[sdiy] ESD grounding in USA

[Dave Magnuson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Harry Bissell" <harrybissell at wowway.com>
To: "Seb Francis" <seb at burnit.co.uk>
Cc: "synth dIY" <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 3:21 PM
Subject: Re: [sdiy] ESD grounding in USA


> IMHO the third wire grounds in the USA notoriously suck !
>
> If they are even there, they may go through a very long, convoluted
> path to anything like a ground. The inductance would probably stop
> any fast moving signal from being attenuated...
>
> It might keep static drained off your body, and better than nothing but
> I'd go for a metal cold-water pipe if possible. I have a ground rod
> outside my house, with an isolated power system for my studio...
>
> H^) harry

Hi Harry,

I agree that the "ground" in US wiring is not consistent/good but...
water pipes aren't a great ground anymore, either.     Anyone with a well 
has plastic piping into the house.     Many cities are now using PEX tubing 
to connect from the water main to the building.... so many times the metal 
pipe in your building never actually reaches the earth anymore.

There always used to be a copper (or lead!)  pipe back to the main in the 
street, but that's not always the case anymore.   Many times it's plastic 
until after it penetrates the foundation or slab

The ol' copper ground rod is the only thing you can really rely on IMHO.

Dave

>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Seb Francis <seb at burnit.co.uk>
> To: synth dIY <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
> Sent: Mon, 18 Oct 2010 14:42:47 -0400 (EDT)
> Subject: Re: [sdiy] ESD grounding in USA
>
>  On 18/10/2010 18:41, Tom Corbitt wrote:
>> That one should have the banana connection. Unsure why the picture I
>> sent didn't show it, it's part of a system that does just that. Here's
>> another one that shows it clearly. Almost all the portable mats I've
>> ever seen use this kind of connection.
>>
>> http://www.stanleysupplyservices.com/product-detail.aspx?pn=122-789&ref=base
>
>
> Yes, that's exactly the sort of thing I'm after.  Now I just need to find 
> one with a smaller price tag!
>
>
>> Up till about the early to mid 60's in the US it was not uncommon to
>> find only two wires (hot&  neutral) to outlets. But you would be hard
>> pressed to buy only two wire romex these days. Every home inspection
>> I've had in the last 15 years has included the inspector going around
>> and plugging the tester into every outlet they saw to insure all is
>> well.
>
> Well, it's good to know that all modern wired houses will have a ground 
> connection - I guess anywhere there's a 3 prong socket, there should be an 
> earth connection to a nearby ground rod.  Still the ground connection 
> point with built in tester seems like a good idea to be sure .. if only I 
> can find one in the sub-$10 price range.
>
> Seb
>
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> -- 
> Harry Bissell & Nora Abdullah 4eva
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