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RE: Using balanced power on equipment expecting unbalanced can be bad news.

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In Reply to: RE: Using balanced power on equipment expecting unbalanced can be bad news. posted by Pooge on September 24, 2007 at 05:53:57

Howdy

Nope, the assumption is that for normal installations the safety ground level relative to the neutral is small. Besides what you mention this assumption can be taken advantage of in many ways. In fact I have some equipment that explicitly shuts down when the ground is too different than the neutral because it assumes some other equipment must have failed. This seems like the best design of all to me.

In the field of standalone appliances the world is much simpler, either a device is double insulated (in which case the safety ground is irrelevant) or the safety ground is there to ground out any currents left from a fault and hence is connected to the case.

But when you get to equipment which isn�t' standalone, e.g. all of our audio stuff that expects to be connected to other audio stuff, exactly how the safety ground is connected or not to the signal ground is very important. To complicate things further there are systems with switches that have options like ground lift, tie safety ground to signal ground directly, tie safety ground to signal ground thru (resistor, flash over tube, etc.)

The bottom line is that you need to contact your manufacturer for each piece of equipment in your system and ask about using balanced power to be safe.

I'll quit here. Some people obviously think balanced power is the best thing since sliced bread, some have had negative experience with it and some of us know enough about our equipment to take safety seriously.

-Ted

Follow Ups:

RE: Using balanced power on equipment expecting unbalanced can be bad news. - kenster 14:48:31 09/24/07 (2)
"I'll quit here. Some people obviously think balanced power is the best thing since sliced bread, some have had negative experience with it and some of us know enough about our equipment to take safety seriously"

I don't mean to sound like an ass Ted but just WTF does your statement imply? That some of us don't take electrical safety seriously or that some of us don't agree with your opinions?

Balanced power is no more dangerous than unbalanced power and anyone that thinks otherwise is just plain ignorant..............
- I stand by what I said. - Ted Smith 19:17:35 09/24/07 (1)
  Howdy
  
  I'm sorry if my previous post came across as an insult. I tried to tone it down a little with the smiley :)
  
  My post wasn't aimed directly at you and you left out of your quote my previous sentence "The bottom line is that you need to contact your manufacturer for each piece of equipment in your system and ask about using balanced power to be safe."
  
  I stand by that and anyone who recommends to the contrary (i.e. that you don't need to check with your manufacturers) is indeed ignoring safety. When equipment is designed expecting a ground near the neutral except in error conditions providing anything other kind of power hookup needs to be checked out.
  
  Note: I'm not saying that every device (or even most devices) don't work fine on balanced power. I'm saying that some don't and if you don't know for sure whether yours is designed in a way that's compatible with balanced power, don't use balanced power till you do know.
  
  Here's an example of people taking balanced power too far, but at least he asked before he did something stupid: http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/tweaks/messages/134572.html
  
  -Ted
  
  P.S. Calling me ignorant is not only incorrect it isn't in the spirit of the forum. I know well of which I speak and when we don't agree we need to work on communicating with each other better not throwing around insults. Again I'm sorry if my previous post came across as an insult.
  - As do I.............. - kenster 01:38:54 09/25/07 (0)
    IMO, my retort to your condescending statement that I highlighted was well deserved/warranted although I made it a point to not directly point fingers.
    
    Truth be known, I thought long and hard before even posting my thoughts and experiences with balanced power/AC regeneration due to the very fact of how this thread has degenerated into opposing opinions/misunderstandings and with regards to how it has been debated in past posts.
    
    I agree that if there is a question as to whether a component is compatible with balanced power, it is the responsibility of the consumer to ensure said compatibilty/safety.
    
    I still remain an hard core advocate of balanced power and the benefits it provides over the unlikely incompatibility issues that might arise.
    
    Apology accepted and I extend a hand of apology as well.
    
    Cheers,
    
    ~kenster

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