

[Randy5235]

so I would *assume* the proper way to do this then would be to (with the phanton disabled) plug the mic into the cord into the pre and then power up the 48V (phantom) for use. to unplug the mic you would disengage the phantom power wait like 10 secs (it takes a couple seconds to fully drain on the mic) and then unplug ??? that sound like a good practice to everyone??? all in favor say I all not in favor provide some info.... Thanks Randy



looks like joe got the post before i did

[Henrik]

Originally posted by caleb2438
YEah I can honestly tell you that my Omni got screwed doing this! They asked me "did you pull the mic out when Phantom was on"?
I said "no"

They then said : "it's still covered under warranty if you did"
Then I said "okay, I did"

[Lt. Bob]

Originally posted by Herm
Ya know i am thinking when I had my Mackie 24/8 they told you
to have the phantom power on before you plugged the mic in.

Actually in the manual for my 1604VLZ it specifically says not to plug or unplug mics while the phantom power was on. It also said that over time it would begin to degrade the op-amp for the phantom on that channel (as S of M said).
So you're probably ok if it works. Does it still work? If so, it's probably fine but don't do it again!

[DJL]

IMO, condenser mic's also live longer when the system is powered-down (both gain & phantom pwr) before plugging or unplugging the mic.

[Lt. Bob]

Originally posted by DJL
IMO, condenser mic's also live longer when the system is powered-down (both gain & phantom pwr) before plugging or unplugging the mic.

Makes sense to me. Look....unplugging while the phantom is on is basically the same thing as having a sudden power outage and we've all seen that screw up stuff.

[acorec]

Unplugging a condensor mic powered up at +48V is a very bad thing. The microphone itself is a capacitor. When a cap has voltage removed from it, the cap discharges. This is called "back Electro-Motive Force". The voltage discharged by the cap is reversed in polarity. In a "balanced" configuration, the Op-amp only amplifies the DIFFERENCE between the voltages present on both input pins. When you unplug the mic, if you open the circuit fast enough, and open both pins at exactly the same time, the op-amp ,most likely, will not be harmed . But, if you open one pin while the other pin is connected, even for a brief instant, the difference between the two input pins to the op-amp will be HUGE. The discharge from the condensor will follow this path amd *BAM*. Goodbye op-amp, possibly blowing the condensor element. Technically, you should turn off the phantom power and wait at least one minute for the PS and the condensor element to discharge. I wait two. Why take a chance for one to two minutes of your time?

[DJL]

A while back we were talking about the roll temperature, humidity, etc plays on a mic. Anyway, I asked Alan Hyatt about taking care of condenser mic's, and Alan gave the following advice/tip...

" <snip> Build a mic locker and only set the mic up when you are going to use them. When you do, let them sit in the room for a couple of hours to adjust to the rooms conditions. Do this before you even power them up. Just let them sit for a while on the stand. Remember to turn down all input and output gains before turning on the phantom power, then wait 60 seconds or so to let the mic charge up. Then bring up the gains, and when you turn it off, do the same thing in reverse. <snip>"

Have you hugged your mic's yet today?