Strapping Power Supply Ground

Thread Starter

SamR

Joined Mar 19, 2019
5,031
Came across this about strapping power supply voltage terminals to ground instead of floating. I've always left them floating but is there any real good reason for strapping them to ground. I sort of see their point.

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Delta Prime

Joined Nov 15, 2019
1,311
Hello "Respectfully" Mr.SamR :)
. From my experience it really depends on your setup or my setup . I have done some potentially dangerous unsafe configurations but I knew what I was doing. obviously you do as well so I'll shut up now.
I got this straight from AAC
Common Grounding Error
A three-terminal DC power supply, such as the one in Figure 8, may be a little confusing to beginners. This power supply has a positive (+), a negative (-), and a GND (ground) terminal. As mentioned previously, the ground terminal (earth ground) is physically tied to the chassis, which in turn is connected to the ground wire within the power cord, which is finally connected to the earth via the three prong outlet.

A fairly common mistake made by beginners is to connect a load between the positive (+) and the GND terminals. This incorrect connection won't allow the current to return to its energy source (the power supply itself), and, therefore, no current will flow. The proper connection is to connect the load between the positive (+) and negative (-) terminals

https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/an-introduction-to-ground/
Off topic: what's the name of your friend on your shoulders
 

Thread Starter

SamR

Joined Mar 19, 2019
5,031
That's my buddy Pippin. Never had a cat do that before. He'll jump up and stay awhile purring in my ear. Which is strange because he certainly is NOT a lap cat.

Yeah, I've never used it and was surprised this recommended "strapping" to GND. Unless someone has a compelling reason, I will continue not using it. It does mention a somewhat unusual circumstance for which it may be useful.
 

AlbertHall

Joined Jun 4, 2014
12,345
It would protect you from a primary to secondary leak in the power supply but that's probably rare unless you get a dodgy Chinese supply.
 

Thread Starter

SamR

Joined Mar 19, 2019
5,031
It's really strange some of the things I find in books such as this. One book recommended starting every DC circuit with a protection diode and every circuit shown had one.
 
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