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453 trouble


 

Hello Folks,

Ive trouble on my 453, I discover that AC voltage is running on chassis +/- 75V .........
I opened the main plug and the ground pin was unconnected.
Does anyone experienced the same trouble ? is it normal when ungrounded or
internal PSU show a defective componement ? Thank for your help.
Regards
Alain


Craig Sawyers
 

That would be typical if the chassis is ungrounded. Capacitance between the primary and shield (which
is connected to the chassis) in the mains transformer will cause this. First thing to do is connect
the ground in the mains plug - the previous user did a dangerous thing by disconnecting the ground.

There may be other problems to solve, of course - but make the scope safe first.

Craig

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of f4gny@...
Sent: 15 August 2018 06:02
To: [email protected]
Subject: [TekScopes] 453 trouble

Hello Folks,

Ive trouble on my 453, I discover that AC voltage is running on chassis +/- 75V .........
I opened the main plug and the ground pin was unconnected.
Does anyone experienced the same trouble ? is it normal when ungrounded or internal PSU show a
defective componement ? Thank for your help.
Regards
Alain


 

Hello Graig,


Just done, yes its strange ??

Does something can explain such this action ?

Thank

Regards

Alain

Le 15.08.2018 ¨¤ 10:52, Craig Sawyers a ¨¦crit?:
That would be typical if the chassis is ungrounded. Capacitance between the primary and shield (which
is connected to the chassis) in the mains transformer will cause this. First thing to do is connect
the ground in the mains plug - the previous user did a dangerous thing by disconnecting the ground.

There may be other problems to solve, of course - but make the scope safe first.

Craig

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of f4gny@...
Sent: 15 August 2018 06:02
To: [email protected]
Subject: [TekScopes] 453 trouble

Hello Folks,

Ive trouble on my 453, I discover that AC voltage is running on chassis +/- 75V .........
I opened the main plug and the ground pin was unconnected.
Does anyone experienced the same trouble ? is it normal when ungrounded or internal PSU show a
defective componement ? Thank for your help.
Regards
Alain





 

On Wed, Aug 15, 2018 at 03:04 AM, F4GNY wrote:


Hello Graig,


Just done, yes its strange ??

Does something can explain such this action ?

Thank

Regards

Alain




Le 15.08.2018 ¨¤ 10:52, Craig Sawyers a ¨¦crit?:
That would be typical if the chassis is ungrounded. Capacitance between the
primary and shield (which
is connected to the chassis) in the mains transformer will cause this. First
thing to do is connect
the ground in the mains plug - the previous user did a dangerous thing by
disconnecting the ground.

There may be other problems to solve, of course - but make the scope safe
first.

Craig

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
f4gny@...
Sent: 15 August 2018 06:02
To: [email protected]
Subject: [TekScopes] 453 trouble

Hello Folks,

Ive trouble on my 453, I discover that AC voltage is running on chassis +/-
75V .........
I opened the main plug and the ground pin was unconnected.
Does anyone experienced the same trouble ? is it normal when ungrounded or
internal PSU show a
defective componement ? Thank for your help.
Regards
Alain




Must be coincidence, but this is the third 453 (including mine) I have read about here lately that the previous owner had floated.


Craig Sawyers
 

Just done, yes its strange ?

Does something can explain such this action ?

Thank

Regards

Alain
To get rid of interference loops. If two or more grounded instruments are connected together via a
signal cable, the resulting loop picks up mains frequency interference (or double frequency - 100Hz or
120Hz depending on where the use lives). This is something that plagues audio - a so-called hum loop.

The way to get around it is to minimise the loop area - plug the two pieces of equipment into the same
power strip right next to each other, and cable tie the mains cables together. Minimum loop area gives
minimum hum.

The brutal and unsafe way is to disconnect the ground of everything except one instrument. Which is
surprisingly common. Alas.

Craig


 

One time I picked up a pallet of 465s from an industrial repair service.
All of them had the ground pin cut off.

Paul

On Wed, Aug 15, 2018 at 01:24:13PM +0100, Craig Sawyers wrote:
The way to get around it is to minimise the loop area - plug the two pieces of equipment into the same
power strip right next to each other, and cable tie the mains cables together. Minimum loop area gives
minimum hum.

The brutal and unsafe way is to disconnect the ground of everything except one instrument. Which is
surprisingly common. Alas.

Craig
--
Paul Amaranth, GCIH | Rochester MI, USA
Aurora Group, Inc. | Security, Systems & Software
paul@... | Unix & Windows


Phillip Potter
 

Hi all,

I acquired a 453 in the spring, which had the ground lug sawed off!? This must surely be a "thing"... I replaced the cord.

Phil

On 8/14/2018 10:01 PM, f4gny@... wrote:
Hello Folks,

Ive trouble on my 453, I discover that AC voltage is running on chassis +/- 75V .........
I opened the main plug and the ground pin was unconnected.


