How to scope the power network?

[Tony Hardie-Bick]

There are various ways of making a direct connection, but... the safest and simplest would be an inductive loop.

Get an incandescent light and wire it as normal to the mains, switch it on. Then, take a loop of wire which, at either end is connected to your audio input. Bring the loop close to the lamp cable and you should get signal. To boost sensitivity, separate the live and neutral conductors of the lamp cable, and place the inductive loop close to one of them. Also you can wind the loop around one of the mains cables (once or twice).

Do all this incrementally, to avoid blowing your inputs ;)

NB if you use LED lights, these have complex PSUs which could smooth or add artefacts. An electric heater would also work. Or even just a single core connected to live - but keep it FULLY insulated :)

Tony (HB)

Joost Schuttelaar <joost at joostschuttelaar.nl> wrote:

>In my new apt there seems to be some weird glitches in the power. I'd
>like to just plot the 50Hz sinewave on my Mac. Anyone have an idea how
>to? Could I just use a 230->12V AC transformer, stick in a ... Ω
>resistor and plug it into my audio in? Or does anyone have a better
>idea? :)
>
>-- 
>
>Joost Schuttelaar
>The Hague, NL
>
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