Questions tagged [grounding]
Problems related to the connection of circuits to ground or earth references. Can affect safety, accuracy, reliability and interfacing.
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Substation grounding
I am trying to understand a grounding system for substations, fault current is something I am not getting. For example, for a small substation with some transformers, if there is a fault in the system ...
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5 views
Too small ground wire [migrated]
The purpose of ground wire is just to carry current in milliseconds enough to trip the circuit breaker, it won't even get hot. So what is wrong with using very small ground wire? For example. You are ...
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1answer
65 views
Grounding in transistor circuits
In all example circuits using a transistor to power something (say, a motor), it seems to always be an NPN transistor (or NFET) with the something/motor connected to V+ and the collector/drain.
This ...
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2answers
93 views
Laptop fried from spark while connected via USB to a battery system
EDIT 10/11 9:40am Central:
I learned from my partner on this project I got the order of events wrong. I have edited the post accordingly.
I am working on some custom electrical hardware for ...
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3answers
60 views
Shield grounding for analog sensor
I have an analog sensor, a resistance temperature thermometer, which is essentially just a resistor (~50 Ω) which I apply a constant current to (10 mA) and measure the voltage of in order to ...
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3answers
93 views
Can lightning damage electronics via a ground connection?
Often when we think of a lightning transient, the idea is that the lightning strikes a power line and propagates through the hot/neutral or 3 wires of 3-phase system. There is also induced current ...
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1answer
62 views
Connecting all grounds directly to the supply's ground?
I currently have this layout on my PCB:
As it appears, the grounds from the different components are connected to each other and then connected into the supply's ground.
In the context of amplifiers,...
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2answers
68 views
AGND and DGND connection using flash ADC, totally stumped
So, I am designing a PCB with the classic scenario of having both sensitive analog signals and noisy digital signals...
Analog and digital regions are separated. the have their own gnd
planes and ...
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1answer
53 views
Replace a relay with an analog switch
I'm trying to replace a relay with a SPDT cmos analog switch MAX4678 for switching a sine wave, The switch is powered with dual power supply +5/-5 and +5 to its V_logic pin.
This is what i got in ...
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2answers
113 views
PCB grounding through screw head
Can we use zinc plated screws for PCB grounding?
Means the zinc coated screw head will be in contact with copper trace on PCB for grounding.
But this can cause galvanic corrosion between zinc and ...
2
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0answers
129 views
Why did this arduino burn out? SilentStepStick (TMC2130) stepper at 24V
I'm new to electronics.
Attempting to bench-test a SilentStepStick stepper driver board, (based on a TMC2130)
Using: Arduino Uno, a SilentStepStick driver board, a 0.6A stepper motor, and waterott ...
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1answer
78 views
How to ground electronics correctly
I'm at the stage where I'm moving a project off of a breadboard and on to proto board but i'm unsure if I should tie all of the grounds together. Is there any reason I shouldn't? It's basically 3 ...
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How could using an ungrounded appliance with a grounded extension cord be a fire hazard?
My local fire department, @Barrie_Fire, recently tweeted (then subsequently deleted) this:
Don’t even THINK about using a 2-prong plug in a 3-hole slot! Use
only the required number of slots in ...
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3answers
96 views
Why the earth attracts charge and where does the charge go when it goes into ground?
Self-explanatory question but to add what I know, by this I will also know if I am right or wrong.
I read somewhere that Earth is positively charged, but is not the state (whether positive/negative) ...
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1answer
61 views
Connect common ground stereo to a device with different ground for each channel
I have an old stereo that I want to resurrect and add Bluetooth to it. For that, I bought a Bluetooth module, this one: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/PAM8403-Wireless-Stereo-Audio-Receiver-Module-...
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1answer
68 views
Re-wiring experimental apparatus: Questions regarding proper ground, DC power supplies, and precision instrumentation
The apparatus consists of a large metal spherical chamber attached to a metal table. There are two electrical enclosures bolted to the table legs. The chamber is outfitted with multiple servomotors, ...
