The Big Click

[canthai55]

Had the whole house rewired in the fall, from the service wires.

New panel, wiring, outlets, switches - everything.

Have the house surround sound powered thru an inverter, to stop the voltage fluctuations when the power goes off. No issues.

Also have an outdoor stereo, powered direct from the house wiring.

On the same circuit is a refrigerator, and every time it shuts off I hear a loud click thru the speakers.

Bought one of these - attached below, which while it weakened the click did not remove it completely.

Any quick and easy fix, or should I just buy a UPS and connect thru that ? Will it stop the dreaded 'Click'

Thanks

 

[Crossy]

Have you tried temporarily moving the stereo or fridge to a different circuit? If that fixes it then a more permanent re-wire could be the answer.

 

Switching "clicks" are a nightmare to get rid of (at least you know the source) but a standard UPS probably won't help unless it has extra mains filtering. An expensive "dual-conversion" UPS may fix the issue but they are most definitely not a cheap option (an inverter based fridge would probably be cheaper).

 

Does your stereo use an external power supply / wall wart? You could try powering it from batteries.

[canthai55]

9 minutes ago, Crossy said:

Have you tried temporarily moving the stereo or fridge to a different circuit? If that fixes it then a more permanent re-wire could be the answer.

 

Switching "clicks" are a nightmare to get rid of (at least you know the source) but a standard UPS probably won't help unless it has extra mains filtering. An expensive "dual-conversion" UPS may fix the issue but they are most definitely not a cheap option (an inverter based fridge would probably be cheaper).

 

Does your stereo use an external power supply / wall wart? You could try powering it from batteries.

As a first attempt I used an extension cord, running to a separate circuit, to power the fridge. Also spliced in a ground wire as the fridge is just 2 wire - typical Thailand or is internally grounded. Click went away.

Just a right Pain to spend all that $$$ on rewiring and have to run a <deleted> extension cord !!!

What's that they say about Life - Nasty, Brutal and Short ? 555

The Pits that a UPS won't stop it - Another Cross to Bear in this Vale of Tears 555

[canthai55]

The stereo I brought from the West, so is 120V 60Hz

I am using a voltage converter to power it , then the VR I showed, then a Toshino Surge protector, then the wall outlet.

 

[Crossy]

8 minutes ago, canthai55 said:

I am using a voltage converter to power it

 

Assuming a 2-pin plug on the converter input, try reversing the converter plug.

[OneMoreFarang]

Have a look at some of Paul's videos about "Power Plants".

https://www.youtube.com/c/PSAudiochannel/search?query=power plant

 

It will give you some ideas what might work and what won't work.

[canthai55]

8 minutes ago, Crossy said:

Assuming a 2-pin plug on the converter input, try reversing the converter plug.

It is 3 wire, but the plug from the stereo is 2 wire. Reversed the plug - just waiting for the fridge to cycle

[Crossy]

You could try one or two of these (needs a box of course) https://www.lazada.co.th/products/fn2010-6-06-single-stage-acdc-emi-filter-6a-tab-terminal-06-style-chassis-mount-i2513396666-s8916480237.html

 

Or maybe ferrite https://www.lazada.co.th/products/best-saller-emi-filter-conditioner-clamping-ferrite-1-hdmi-adapter-usb-cable-vga-tplink-i2599855172-s9273597343.html

 

Try at the fridge and stereo ends.

[canthai55]

Thanks.

Reversed the voltage converter - still does the Click.

Will try those on Lazada.

Appreciate the help everyone.

The ferrite one just clamps over the wire itself ? Never seen one of these

[Crossy]

18 minutes ago, canthai55 said:

The ferrite one just clamps over the wire itself ? Never seen one of these

 

Yeah, just clips on, you may have seen the moulded on version on HDMI cables and the like.

[canthai55]

Ordered 2. Will advise

[Crossy]

When they come put them as close to the relevant equipment (one on the fridge, one on the stereo) as possible, if there's room you can loop the mains cable through 2 or more times too.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

4 hours ago, canthai55 said:

The ferrite one just clamps over the wire itself ? Never seen one of these

Really! Common on good equipment, cheap as chips. Here are the first 2 that came to hand, an apple PSU and a random mains cable, the mains cable is looped.

[jobsworth]

All refrigerators come with a clunky old mechanical thermostat which generates a mains spike when switching on or off. Triacs are the electronic equivalent and switch only at the zero crossing point; hence no spike. Triacs are cheap as chips but how to fit one to a refrigerator. I have the same problem. My refrigerator upsets my computers. 

ps I love the Thai word Tuyen. It is so much easier.

[AlQaholic]

Change fridge to inverter. If not, you might take a look at the fridge compressor starter relay.

[Muhendis]

I recently bought a nice shiny new Samsung TV and at switch-on that sends out a loud click/pop to the HiFi to which it's connected.

