Electrical fault?

booleybooley

Not sure if this is the right place for this problem.
Play in a band and use backing tracks. Just bought new set of led lights. In certain venues when the lights go on causes track to start/stop of its own accord. Have had lights and music player checked out and both are fine individually.
Have tries anti surge extension leads with only partial success. Can anyone help??

madtheory

Anti surge plug boards are not for dealing with voltage spikes from power ons. What they will do is die when lightning strikes, thereby protecting your gear. So that is the wrong solution to your problem.

I'd be slow to recommend a power conditioner because that might not be the problem at all. Then again, it's a good thing to have in a touring rack if you're not conversant with electrical issues. But be warned that it's far from a panacea.

Anyway, we need more information to diagnose the problem. I will outline some possible solutions...

Make and model of backing track machine? It might be a known issue. Contact the dealer or manufacturer. Maybe the power supply is under specified. Does it use an external power supply? If so, you could easily upgrade that.

Does your PA buzzzzz? Even a little bit? If so you'll need to go through all your audio connections. Sorry, but this gets technical, there's no way around that:
http://www.rane.com/note110.html

You might have one or two corroded connections inside some of your extension leads/ plugboards. This will cause ground to be above 0V at some points. That can cause intermittent craziness like this.

Try:
1. Connecting all your extension leads in a "star" formation to minimise this effect.
2. Inspecting the integrity and testing for resistance in every earth circuit (it should be 0 ohms).
2. Cleaning every earth pin with .0001 steel wool and isopropyl.

booleybooley

Thanks for your help!