MC,
I was looking at your system thread and read this:
Stewart Marcantoni taught me it all begins at the wall. The System begins with 4 ga wire at the panel. This 4 ga brings 240v power to a step-down transformer located just beneath the system. Now at 120v, it is only about 5 ft from the Medusa power center. The step-down transformer and Medusa are both grounded to the same ground rod the same 5 feet from the system. Power wire is all cryogenically treated.
@
millercarbon ,
I have some questions if you don’t mind.
What size, (breaker handle rating), is the 2 pole breaker, at the main electrical panel, that feeds the primary winding of the isolation power transformer?
What size, VA rating, is the isolation power transformer?
Does the secondary have overcurrent protection? Are connected circuit(s) wiring protected?
Is the secondary, one winding, or two windings? In other words can the secondary be wired for 240/120V out or 120V out only?
Is the ground rod used to earth ground the new separately derived power system? Is one of the 120V secondary winding leads intentionally grounded making it the neutral, The Grounded Conductor?
Is the neutral conductor bonded to the transformer metal case/metal enclosure/ transformer Iron core? Are circuit EGC(s) (Equipment Grounding Conductor)(s) connected to this star equipment grounding point?
Is the ground rod bonded to the main electrical service "System Ground"/"Grounding Electrode System" with a minimum #6awg copper wire?
OR,
Are you floating the 120V secondary? (No reference to ground from either lead/leg of the 120V secondary of the xfmr? An Ungrounded Power System....
The ground rod is only connected to the 120V EGC(s) connected loads.
Ground rod is not connected to the main electrical service Grounding Electrode System.
FWIW
Fact.
Mother Earth does not possess some magical mystical power that sucks nasties from audio equipment.
Grounding myths from somebody that knows something about grounding.
Henry W Ott
Quote:
Grounding Myths
"Electromagnetic Compatibility Engineering" by Henry Ott
3.1.7 Grounding Myths
More myths exist relating to the field of grounding than any other area of electrical engineering. The more common of these are as follows:
1. The earth is a low-impedance path for ground current. False, the impedance of the earth is orders of magnitude greater than the impedance of a copper conductor.
2. The earth is an equipotential. False, this is clearly not true by the result of (1 above).
3. The impedance of a conductor is determined by its resistance. False, what happened to the concept of inductive reactance?
4. To operate with low noise, a circuit or system must be connected to an earth ground. False, because airplanes, satellites, cars and battery powered laptop computers all operate fine without a ground connection. As a mater of fact, an earth ground is more likely to be the cause of noise problem. More electronic system noise problems are resolved by removing (or isolating) a circuit from earth ground than by connecting it to earth ground.
5. To reduce noise, an electronic system should be connected to a separate “quiet ground” by using a separate, isolated ground rod. False, in addition to being untrue, this approach is dangerous and violates the requirements of the NEC (electrical code/rules).
6. An earth ground is unidirectional, with current only flowing into the ground. False, because current must flow in loops, any current that flows into the ground must also flow out of the ground somewhere else.
7. An isolated AC power receptacle is not grounded. False, the term “isolated” refers only to the method by which a receptacle is grounded, not if it is grounded.
8. A system designer can name ground conductors by the type of the current that they should carry (i.e., signal, power, lightning, digital, analog, quiet, noisy, etc.), and the electrons will comply and only flow in the appropriately designated conductors. Obviously false."
Henry W. Ott
Who is Henry W Ott?
http://www.hottconsultants.com/bio.html .
