I have a bench power supply. Is there a use for the ground terminal other than to reference either the positive or negative output to ground?

 

If you mean the green terminal, it connects to the chassis and may be used to connect to your AC power ground for safety. Most people ignore it.

 

Thanks. Usually, by attaching the negative terminal, for example, to this terminal, the output is then positive referenced to earth ground, and vice versa for connecting the positive terminal. Otherwise, it is floating. I am new to this, and I wanted to know if there were other uses. I appreciate the help.

 

One caution! If you power a circuit with mixed signals or a circuit that has both analog and digital grounds I would not reference the power supplies to ground. If you do this simply ties the two grounds together. Not a good idea, analog signals tend to be noisy and tying grounds will just give non-predictable results on the digital side.