25 Jul
2007
25 Jul
'07
1:58 p.m.
On 7/25/07, Ken Restivo <ken(a)restivo.org> wrote:
It's a laptop.
We're talking about 19VDC here. IANAEE, but I imagine that the $20 laptop power
supply will sacrifice its life in case of lightning strike, horrible mains power fault,
surge, or other disaster, leaving both the laptop and the performer intact.
Up until this year, I've never seen a laptop power supply with a ground pin anyway,
at least here in the USA. They've all been two-pin AC, no ground. I've never had
any kind of dangerous problem with them, in nearly over 15 years of using laptops. The
grounding of laptop power supplies is a new thing.
It's 19VDC, until someone spills beer on the laptop power supply and
you get 120VAC...
There is no other solution. I've been told that
the buzz/ground problem is *inside* the laptop and all of them have it. It's a
cost-saving and space-saving measure that the PCB designers make.
They certainly don't all have it, and I would return a laptop as
defective if it had this problem. For example I would be very
surprised if a Mac had this issue as they are designed for pro audio
use.
Lee