Dictionary / Engineering

Power-Line Interference

Engineering
Unwanted signal from a building's electrical wiring. It matters because a reading at the power-line frequency can come from the wiring rather than from the device's own pulse. The power line runs at 60 Hz in North America and at 50 Hz across most of Europe, Asia and Africa. See Deliberate Frequency.

Also known as: Mains Frequency, Mains Interference

Device settings and the power-line frequenciesA logarithmic pulse-rate axis from 1 to 300 hertz with the 50 hertz and 60 hertz power-line frequencies marked as narrow shaded bands. Several device settings sit well clear of them. One setting lands on 60 hertz and is flagged.50 and 60 Hz power line131030100300S1S2S3S4S5 flaggedPulse rate (Hz, log scale)© 2026 Gauss Labs
A building's wiring runs at 50 or 60 Hz. A setting that lands on one of those values may be picking up the power line rather than producing a designed pulse, so it is flagged.
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