Grounding wrist strap

Thread Starter

David_Baratheon

Joined Feb 10, 2012
285
If you connect a grounding wrist strap to an earth bonding point in a normal 230V UK plug socket, does the plug socket need to be switched on?

I wasn't sure whether the on-off switch disconnects the ground pin as well as the live and neutral.
 

kubeek

Joined Sep 20, 2005
5,794
No, protection earth must never be switched, so hopefully everywhere in the world it is directly connected to the breaker panel wihtout any devices in between.
 

Hypatia's Protege

Joined Mar 1, 2015
3,228
If you connect a grounding wrist strap to an earth bonding point in a normal 230V UK plug socket, does the plug socket need to be switched on?
Succinctly No --- However I would not connect to a receptacle for such purposes! -- Owing to ground conductor inductance, high frequency 'spikes' shunted to the same ground conductor (as by surge protectors) are not significantly attenuated --- Moreover, it is folly to bet your life on a wiring job and a resistor...

Best regards
HP
 
Last edited:

alfacliff

Joined Dec 13, 2013
2,458
thats what the resistor is for, to limit current of something goes wrong. it will still provide a static ground, but if you accidently get against a hot wire, it will limit current to a safe value.
 

Thread Starter

David_Baratheon

Joined Feb 10, 2012
285
Connecting via the mains plug socket is pretty much the only way to ground yourself unless you work in an environment with a special designated grounding set-up. People working at home such as hobbyists and also low scale work prototyping labs will use a UK mains earth bonding point. Its pretty much standard usage in the UK. Available on Farnell etc.

So in conclusion, the ground pin is not disconnected when the plug is switched to the off position, and so it will work fine with the plug being switched on? Presumably being switched on shouldn't hurt though since the live and neutral pins on an EBP are made of plastic anyway. But since there is no advantage or disadvantage to doing so, might aswell keep it switched off, just in case?
 
Top