I'm 100% with Erik Squires. And to retort "This is a basic question" is silliness. Virtually nobody is asking questions like this. "My guitar tone has too much grit. Can you check the breaker panel for aluminum or copper bus bars?" said no musician in the history of recording.
Sound differences between Copper and Aluminum Bus Bar Electrical Panels
I have a Square D Homeline electrical panel that has an aluminum bus bar and I'm wondering if anyone hear went through the trouble to change the electrical panel to a copper bus bar type such as the Square D QO or any other manufacturer. What audio improvements were heard going from aluminum to copper???? My system consists of top end components with a full loom of SR Galileo UEF cables, SR Active Grounding Block SE and an SR Powercell 12 UEF ac power conditioner.
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@kosst_amojan, Do you think this could affect the sound of an audio system? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idyjpucgPCI . |
For an example say the arcing is happening on a breaker contact to bus tie connection near the breaker that feeds the audio system. With the dead front/panel cover installed on the electrical panel there is a good chance the home owner will/would never know there is an acing problem in the panel. (Note the arcing in the video was somewhat intermittent and small. Not all that much heat being generated.) If the bus in the panel is copper the problem might go on for along time. In fact a very long time. If the arcing grew worse over time the heat built up might cause the thermal unit of the breaker to trip the breaker open. But like most home owners the person will just reset the tripped breaker and hope that all it was. LOL, of course the guy is still chasing his noise problem with his audio system, thinking it has to be grounding problem. Right? What if the bus in the panel is aluminum? My bet the bus in the video is aluminum, not copper. Depending on the connected load the aluminum will start melting if the heat gets high enough. Not a lot a first but as it melts, even a little bit, the arcing increases because of the resistance created in the poor connection being created between the breaker contact and the aluminum connecting bus tie. More arcing, more heat, more burning, more melting. The arcing can still go on for a long time without causing a serious problems. Other than driving the guy nuts trying to find why his audio system has a buzzing sound, or what ever.. LOL, got to be a grounding problem, Right? Eventually in time the breaker to bus tie connection will fail. Usually the fix ends up being a new electrical panel. For a new install I would only install a panel with copper bus. But that’s just me. . |
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