Please read carefully as my questions are a bit specific.
I have a Parallax USB oscilloscope that draws power from the USB port only. The probe grounds (black IC grabbers) have a connection to the outside of the USB plug (all the way up to the host side). For the rest of this post I refer to the outside of USB plug as the shield connection, please let me know if this is wrong.
My laptop power supply only has _two_ nonpolarized prongs on the AC side.
I have a AC to DC converter I'd like to use as a power supply for electronics projects. It has a _three_ prong plug on the AC side and two wires on the DC side. Using an ohmmeter I see that there is a low resistance connection between DC return and safety ground. Therefore the DC output is not floating.
So if I use this AC to DC converter to power my project and use the USB oscilloscope, the result would be a connection from safety ground through DC return into probe ground through the oscilloscope through the USB shield into my laptop (then to what? laptop chassis ground? laptop common?). Is this a bad thing? I'm worried about destroying my laptop somehow!
Which is better for electronics projects, a floating or grounded supply?
I understand why appliances have safety grounds, but in this particular case would it be a horrible idea to disconnect the grounding prong from the above mentioned AC to DC adapter so that I may get a floating DC output. Would this ruin the adapter's EMC?
Thanks for reading. Any enlightenment anyone could give me would be very appreciated.
I have a Parallax USB oscilloscope that draws power from the USB port only. The probe grounds (black IC grabbers) have a connection to the outside of the USB plug (all the way up to the host side). For the rest of this post I refer to the outside of USB plug as the shield connection, please let me know if this is wrong.
My laptop power supply only has _two_ nonpolarized prongs on the AC side.
I have a AC to DC converter I'd like to use as a power supply for electronics projects. It has a _three_ prong plug on the AC side and two wires on the DC side. Using an ohmmeter I see that there is a low resistance connection between DC return and safety ground. Therefore the DC output is not floating.
So if I use this AC to DC converter to power my project and use the USB oscilloscope, the result would be a connection from safety ground through DC return into probe ground through the oscilloscope through the USB shield into my laptop (then to what? laptop chassis ground? laptop common?). Is this a bad thing? I'm worried about destroying my laptop somehow!
Which is better for electronics projects, a floating or grounded supply?
I understand why appliances have safety grounds, but in this particular case would it be a horrible idea to disconnect the grounding prong from the above mentioned AC to DC adapter so that I may get a floating DC output. Would this ruin the adapter's EMC?
Thanks for reading. Any enlightenment anyone could give me would be very appreciated.