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1answer
110 views
Ground and earth layers on PCB
I am designing a digital board with USB input and output.
Shield of USB is connected to a chassis ground as per USB specs and connected to GND through a R and C in parallel
USB power has a common ...
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2answers
58 views
I have four wires when I cut ear buds away. Which ones are hot and which are going 1red 1blue 1gold and 1yellow [closed]
I cut some earbuds to use on something else and would like to know which are grounds and which are hot 1is blue 1 is red 1 is yellowish and 1 is goldish
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1answer
43 views
How does the power station compensates for the current that flows down to earth due to domestic body-current faults?
I know current flows in a loop and energy is used to move it in a loop. Now suppose we get a single phase AC (220/120V) electricity supply for our home and we have earth connection to prevent shocks ...
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1answer
44 views
Simulate Automotive Speedometer Sender
I am working on a project and I have run into a little bit of a problem. I have a speedometer gauge that I am trying to send a signal to on a bench (out of car).
The way in wich the it works is ...
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0answers
54 views
Connecting to an electrically isolated system with a manufacturing test jig
I am in the middle of developing a manufacturing test jig for a product that is powered using PoE (power over ethernet). Part of the specification for PoE is that devices that use it be electrically ...
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1answer
63 views
Gounding for EMI and signal integrity - LED Matrix multiboard design
I would like to implement a LED Matrix circuit like this one, where the LED matrix enclosed within the blue dots will be on a seperate PCB than the rest of the circuit.
Since this will be a ...
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3answers
452 views
RS 485 ground signal and chassis
I have a shielded twisted pair running from one device polling several devices in an RS 485 loop. The conditions:
The devices are in parallel as they should be.
The termination resistors are in ...
3
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2answers
429 views
long current return path in star topology of grounding?
I'm designing a system with a MCU board and multiple peripheral boards. I chose a star topology for grounding, in other words, the GND pins in each board is connected to the power source.
However, ...
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1answer
39 views
GND pour for an AVR
AVR has two or multiple GND pins, and the GND pins are useful to provide ground references to other components. I have questions about the GND pour for such MCU with multiple GND pins.
Is it ideal ...
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1answer
42 views
ground loop on an adaptor board
I want to make a PCB on which PowerBOost 1000 Basic will be installed. The PowerBoost is a breakout board for a voltage regulator and has four GND pins. In this case is it better to connector the four ...
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2answers
53 views
does the 24 Vdc supplied circuits with metal chassis needs to be grounded to earth?
I used put some electronic circuits together in a plastic box, with a DC power jack attached to the box for a 24V dc supply to my circuit. Everything works fine. However i now plan to put all the ...
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1answer
43 views
Grounding house battery to vehicle chassis
For a solar power installation in a van/RV, should the negative terminal of the house battery —the battery that is charged by the solar panel and used to power devices and appliances whether or not ...
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3answers
120 views
Electrically Grounding a Large Heatsink to PCB Layer Ground
I have a 100x100mm board that is directly attached to a same sized heatsink on one side (touching heat producing IC packages). The board is 4 layer, with a large ground middle layer. Is there any ...
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2answers
118 views
Are “bootleg grounds” really more dangerous than other single-point wiring failures?
Continuing my attempt to understand the use of grounds in modern electrical service: There are numerous posts illustrating why a "bootleg ground" (ground connected to neutral outside of an AC service ...
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2answers
90 views
Separate grounding for analog and digital portions of circuitry
A datasheet suggests separate grounding for analog and digital portions of circuitry (http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/am26c32.pdf#page=12).
Is this to say that the IC's outputs should have a ...
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1answer
64 views
Eleminating radiation from chargers
When I move my EMF radiation meter near a charger it shows me that there is radiation from the charger, and even the device itself radiates when the charger is connected to it.
The chargers emit ...
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1answer
71 views
What determines whether a household device needs a grounded plug?
Why do some UL-listed household electronic devices have grounded plugs, even if they have no exposed metal on their case?