Solution: Switch on TV then switch on HiFi.

Thankfully the fridge doesn't do that.

[Peterphuket]

Here you can find some info

https://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/threads/spark-killer-capacitor.130092/

[millymoopoo]

23 hours ago, canthai55 said:

Bought one of these -

Might sound a bit weird, but have you tried putting it on the fridge.?

Probably good to check it's loading capacity first.

But if the HiFi works OK on the other house circuits, maybe you can eliminate the spike click by isolating it to the fridge.?

[SolarJim]

Generally do not put audio or video equipment on the same circuit as anything with a motor or lights, which here is very tough, I know.  Next, in order to get rid of hiss or noise, you should have a true grounded circuit, so you need the green third wire, that runs all the way back to your panel and is landed on the ground buss.  Sounds like you nailed it, so good job, but don't confuse line conditioning with eliminating dirty source voltage.  Now turn it up!

[Dickp]

I had my hold house rewired 14 yrs back, had America trained in the USA election do the work. I have three refrigerators one small one in maids room on normal wall out lets. The other two large 22 cf have there own decanted circuits one for each refrigerator and never had any problems with them. All wall outlets in the kitchen on one circuit.  Each refrigerator on it's own circuit per recondition of election both with three wire plug in to grounded out let's.

[khunPer]

In pro audio business, i.e. recording studios, earthing is the most important issue, and often eliminates any unwanted clicks, hum and noise. You need a proper earth both on your fridge and on your audio equipment, the latter shall be a so-called star earth, where your earth the "hearth", which would normally be the mixing console, but could in a home set-up be the pre-amplifier or the power amplifier itself, everything else is screened/shielded to the earthed equipment. In professional set-ups the audio earth is "clean" meaning physically separated from the mains earth to it's own earth spike.

 

Some have been using 1:1 transformers to make galvanic separation between mains and power source for audio, it however might be a bit of audiophile solution - I however used it for the tape duplication master source - but with a transformer from 220 volt to 110/120 volt you already have a galvanic separation, but might not have earth.

 

Click might also come from your low voltage audio cables, i.e. line cables from input source to pre-amp and power amp. Check that you have good quality screened cables. In professional set-up we always use so-called balanced connections, but that is difficult in home equipment, as it requires audio transformers or electronic balancing (in principle you have a + [plus] and a - [minus] wire, where noise and clicks get into both, but is eliminated when adding plus and minus together in the transformer, i.e. the mathematical formel where plus +1 and minus -1 eliminates each other to become 0).

 

You could try a so-called pseudo-balance, where you use audio line cables with two cores plus screen/shield. In the source end to connect the one core to signal and the other core to neutral, whilst the screen/shield is unconnected, and in the power end, i.e. the "audio hearth", you connect the signal-core to signal and combine the neutral core and the cable screen/shield to neutral...

 

You shall always keep audio cables apart from mains wires, and never running parallel, and cross mains wires in 90 degree, or thereabout, angles, to avoid induction from main cables to unbalanced audio connections. In practice often just 20-30 centimeter separation might sometimes work, but the more separation, the better.

 

Also ferrite cores might help, some console manufacturers use it for sensitive input like microphone, i.e. quite similar to a turntable pickup. Often you need to experiment a little to find the best solution.

 

Another method is to change the fridge instead...????

Edited July 21, 2021 by khunPer

[Crossy]

17 minutes ago, khunPer said:

Another method is to change the fridge instead...????

 

If it's getting a bit old an inverter model won't click and may even save you some energy.

 

[khunPer]

40 minutes ago, Crossy said:

If it's getting a bit old an inverter model won't click and may even save you some energy.

I changed my about 10-year old compressor fridge almost 2 years ago - the freezer part gave up, so not much choice, I wouldn't even think of repairing a 10-year old thing here - to a LG inverter-model; the saved power consumption pays for the new fridge in less than 5 years, so if it can last the 10-years as the inverter-warranty promisses, then the next fridge/freezer is already paid for in advance, if my budget continues with unchanged power expenses, i.e. two free combined freezers/fridges...????????

[Autonuaq]

problem you face is generally a shortage of power. as in shortage of current. this is because the power line grid part that you are on are probably over it capacity. W= U x I (W= power - U = Voltage - I = current) and since W is now fixed due to grid space limitations then when you have more current needed you get a drop mostly like a click. because when a compressor or light or other device switches on the internal resistance is 0 ohm so a huge current will start to flow the n rapidly the internal resistance build up and the devices operated at it's designed parameters. This is also the moment  old light bulb flash and stop working you can add a capacitor or much better solution is to add an on-inline power supply unit not an online power supply unit. the online power unit make that the sinus as wel the the power is nice and when short of input the battery will add to make the output correct.

advantage it that you protect the equipment, the disadvantage is you need to add a safety braker to prevent possible electrocution. since you are using a device in a situation it actually is not designed to operate in.