Another cheater plug thread

Life is full of things one can be anal about. If the risk associated with using cheater plugs in an otherwise properly grounded system is your thing, so be it. I think I'd rather spend some time worrying about where to go when there is a thunderstorm approaching when I'm outdoors in rattlesnake country. At least I really do spend time in rattlesnake country................:-) People do get hit by lightning and bitten by snakes. Never heard of anyone getting electrocuted by the appropriate use of a cheater plug.

Al (Rodman), what he's saying is that he is using a cheater plug to defeat the connection of the safety ground pin on the preamp's power plug to the safety ground pin of the PS Audio unit's outlet. Therefore the preamp's chassis has no connection to safety ground, other than perhaps (depending on the internal grounding configuration of other components in the system) via the return conductors of interconnect cables going to other components, and from there via the safety ground connections of those other components.

If a fault were to develop in the preamp that shorted the AC line voltage to the preamp's chassis, there are various scenarios in which that could result in both a shock hazard and a fire hazard. How great are those risks? Very, very small. But it cannot be said that they are zero. Grimace, as I said in your thread on the original problem, it's your call.

BTW, a suitably chosen Jensen audio isolation transformer (one of those shown towards the bottom of the page), as suggested in the Jensen paper I linked to in my post of 3-30-12 in the other thread, would most likely make the whole issue moot.

Regards,
-- Al

If you use a cheater plug, or disconnect the ground in the preamp, it will not be considered grounded. There is always a possibility of some kind of failure happening. With a preamp, the power switch alone is a risk. Lose connection somewhere in it too.

With the power switch off and on cycles, the plastic housing to the power switch itself can fail. Also, if the plastic housing fails, it can let the 120 volt energized contact touch the preamp housing. That of course can let the 120 volts energize the whole preamp cabinet. The 120 volt wire feeding the switch could break off, and contact the cabinet, energizing it.

That switch failure alone, happens often in all kinds of electrical products, besides home audio. When it happens nowadays, it usually trips the breaker, due to the ground.

I think grounded outlets became part of the electrical code
in 1951. This was done to save our lives. Yes I know, it can help make headaches with ground loop hum problems.

These cheater plugs are now banned in parts of Canada.

People still die from electrocution as seen here

Wikipedia has an article about them here.

Here is a news article about children swimming getting electrocuted (I had to shut off my ad block to read it). If it had the proper ground, they'd probably still be alive.

So yes, there is a risk.

Yes- There IS a risk(indubitably); IF you happen to be grounded, when in contact with the hot side of a 120V AC circuit(or two hots of 240V single phase/any two hots of 3 phase). You HAVE to be the completion of a circuit, for current to flow. Grab the hot wire of a 120V AC line, and nothing will happen(unless some part of your body is in contact with neutral, or earth ground). The children, in that article, were electrocuted when they touched the energized metal ladder of the boat. Being in the water, grounded them(tragic). Ungrounded NEMA 1-15 sockets have been prohibited in new construction in the United States and Canada since 1962. Grounded cords & polarized plugs have only been common on electronic equipment, since the late 80's.

Yes Rodman. In 1951, the laundry outlet was required to be grounded. Then in 1962, all outlets were required to be grounded as you stated. That shows the grounding requirement must have shown an improvement, towards people dying from electrocution, at a slower rate. This grounding idea turned out to be good.

This link I posted above shows improvement over the years. New construction, remodeling, and electrical upgrades over the years seems to be reflected as the death rate was dropping. And they seem to keep trying to improve the requirements, since it sure seems to be working.

Years back, I've had a couple of years of tech level electronics to know how a person could get electrocuted. I'd like everyone to know how it works, so they could be safer doing anything that involves risk around lethal voltages. But, we know that's not practical for a lot.

All of those people that did lose their life at home while trying to enjoy something powered by electric is sad.

Everyone who did lose their life by electrocution in their home, sure met the criteria for it to happen. You don't need
to be in water.

If someone such as the OP of this thread, or a lot of others reading this, may not know how easy it can happen, is one of the reasons I don't recommend for them to bypass these proven grounding safety features.

One dangerous thing I can see happening if the OP bypassed the ground on his preamp, and something failed causing it be energized to 120 volts, is easily pictured in his system link. A lot of people, including the OP, may lean his one arm on top of the cabinet, against the grounded amp, and change the volume with his other hand touching that energized preamp. Complete circuit, and recipe for potential death.

That would fully meet the criteria for electrocution, similar to what you describe. Simple. Actually so simple, it's scary. And something like this can be easily overlooked. Even more so, by someone that doesn't have any electronic background, or training. So I just can not recommend bypassing the safety ground with a cheater plug.