 

A hot chassis can also be caused by RF filter capacitors connected from each side of the line to the chassis. I would be much more suspicious of these if they exist in the 453 than of the electrostatic shield in the power transformer. If there are such caps in the 453 lift them to see if the voltage on the chassis disappears. You might want to replace them. There are special capacitors for this service which fail open so they don't connect the line directly to the chassis.
The voltage on the chassis will depend on the amount of capacitance and the impedance of the measuring device.
You can always generate a long argument by discussing the differences between lightening protection grounds, power line safety grounds and grounds to eliminate common impedances in AF and RF circuits.

On 8/15/2018 1:52 AM, Craig Sawyers wrote:
That would be typical if the chassis is ungrounded. Capacitance between the primary and shield (which
is connected to the chassis) in the mains transformer will cause this. First thing to do is connect
the ground in the mains plug - the previous user did a dangerous thing by disconnecting the ground.
There may be other problems to solve, of course - but make the scope safe first.
Craig
--
Richard Knoppow
dickburk@...
WB6KBL


 

As pointed out by others, there are times and places when (at least you think) you need to make a floating measurement (independent of the local ground.)

I¡¯ve done this with mapping sonars that are powered and telemeter commands and data over a 10km coax. The instrument ground and the ¡°topside¡± ground are different. Bench testing has to be done carefully. When we connect between to two (on the bench) e.g. to trigger the scope, we transformer isolate the trigger signal¡­..

The can be VERY dangerous - as someone said ¡°you can get seriously killed¡± or perhaps even worse, you can kill someone else.

That said, it can be done safely with care and attention to detail and staying focused (among other things.) A safety observer is an excellent idea - they don¡¯t get wrapped up in the technical problem.

A battery powered scope is a good approach but most of us don¡¯t have them and (often, sometimes, ?) their measurement capabilities aren¡¯t satisfactory.

Clipping the ground inside the instrument (scope or any other) is an excellent way to set someone else up for injury or death in the future.
Just say NO.

A better way is to use (in the US) a ¡°two prong to three prong¡± adapter or a ¡°cheater plug¡± e.g. and external to the instrument device.



You have to set it up, and it¡¯s quite visible - no surprises. Make the measurement(s) and take it out.

-Dale

On Aug 15, 2018, at 04:52 , Craig Sawyers <c.sawyers@...> wrote:

That would be typical if the chassis is ungrounded. Capacitance between the primary and shield (which
is connected to the chassis) in the mains transformer will cause this. First thing to do is connect
the ground in the mains plug - the previous user did a dangerous thing by disconnecting the ground.

There may be other problems to solve, of course - but make the scope safe first.

Craig

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of f4gny@...
Sent: 15 August 2018 06:02
To: [email protected]
Subject: [TekScopes] 453 trouble

Hello Folks,

Ive trouble on my 453, I discover that AC voltage is running on chassis +/- 75V .........
I opened the main plug and the ground pin was unconnected.
Does anyone experienced the same trouble ? is it normal when ungrounded or internal PSU show a
defective componement ? Thank for your help.
Regards
Alain





Craig Sawyers
 

A hot chassis can also be caused by RF filter capacitors connected from each side of the line
to the
chassis. I would be much more suspicious of these if they exist in the 453 than of the
electrostatic
shield in the power transformer.
There are no such capacitors in the 453. Hence my comment regarding the primary capacitive coupling
to the shield.

I - er - looked at the schematic before I commented :-)

Craig


 

Hello Folks,


Thanks for all thoses interestings comments.

As Ive reconnected the ground, and turned power ON : no differential
main shut down occur, even when my finger

played with chassis parts. I also mesured voltage between ground and
chassis : close to zero -- few mV-..

The idea to use the same wall socket to avoid ground loop is fine.

Question : sometime when troubleshooting radios, I use a ground lead
between scope and radio to avoid using probe's aligator clip.

What do you think about ? can I introduce false mesurements ?

Regards

Alain

Le 15.08.2018 ¨¤ 20:40, Richard Knoppow a ¨¦crit?:
??? A hot chassis can also be caused by RF filter capacitors connected
from each side of the line to the chassis. I would be much more
suspicious of these if they exist in the 453 than of the electrostatic
shield in the power transformer. If there are such caps in the 453
lift them to see if the voltage on the chassis disappears. You might
want to replace them. There are special capacitors for this service
which fail open so they don't connect the line directly to the chassis.
??? The voltage on the chassis will depend on the amount of
capacitance and the impedance of the measuring device.
??? You can always generate a long argument by discussing the
differences between lightening protection grounds, power line safety
grounds and grounds to eliminate common impedances in AF and RF circuits.

On 8/15/2018 1:52 AM, Craig Sawyers wrote:
That would be typical if the chassis is ungrounded. Capacitance
between the primary and shield (which
is connected to the chassis) in the mains transformer will cause
this. First thing to do is connect
the ground in the mains plug - the previous user did a dangerous
thing by disconnecting the ground.

There may be other problems to solve, of course - but make the scope
safe first.

Craig


stefan_trethan
 

Yes, for best frequency response the ground lead should be short and
the area between it and the probe minimal.
You may see ringing and other strange stuff with your separate ground lead.

