FischLights Posted September 16, 2010 Share Posted September 16, 2010 Do any of you guys have a hummmm or buzzz in between your songs when using your FM transmitter? I'm using a cheap $5-10 Belkin Transmitter off Ebay. I don't want to spend $100 bucks this year, on a real whole house FM transmitter. I was wondering if there was a way to take the hummmm out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted September 16, 2010 Share Posted September 16, 2010 FischLights wrote: I don't want to spend $100 bucks this year, on a real whole house FM transmitter. I can't help you with your problem, although I'm sure there are people around here who can. But I CAN help you with a problem you don't have yet. Using the words "real" and "whole house transmitter" in the same sentence is a cruel joke. Save your money a little longer and get a real transmitter. The one you have now probably outperforms the whole house junk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim6918 Posted September 16, 2010 Share Posted September 16, 2010 As much as I would like to help with the buzz, I can't either. My guess amongst practically everybody here (opinions about a particular manufacturer aside) the quality of your sound transmission is at the top of the list of important items for your display. If not number one, then real damn close. That is assuming you don't use outdoor speakers as your only audio output.You can pick the best songs, spend hours sequencing, hang your light just so, but if the quality of your audio to the viewer sucks, then your whole show will suck.I am reeling this year from expenses too but honest to God, I would find something I could sell or hock to get a good transmitter. There are literally dozens of threads on here about FM transmitters. If your soldering skills are very good, I know you can save some money by building a kit. Myself, I use the Mobile Black Box 4000 and couldn't be happier with it. Currently priced at $139.00 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Posted September 16, 2010 Share Posted September 16, 2010 The hum could be coming from the power supply. If you can't get a better one, you may be able to use a battery. You can a couple of cheap 4-AA holders from Radio Shack, and hook them up in series to get a clean 12-volt supply with 8 AA batteries.Another possibility is that radiation from the FM antenna is getting into the audio system. You may be out of luck if your transmitter doesn't have a relocatable antenna.A third problem could be that the transmitter is too close to the computer. Using an audio extension cable will solve this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightORamaDan Posted September 16, 2010 Share Posted September 16, 2010 George Simmons wrote: FischLights wrote: I don't want to spend $100 bucks this year, on a real whole house FM transmitter. I can't help you with your problem, although I'm sure there are people around here who can. But I CAN help you with a problem you don't have yet. Using the words "real" and "whole house transmitter" in the same sentence is a cruel joke. Save your money a little longer and get a real transmitter. The one you have now probably outperforms the whole house junk.George, are you talking about the new Version 2 of the Whole House Transmitter or the original Gold Version?Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Don Gillespie Posted September 16, 2010 Share Posted September 16, 2010 Steven wroteThe hum could be coming from the power supply. If you can't get a better one, you may be able to use a battery. You can a couple of cheap 4-AA holders from Radio Shack, and hook them up in series to get a clean 12-volt supply with 8 AA batteries.I to had the humming problem moved my cheap transmiter to a different plug in and wham works great nothing to lose except trying a different plug in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted September 16, 2010 Share Posted September 16, 2010 LightORamaDan wrote: George, are you talking about the new Version 2 of the Whole House Transmitter or the original Gold Version?I got one two years ago so I'm guessing it must be the original Gold version. Total piece of crap - wouldn't wish one on a mad hatter. I have no personal experience with a version 2 model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightORamaDan Posted September 16, 2010 Share Posted September 16, 2010 George Simmons wrote: LightORamaDan wrote: George, are you talking about the new Version 2 of the Whole House Transmitter or the original Gold Version?I got one two years ago so I'm guessing it must be the original Gold version. Total piece of crap - wouldn't wish one on a mad hatter. I have no personal experience with a version 2 model. We sold many 100s of the Gold Version. It was a mixed review. We had no problem with the 100ft we did get a few complaints but in most cases it was a bad unit and the replacement worked as promised...The new one is more powerful and we did go through a pretty good test but time will tell. It has lots more switches and a LCD display so more parts to break...Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shfr26 Posted September 16, 2010 Share Posted September 16, 2010 Is it near any fluorescent lights ? I had the whole house and had the same problem. Again, away from computer, try a different outlet, wrap some wire around the end of ant., and do not go directly to computer for power, and see if any of that helps you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FischLights Posted September 16, 2010 Author Share Posted September 16, 2010 Here is a pic of the transmitter I am using, I don't have a sound issue during the songs, only a hummm in between the songs when no music is playing. I have it pluged into the headphone jack of the computer and volume all the way up. It hangs next to the computer and in the back of the house and still transmits 6 house down from my house. I have an old cell phone charger as the power for it, 5.9 V output.Does anyone else get a hummm in between songs?How do you guys hook up your FM transmitter???? Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernie Posted September 16, 2010 Share Posted September 16, 2010 Try using a better power supply. Cell phone chargers are usually comprised of a half-wave rectifier and no filter capacitors. Good luck..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Don Gillespie Posted September 16, 2010 Share Posted September 16, 2010 FischLights wrote: Here is a pic of the transmitter I am using, I don't have a sound issue during the songs, only a hummm in between the songs when no music is playing. I have it pluged into the headphone jack of the computer and volume all the way up. It hangs next to the computer and in the back of the house and still transmits 6 house down from my house. I have an old cell phone charger as the power for it, 5.9 V output.Does anyone else get a hummm in between songs?How do you guys hook up your FM transmitter????The exact same one I have in between songs mine does not hum if you are listening to your radio in the car is that when you hear the humming noise or is it inside your house? and yes I know it is between the songs and also do you have the adapter that lets you plug into AC power Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FischLights Posted September 16, 2010 Author Share Posted September 16, 2010 It's when I am in the car. I have a 6v old cell phone charger DC adapter. I'm going to try batteries tomorrow and see if it makes a difference. How do you hook yours up to the computer?? Which output on your computer?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted September 16, 2010 Share Posted September 16, 2010 FischLights wrote: Which output on your computer??I hook my transmitter up to the line out jack on the sound card. Initially I used a splitter - one leg went to the transmitter and the other leg to my PC speakers - but that reduced the gain of the signal to the transmitter way too much. So I got rid of the splitter and connected the (amplified) speakers to the PC's headphone jack instead. Not ideal, but I'd rather be inconvenienced inside than have the show suffer outside after working on it for a year. Jim, above, is completely right when he says the sound quality is every bit as important as your sequencing. Good luck.Dan,I didn't mean to impugn LOR's integrity in any way regarding the Whole House product, and I apologize to you and/or anyone else who may have been offended. I realize that you're only reselling the device. (I didn't buy mine from you - I didn't know at the time that you had them.) I truly hope it IS a better product now than it was two years ago. But back then it was an extremely poor choice that I made and I'd have been happy if someone who knew better had warned me off. Just trying to help a new recruit improve his experience... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallleyes Posted September 16, 2010 Share Posted September 16, 2010 FischLights wrote: Do any of you guys have a hummmm or buzzz in between your songs when using your FM transmitter? I'm using a cheap $5-10 Belkin Transmitter off Ebay. I don't want to spend $100 bucks this year, on a real whole house FM transmitter. I was wondering if there was a way to take the hummmm out?Key words highlighted in bold.I also have a mobile black box 4000 and it is oustanding.Hopefully you can get it to work.My experience with cheap stuff ends up in the trash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Hurrle Posted September 17, 2010 Share Posted September 17, 2010 I bought the whole house transmitter 2.0 version and it works perfectly fine. I get about 3 houses down which is all the distance I need for the show.Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Don Gillespie Posted September 17, 2010 Share Posted September 17, 2010 FischLights wrote: It's when I am in the car. I have a 6v old cell phone charger DC adapter. I'm going to try batteries tomorrow and see if it makes a difference. How do you hook yours up to the computer?? Which output on your computer??I hook it up to the headphone conector on the front of my computer and then I have an AC adapter that I plug into the wall to get power I don't use batteries at all the range is great if you are anywhere by my house or on the other side of the street you can hear the music in your car, with my stereo receiver I hook that up in the back of my computer that way the people that get out of their vehicles can also enjoy the music, hopefully this will work for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FischLights Posted September 17, 2010 Author Share Posted September 17, 2010 Jeff Millard wrote: Many people use a Belken identical to the one shown and eliminate the 60 cycle hum with a decent power supply as Stephen already suggested. The cheap way: use the 12VDC from an old computer case power supply. Those switching supplies provide a good clean DC that doesn't foul the signal from your transmitter.JeffDo you have any suggestions on what kind of clean power supply people use?The transmitter runs on 2 AAA batteries that would equal 3 volts. How are people running 12 Volt power and not blowing it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FischLights Posted September 22, 2010 Author Share Posted September 22, 2010 I hooked up the transmitter with 2 AAA batteries and it sounds great. No static, No hummm, No buzzzz. So it's obviously the AC power pack.Also, I bought a new AC power supply, and it was worse then the old cell phone charger I was using.How do other people with this type of transmitter power theirs? If anyone can help me, that would be great.Jeff: I'm still looking into the computer power supply, I'm gonna see if there is anything easier. If not, Ill go that route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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