How to detect the mains cables inside the wall?

rodos1979 · Post by **rodos1979** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 5:50 pm

Hello to all!

I am planning to open a hole in my room's wall, and have my PC on the other side (in another room) in order to be able to record with no fan noise.
I had heard in the past that there is a way to discover/detect electromagnetic fields using an MW radio. Is that true?
I dont want to try dig a hole on the wall and hit a mains cable. Any ideas?

Thank you

wayne · Post by **wayne** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 7:25 pm

yes, a transistor radio tuned off-channel will be a crude detector - tweak it by holding the aerial near a known power cable, the static should change a lot.

rodos1979 · Post by **rodos1979** » Sat Apr 19, 2003 7:23 am

Hello!

Thanks Wayne for replying

I have tried it but with no success. In which mode should I set the radio (FM, SW, MW, LW)? On which frequency? Is there any other way to do it?

Thank you

mano · Post by **mano** » Sat Apr 19, 2003 1:30 pm

There are cabinets you can buy to put your noisy case + racks in... Generally they have a transparent door etc.

I saw some in the ARGOSY catalogue when I bought my desk... http://www.argosyconsole.com

I guess it'll be easier than putting the computer in another room.

I dont have one of those but I got a bunch of stuff from http://www.silentPC.com (power supply, hard disk sleeve, CPU fan) and I removed my video card (the fan was WAY loud - using the crappy onboard one now).

Hope this helps

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Sat Apr 19, 2003 4:10 pm

hi Rodos,

probably the greek way of cable installation is similiar to the way it's done here which means they do it after the wall is finished with an electric hammer (Hilti).
Since that is a heavy device which is nearly impossible to operate 10-15 inches from the ground that would be a good distance for your hole.
Very unlikely to hit a cable there

just do it, Tom

rodos1979 · Post by **rodos1979** » Sat Apr 19, 2003 7:37 pm

Hello to all!

Thank you for replying and for giving me your ideas. I have opened the holes in the wall and have connected the cables to my DAW, which is on the next room now. I still can hear a bit of noise but it is acceptable. This noise passes through the door, which is not a massive one. So I must add some absorbers, in order to make noise dissappear completely.
By the way, r there any hi-quality long RCA cables? Or they are all the same? ...I wish I had the balanced I/O option for my pulsar... Do you know if it is possible to exchange the classic with a balanced one?

Thank you:)

Post by **garyb** » Sun Apr 20, 2003 1:56 am

unbalanced line level really shouldn't travel more than about 20ft......pity to trade noise for poor audio quality.....