Sound Reinforcement - Forums for Live Sound Professionals - Your Displayed Name Must Be Your Real Full Name To Post In The Live Sound Forums > AC Power and Grounding
Dangerous AC situation in reception hall - PLEASE READ
Samuel Rees:
Glad no one was hurt. What would be the perfect storm for that to happen, someone being hurt by this I mean?Touching a rack rail while grounded?
Jordan Wolf:
--- Quote from: Tim Perry on May 03, 2012, 01:25:07 AM ---A $3 tester from most any hardware store may save your life... if you use it every time. The one outlet you fail to check may get you.
--- End quote ---
Tim,
One thing that those testers DON'T show you is whether or not the ground and neutral are swapped. A multimeter or, better yet. visual inspection will yield an answer, though.
Ivan Beaver:
--- Quote from: Jordan Wolf on May 03, 2012, 12:36:40 AM ---John,
It sounds like there was a hot/ground swap in one of the outlets you used.
--- End quote ---
I have seen that happen in a couple of cases. Mostly in Churches-where htey have used "free" help. Everything may worki fine for years-AS LONG AS nothing common is tieing the outlets together-like a sound system.
My old house actally had 1 whole floor with the hot/neutral swapped. I lived there for 10yrs and never realized it. And my shop was on that floor. It wasn't until I went to sell the house and the buyer home inspecter pointed out the problem.
I took a cheap tester with me to all the new houses I was looking at.
Bob Leonard:
--- Quote from: Jordan Wolf on May 03, 2012, 01:43:18 AM ---Tim,
One thing that those testers DON'T show you is whether or not the ground and neutral are swapped. A multimeter or, better yet. visual inspection will yield an answer, though.
--- End quote ---
In a 120v single phase circuit 20 amp circuit the ground and the neutral should tie back to the same point. Ground.
Tim Perry:
--- Quote from: Jordan Wolf on May 03, 2012, 01:43:18 AM ---Tim,
One thing that those testers DON'T show you is whether or not the ground and neutral are swapped. A multimeter or, better yet. visual inspection will yield an answer, though.
--- End quote ---
A lot of places I go would get upset if i disassembled their outlets for visual inspection and even just checking that the colors were right wouldn't guarantee a misswire elsewhere in the circuit.
The cheep checker is easy to use by anyone. Just remember: 'If you see red, you could be dead'
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version