Unconnected Drain Wires ?

What is a drain wire?

The ground wire. You have three wires, hot, neutral and ground. Some refer to the ground wire as the drain wire.

Why do they disconnect drain wires on some cables, but not on others?

By eliminating the ground wire, you can eliminate the chance of a ground loop hum. Search the archives for more information on ground loop hums.

Does an unconnected drain wire present a hazzard?

There is a possibility that it could be potentially dangerous. Most feel that using one ungrounded cord in a system, say on a source that is experiencing a ground loop hum, is acceptable, as long as the preamp cord is grounded. The theory being that a electrical malfuncuntion could travel through the interconnect and find the ground through the preamp power cord. A system with all ungrounded power cords is DEFINITELY dangerous, and should be avoided at all cost.

Cheers,
John

I'm using power cable (CryoMax III) that hasshielded hot/neutral/ground wires AND a separate unshielded drain wire. This may be what the OP is talking about. Various discussions on AA's Cable Asylum recommend attaching such drain wires at the source end, the other end, both, or neither. It would be nice to resolve this issue, if there is a resolution. Dave

Dopogue, I agree with you... It means the shield of the cable is floating, not the safety equipment grounding conductor.

Shunyata's Diamondback shielded power cable and Venom shielded power cable both have their drain wires lifted at both ends of the cable.

Because Shunyata power cables are UL/CSA Listed cables Shunyata is required by UL to have a label on the cables that tells the consumer the drain wire is not connected to either end of the cable. Again it has nothing to do with the safety equipment grounding conductor of the cable.

By the way a shield on a power cable does not have to be grounded to reject RFI/EMI.