Major Problem no one has ever heard of

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Plesage

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I was connecting my Mackie 1604-VLZ3 to my Mac through the headphone jack and it arced as I was pluging it in. my outlets for the computer and the mixer are on seperate breakers cause otherwise I get a buzzing sound but when i have the on the same plug no arcing. I talked to some electricians no one has a clue.
 
when you say 'through the headphone jack', tell us in detail,


what output are you taking,and what input are you running it to?



also, is your mac a macbook/pro?
if so, do you still have problems if you run on battery power?
 
Plesage said:
I was connecting my Mackie 1604-VLZ3 to my Mac through the headphone jack and it arced as I was pluging it in. my outlets for the computer and the mixer are on seperate breakers cause otherwise I get a buzzing sound but when i have the on the same plug no arcing. I talked to some electricians no one has a clue.
Click to expand...

Visible sparks or crackling sound? I wouldn't want to be alarmist but what you've said could range from just weird and miss stated to potentially dangerous.
I'd get a volt meter or someone who does and get it figured out.
 
Plesage said:
I was connecting my Mackie 1604-VLZ3 to my Mac through the headphone jack and it arced as I was pluging it in. my outlets for the computer and the mixer are on seperate breakers cause otherwise I get a buzzing sound but when i have the on the same plug no arcing. I talked to some electricians no one has a clue.
Click to expand...

If you mean a visible arc of electricity, that sounds like there's some pretty serious ground potential there, and more to the point, one of your outlets is not properly grounded....
 
I've never really understood this kind of problem (yes I have come across similar issues before!) but my best guess is that dgatwood is wise and insightful. The buzzing you get when the gear is on the same breaker is consistent with that.

An electrical meter could teach you a lot - maybe less from the potential between different terminals on the two bits of equipment, than between each item and true ground (earth). Which terminal on which appliance is 'hot'; what's the voltage; AC or DC; once shorted does it go to zero volts then slowly build back up or does it maintain potential? When shorted to ground or the other equipment, is there any sustained current, if so how large?

You say the gear behaves differently when on the same breaker (buzzing) and on different breakers (arcing). Have you tried plugging both bits of gear into the 'second breaker' power loop? It's a long-ish shot, but if you just had a ground problem on the 'breaker one' circuit, it might eliminate the problem. I know you might have done this and a whole bunch more, I just can't be sure from what's been posted here!

I got a jolt this week plugging some powerful 2.1 speakers into a PC. It's not the first time, although last time was long ago. This time I might just follow my own advice above and check it out properly...
 
you have grounding issues, either in your home power, or the two pieces of equipment you are plugging together
 
Plesage said:
computer and the mixer are on seperate breakers .
Click to expand...

if you are saying separate mains breakers as opposed to 'powerstrip' this guarantees two separate paths to ground and can cause a variety of problems

even contribute to issue you preset . . . but for headphone out on mixer to line in on computer to arc suggests there is a short, probably in the computer. Symptom, arcing, might be masked when both devices share a ground

but slightly more thorough details would probably be helpful for a more helpful response
 
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