E.g., I have a plastic-encased laptop AC/DC power supply that requires a ...
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3answers
75 views
How to use a relay to “lift” 12v ground of a two 12v battery system
First off, sorry about the long title as I don't know a better brief of my situation.
Project:
I am converting a bus into a trailer to be pulled by a semi truck 5th wheel style.
The bus has it's ...
3
votes
1answer
479 views
Why is neutral wire connected to ground at the transformer?
I understand the use of ground wire at the home appliances but why is the neutral wire connected to ground at the transformer? Why doesn't the neutral wire go back to the power generation plants.
I ...
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1answer
72 views
Do I need to care about mounting hole contact oxidation?
I am designing a pcb which I have some mounting hole with the function to connect the mounted screw to the PCB ground.
I found good resources about this subject in the blog, like this one and this ...
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1answer
112 views
Oscilloscope had weird interaction with Laptop
Can someone explain to me why the below situation happened? Thanks.
I tried 'debugging' a circuit. The circuit was a H bridge, and I wa using it to sent current through human body to induce feelings. ...
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0answers
39 views
Grounding Transformer
I am designing a device with a transformer in its power supply (Hammond 270X). To follow safe design procedures, I am connecting the chassis of the device to earth ground. Is it significant whether or ...
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2answers
63 views
Ground Plane Net Tie - Question about current design
I am doing net-tie method to separate two different Ground Planes (for noise mitigation purpose), one ground plane is for RF circuitry and MCU, the other ground plane is for power and motor switching. ...
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1answer
58 views
Tuning Fork Crystal grounding
This post is very helpful, but I'm still a little unsure about my crystal layout. This is a 4-layer board with top_signal->ground->+5V->bottom_signal stackup. The crystal is a 32.767KHz tuning fork ...
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1answer
132 views
SD card connector chassis grounding
I have been designing a PCB which includes an SD card connector. As I'm not a PCB designer expert, I was looking for a reference design when I came across with the circuit bellow, extracted from Texas ...
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2answers
142 views
VGA cable arcing against computer case
I've tried to turn on my old PC with my old LCD monitor, which is powered by a kettle cable directly from mains, no power supply brick).
When trying to get it to work, I have noticed the following ...
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5answers
166 views
Grounding conductor meant to protect electrical devices?
I had a home inspection performed on an old house recently. The inspector noticed that some of the outlets had an unconnected third prong. He told me that the absence of a grounding conductor on the ...
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3answers
273 views
Should cable shields be connected to earth ground, or to power supply negative?
I'm working on a PLC cabinet, and I'm wondering whether I should hook cable shields to earth ground, or to the power supply negative.
I checked and the power supply DC output is isolated. There's no ...
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1answer
58 views
Earthing circuit ground [closed]
what is the benefit of connecting DC ground terminal to the Earth in AC to DC converter?
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0answers
92 views
Connecting Protective Earth (PE) to DC ground
This question has a bit of application background so please bear with me:
I'm working on a LED lighting system. The controller (MCU, led drivers and led supply) will be powered by a single DC ...
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2answers
56 views
480v delta/400v wye with Neutral ungrounded
I have a European machine using a 480/400 volt three phase transformer. The neutral conductor is used to power some devices at 230 volt. The manuf. insists that the neutral must not be solidly ...
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1answer
67 views
How to measure signal from common-source N-MOSFET with ground-referenced oscilloscope?
Update: It was the LED on the load that dropped the voltage.
I have problem measuring the voltage of signal from common-source N-MOSFET switch. Everything including o-scope is grounded and there is ...
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1answer
62 views
SMPS output grounding (PE)
I am designing an ultralow noise 5V/3A SMPS.
On the DC side, I see the ground (DC) is earthed (chassis ground) using a direct connection 0 ohm or using a Y capacitor. What are the differences between ...
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2answers
146 views
Were do ground pins on isolation transformer go [closed]
The outputs from transformer have a ground.
Is output ground earth ground?
Isn't the whole point for those transformers not to provide earth ground potential?
Example:
