Homebrew PCBs

Hi Vlad,

After thinking about it, you're right.  What I said about connecting 
neutral to earth ground was wrong.  It should only be connected at 
the panel.

Earth ground should be connected to the chassis so that would 
provide the shortest path for a short condition...

Sorry for the confusion...

Regards,
Dennis

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Vlad Krupin" <vlad.cnc@...> 
wrote:
>
> small safety note
> 
> [snip]
> 
> > Should any grounded part of the board be connected to the
> > > netural line on the AC?
> >
> > You should always ground the chassis of your equipment to earth
> > ground.  The neutral line will be connected to earth ground at 
the
> > circuit breaker, so you don't need to connect it yourself; but 
many
> > will to make sure that the path to earth ground is as short as
> > possible.
> >
> > If you're going to float your neutral, you should make whoever 
does
> > it jump through some hoops so you can avoid liability for
> > electrocuting someone.
> 
> 
> I think I must've misunderstood what you said. But after re-
reading this
> post a couple of times, what you said still sounds a bit 
dangerous. So let
> me try to clarify a couple of points.
> 
> Whet talking about AC power, there are generally three lines - 
hot, neutral
> and ground.
> 
> Hot is self-explanatory.
> 
> Neutral is, as the poster noted, connected to ground at the 
circuit breaker,
> but that's THE ONLY PLACE where it should be connected. 
No "shortest path to
> ground" argument applies here. This is probably the most basic 
rule that the
> electricians who wired up your house had to follow if they had any 
hope of
> the house passing the inspection. I am not sure what the poster 
meant by
> "floating" the neutral, but if you "float" it, you won't have any 
current
> flowing (unless you use the ground instead, which is a big no-no).
> 
> Ground exists for *safety* only. Under normal circumstances no 
current
> should ever be present in that wire. If any current is present, 
something is
> wrong. So, never connect it to anything but the case or the 
enclosure of
> your project. (ok, that's a generalization, so there are 
exceptions, but it
> is a pretty good and safe generalization to start with).
> 
> Vlad
> 
> 
> --
> Vlad's shop
> http://www.krupin.net/serendipity/index.php?/categories/2-
metalworking
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>