Probably OK for a rough check of supply voltages or slow signals, but
definitely no use for ripple and noise measurements (in those cases
sometimes even the supplied alligator leads are just too long).

You need to think about what you are measuring and adapt accordingly.
Using the absolute best setup all the time is also completely impractical.

ST

On Thu, Aug 16, 2018 at 6:05 AM, F4GNY <f4gny@...> wrote:

Question : sometime when troubleshooting radios, I use a ground lead
between scope and radio to avoid using probe's aligator clip.

What do you think about ? can I introduce false mesurements ?

Regards

Alain


 

On Thu, 16 Aug 2018 06:05:57 +0200, you wrote:

Hello Folks,


Thanks for all thoses interestings comments.

As Ive reconnected the ground, and turned power ON : no differential
main shut down occur, even when my finger

played with chassis parts. I also mesured voltage between ground and
chassis : close to zero -- few mV-..

The idea to use the same wall socket to avoid ground loop is fine.

Question : sometime when troubleshooting radios, I use a ground lead
between scope and radio to avoid using probe's aligator clip.

What do you think about ? can I introduce false mesurements ?
Yes and no. The ground lead for the probe, when properly attached,
minimizes ringing on the signal. The long lead from chassis to
chassis will not. For low frequency signals (especially sine waves),
you're not likely to see much of a difference. Go play digital, and
you will. The length of the probe's ground lead and where it is
placed also have an effect, especially if you've got a different
ground potential (by millivolts) across a PC board or a chassis.

Harvey




Regards

Alain




Le 15.08.2018 ¨¤ 20:40, Richard Knoppow a ¨¦crit?:
??? A hot chassis can also be caused by RF filter capacitors connected
from each side of the line to the chassis. I would be much more
suspicious of these if they exist in the 453 than of the electrostatic
shield in the power transformer. If there are such caps in the 453
lift them to see if the voltage on the chassis disappears. You might
want to replace them. There are special capacitors for this service
which fail open so they don't connect the line directly to the chassis.
??? The voltage on the chassis will depend on the amount of
capacitance and the impedance of the measuring device.
??? You can always generate a long argument by discussing the
differences between lightening protection grounds, power line safety
grounds and grounds to eliminate common impedances in AF and RF circuits.

On 8/15/2018 1:52 AM, Craig Sawyers wrote:
That would be typical if the chassis is ungrounded. Capacitance
between the primary and shield (which
is connected to the chassis) in the mains transformer will cause
this. First thing to do is connect
the ground in the mains plug - the previous user did a dangerous
thing by disconnecting the ground.

There may be other problems to solve, of course - but make the scope
safe first.

Craig



 

Hello Guys,


Many thanks for technicals comments, thats great !

I must keep your advice in a corner of my brain when I work

on any stuff with digital signal.

Regards

Alain

Le 16.08.2018 ¨¤ 15:35, Harvey White a ¨¦crit?:
On Thu, 16 Aug 2018 06:05:57 +0200, you wrote:

Hello Folks,


Thanks for all thoses interestings comments.

As Ive reconnected the ground, and turned power ON : no differential
main shut down occur, even when my finger

played with chassis parts. I also mesured voltage between ground and
chassis : close to zero -- few mV-..

The idea to use the same wall socket to avoid ground loop is fine.

Question : sometime when troubleshooting radios, I use a ground lead
between scope and radio to avoid using probe's aligator clip.

What do you think about ? can I introduce false mesurements ?
Yes and no. The ground lead for the probe, when properly attached,
minimizes ringing on the signal. The long lead from chassis to
chassis will not. For low frequency signals (especially sine waves),
you're not likely to see much of a difference. Go play digital, and
you will. The length of the probe's ground lead and where it is
placed also have an effect, especially if you've got a different
ground potential (by millivolts) across a PC board or a chassis.

Harvey



Regards

Alain




Le 15.08.2018 ¨¤ 20:40, Richard Knoppow a ¨¦crit?:
??? A hot chassis can also be caused by RF filter capacitors connected
from each side of the line to the chassis. I would be much more
suspicious of these if they exist in the 453 than of the electrostatic
shield in the power transformer. If there are such caps in the 453
lift them to see if the voltage on the chassis disappears. You might
want to replace them. There are special capacitors for this service
which fail open so they don't connect the line directly to the chassis.
??? The voltage on the chassis will depend on the amount of
capacitance and the impedance of the measuring device.
??? You can always generate a long argument by discussing the
differences between lightening protection grounds, power line safety
grounds and grounds to eliminate common impedances in AF and RF circuits.

On 8/15/2018 1:52 AM, Craig Sawyers wrote:
That would be typical if the chassis is ungrounded. Capacitance
between the primary and shield (which
is connected to the chassis) in the mains transformer will cause
this. First thing to do is connect
the ground in the mains plug - the previous user did a dangerous
thing by disconnecting the ground.

There may be other problems to solve, of course - but make the scope
safe first.

Craig