Annoying buzz....

I have this weird thing where when my laptop is plugged in, my Audio 4 gets feedback, and an annoying little buzz, but when on battery power the buzz disappears.
Also, the timecode goes all fuzzy on battery.
How can I combat this?
Your help is appreciated.
Rob

 

make shure your laptop is plugged in the same outlet as the mixer and the speaker system.

 

several solutions.

Safest one: use a DI box to connect to your sound system. They act as ground loop isolators.

If you have a Macbook; it's very easy, just use the 2 prong adapter on the power supply instead of the 3 prong.

Other wise, you can try other kinds of ground loop isolation devices (on teh power cable or on the audio ones, but I Guess that the DI box is the safest and most versatile. You have to get a stereo one though (or 2 mono ones

Be careful if your computer's power supply is not meant to be used without grounding (it will have a 3 pin connector between teh power suply box and the mains cable), avoid to do the "3 prong to 2 adapter"version as, in some extreme cases, it could lead to damage to your computer and even possibly yourself. even if normally works OK in most cases, if you want to be 100% safe don't do it

 

at least at the new power adapters it doesn´t matter because the ground line is not connected to the transformator, its only present to protect the cable itself

 

ok, this happens to me everytime I power up my macbook with traktor an I honestly just tap the mac book plug box thing quite hard an it stops every time and never returns until I start up my equipment again.

you can always give that a shot, I know it's still annoying to have stupid workarounds like that but it works. I do have an isolator, (can't remember the model) which I would take if I was doing a live gig just to be on the safe side though.