Night causes buzzing

[Bluestribute]

I have no idea if this is the appropriate place to put this, and if it's not, go ahead and delete it since it's not super important, it's just weird and I am curious about it. Anyways:

I have a home music studio. It's an old addition to the house, and it has some old wiring. Anyways, last night (9-10 PM), I plugged my guitar into my amp, which of course is connected to an outlet within the room (it's kinda a crappy outlet though). My guitar buzzes super loudly, such as it would with a grounding issue (in fact, the only way to stop the buzzing is to touch something metal on the instrument). Fast forward to this afternoon (2-3 PM). I plug in the same exact guitar into the same exact amp that's connected to the same exact outlet. Nothing has changed since last night (including what's going on in the adjacent room) and my guitar doesn't buzz, like it's been magically grounded over night.

That is NOT the first time it's happened either. It seems that either that room or that outlet become ungrounded at night and grounded during the day (ie my guitar buzzes at night and is perfect during the day). So . . . what is up with that???

The room is an addition, the outlet is old, we live in a rural mountainous area, and it's cold and snowy right now, if that helps. I don't know if it does this during the summer since it wasn't a concern until now (built a guitar, need to know if it works), but that's the current scenario.

EDIT: It's the light. When you turn the light on in that room, it causes instant buzzing for EVERY OUTLET in the room! The guy who wired it just I guess f-ed up a bit lol.

 

[davelectronic]

Hi Bluestribute.
I am not really sure, you said you live in a rural area, anything wrong with the mains supply at times of the day, IE night time voltage drops frequency changes, just a thought, beyond that i dont know.

 

[Bluestribute]

We got it. The reason it did it at night . . . was because that's when I turned the light on. Turning on the light in that room caused the problem (I know this because I turned it on, let it buzz, then switched it on and off a few times to hear the buzz go away and come back). So, I guess if we want it fixed we gotta get an electrician here

 

[davelectronic]

Yes i would say thats the best bet, is the light bulb a normal incandescent, of a low energy new type the small fluorescent types, or a fluorescent tube, i cant see how a switch or a lighting circuit can cause buzzing, ballast in a fluorescent might .

 

[Bluestribute]

It's just a standard light you'd find, nothing special. That's all I really know about it lol. I think it's just the way the room was wired up. It's kinda funny though . . . kept thinking I was doing something wrong on my part.

Well, I guess that's that until I start my new project (guitar effect pedal). Excited for that! =D

 

[TedA]

Bluestribute,

Is that light on a triac dimmer? That might cause some buzzing.

Also, if the electrician wired the light neutral wire to the outlet safety ground, that could cause hum trouble.

Are the outlets in question grounded, i.e. three pin? And what electrical code is in play here? Different countries have different ways of doing residential wiring.

Some of the possible causes of your buzz might be real safety hazards; you want to get this checked-out! I can imagine AC line voltage on the guitar!

Ted

 

[Bluestribute]

All I can say is they are grounded (tri-in) =\. I know it's been like this for at least a couple years 'cause we only worked on that room once when we first moved in. Since it's been so long and nothing has gone wrong (except for this lol), I'll probably just mention it to my dad next time we have the electrician or someone over. Though the main thing was it was making my guitar hum and I had no clue why (thought it was my wiring in the actual instrument).

 

[jackorocko]

Your not using any of those energy saver CFL's are you? I know you said normal light bulb, but those have become pretty common these days and some would consider them normal light bulbs.

Take that light out and put it in a lamp and then plug the lamp into the same outlet as the amp, still get the buzzing? If not then call an electrician as ted says, it could be costly!

 

[alfa88]

You could maybe get one of those outlet tester things at the hardware store. They're fairly inexpensive, safe and easy to use.