GEC for Verizon Device

Status
Not open for further replies.
R

RAKocher

Senior Member
Location
SE Pennsylvania
Why did Verizon request a #4 GEC that they connected to the metal enclosure of a small device that plugs into a grounded receptacle and is feed by 2 strands of fiber?
 
:roll::happysad:Cuz grounding will fix anything and bigger is better don'cha know:cry::rant:
 
GEC... connected to the metal enclosure of a small device that plugs into a grounded receptacle
Click to expand...

Actually I have had big problems with that practice and no longer provide a ground unless it's derived from the ground prong of the receptacle the equipment is powered from. I used to bond to building steel, cold water line, etc. until one time the equipment was destroyed because the line cord ground and the ground screw on the housing was connected together inside the equipment. There was a voltage differential of 50 volts between the receptacle ground prong and (in this case) the building steel that I bonded the ground wire to. The connection between the line cord ground and case within the equipment was actually via a circuit board trace. The trace was vaporized destroying other components on the board in the process. The line cord was actually warm which tipped me off to what was going on.

So I don't care what any manufacturer says, it gets grounded to the receptacle ground if it has a line cord or no ground at all. Let the line cord handle it.

-Hal
 
hbiss said:
Actually I have had big problems with that practice and no longer provide a ground unless it's derived from the ground prong of the receptacle the equipment is powered from. I used to bond to building steel, cold water line, etc. until one time the equipment was destroyed because the line cord ground and the ground screw on the housing was connected together inside the equipment. There was a voltage differential of 50 volts between the receptacle ground prong and (in this case) the building steel that I bonded the ground wire to. The connection between the line cord ground and case within the equipment was actually via a circuit board trace. The trace was vaporized destroying other components on the board in the process. The line cord was actually warm which tipped me off to what was going on.

So I don't care what any manufacturer says, it gets grounded to the receptacle ground if it has a line cord or no ground at all. Let the line cord handle it.

-Hal
Click to expand...

Because I did a search of the Forum for "Verizon grounds" before I posted, I did read this already and out of curiosity I did measure the resistance between the GEC that I provided and the ground at the receptacle that the device is plugged into (I did pull the plug 1st) and got 0.3 ohms. Then I touched the meter's probes together and still got 0.3 ohms. After I scraped the the probes together, it dropped to 0.1 ohm.
 
RAKocher said:
Because I did a search of the Forum for "Verizon grounds" before I posted, I did read this already and out of curiosity I did measure the resistance between the GEC that I provided and the ground at the receptacle that the device is plugged into (I did pull the plug 1st) and got 0.3 ohms. Then I touched the meter's probes together and still got 0.3 ohms. After I scraped the the probes together, it dropped to 0.1 ohm.
Click to expand...

You don't say what the GEC is connected to but I would consider 0.1-0.3 ohms totally acceptable and as you found outside the capability of your meter to measure low resistance.

In the situation I mentioned, it wasn't resistance but 50 volts at a considerable amount of current between the building steel and the receptacle grounding conductor making it impossible to measure the resistance and a moot point anyway. The procedure when measuring resistance should always be to first check for voltage because if there is voltage present, at the least you will get an erroneous resistance reading and at the worst you will damage your meter. So unless you are measuring the resistance of an item sitting in front of you with no chance that there could be any voltage present, check for voltage (both AC and DC) first!

-Hal
 
hbiss said:
You don't say what the GEC is connected to but I would consider 0.1-0.3 ohms totally acceptable and as you found outside the capability of your meter to measure low resistance.

In the situation I mentioned, it wasn't resistance but 50 volts at a considerable amount of current between the building steel and the receptacle grounding conductor making it impossible to measure the resistance and a moot point anyway. The procedure when measuring resistance should always be to first check for voltage because if there is voltage present, at the least you will get an erroneous resistance reading and at the worst you will damage your meter. So unless you are measuring the resistance of an item sitting in front of you with no chance that there could be any voltage present, check for voltage (both AC and DC) first!

-Hal
Click to expand...

I connected the GEC to a lug that's bolted to a bar-joist that's about 15' directly above the equipment board.
When I get back there someday I'll measure for voltage. I say 'when' because I noticed they plugged into a regular receptacle instead of one of the emergency receptacles that I installed on the other side of the room a few months ago for computer equipment that I'm sure this fiber will be involved with.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top