Do you need special cable in order to ground your equipment?

There’s an old song that goes, “I don’t care how you get here, just get here if you can.” I’m tempted to say the same applies to grounding. Grounding is so important and people will use almost any excuse not to ground their equipment. They will say it’s hard, they will say it’s expensive, and they’ll say it doesn’t make a difference. More often than anything else, they’ll say that they don’t have the right supplies.

Let’s get this out of the way now​


If your excuse is that you can’t find the proper supplies… let me introduce you to the great selection of grounding supplies at Solid Signal. You’ll find everything from ground blocks to straps and rods, to all the ground wire you need. But let’s say you urgently need to ground something, today, and you don’t have anything to ground with. Can you use regular wire?

When it comes down to it…​


Essentially all wire is the same. Using the wrong ground wire is better than using no ground wire at all. Ground wire has some benefits, though, and they’re worth talking about.

Ground wire is clearly labeled.​


One of the most important things is that ground wire is green. Anyone who comes after you is going to know that you tried to ground your system. They’ll see that green wire and they’ll know what it means. When you’re dealing with electricity, knowing what’s in front of you is how you’ll stay safe and healthy.

Ground wire is solid, and pretty thick​


Using proper ground wire means you’re using a pretty fat single strand of copper. That’s one of the reasons that ground wire is so expensive. It’s a big chunk of copper. Most wire designed to carry electricity through your house is stranded, meaning it’s a bunch of thin strands.

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This is stranded wire like you would find in typical electric installations. It’s perfect for relatively low voltages but for high voltage like electricity, it’s not as good as solid copper.

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Coaxial cable like the picture above isn’t any better for grounding. Sure, the center conductor is solid copper but it’s far too thin to be effective for the very high voltages caused by a lightning strike. If you were to rely on this cable for grounding, a bolt of lightning would travel through it, melting it and potentially lighting your house on fire as it causes all your home theater equipment to fry.

Ground wire is (hopefully) part of a properly installed grounding system​


If you’re using ground wire properly, you’ve connected it to the ground post on your ground block or the green grounding screw on your equipment. The other end is connected to a ground strap and to a cold water pipe, a ground rod, or your home electrical box. In this way, high voltages are directed safely to the earth where they can be far, far less harmful. It’s a mistake to think that ground wire will completely prevent damage but it should minimize it to the point where it’s survivable.

Shop for grounding supplies now​


If you haven’t properly grounded your antenna, satellite dish, cellular signal booster or anything else on your roof, now is the time! Get the equipment you need at Solid Signal. If you don’t know what you need, check with your local city planning office or with a licensed electrician. To paraphrase what I said at the beginning of this article, I don’t care how you get grounded, just get grounded if you can.

The post Do you need special cable in order to ground your equipment? appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.

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Wiring carried in EMT, various conduits are commonly THHN stranded. And contains ground that is green in color.
Follow the NEC and local codes and you'll be kosher.
As far as coax grounding goes. There are grounding blocks and surge suppression devices. Heck. Most UPS have coax in/out provisions that clamp surges. A crimp ring or spade terminal on stranded is acceptable.
A cold copper domestic water pipe can only be relied on if it is in fact bonded to a copper or copper clad grounding rod. With the mix of PEX and the like in modern plumbing that may break a solid ground. Never use plumbing as a trusted ground without verifying an adequate bond.
There is 0 assurance that even a close lightning strike and ionization of the surrounding air will be negated by the best ground.
Keep your homeowners insurance current and updated and only buy USP, etc. devices that have claim insurance.
A whole house surge cube at the service panel and good surge suppressors at every outlet is good insurance.
The can also protect adjacent outlets.
Try living in Florida. You'll learn.
 
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Most UPS have coax in/out provisions that clamp surges.
Most UPSes do not have provisions for F-connectors. Some surge strips do but their use as a ground block is typically unacceptable due to distances from the point of entry as well as not being "bondable".
 
Most UPSes do not have provisions for F-connectors. Some surge strips do but their use as a ground block is typically unacceptable due to distances from the point of entry as well as not being "bondable".
Pardon me. Most UPS's WORTH owning. Better?
Surge suppressor....not surge preventer or arrestor.
 
Pardon me. Most UPS's WORTH owning. Better?
Not really. Many of the best UPSes (fast switching, long-running) don't have F-connector features.
Surge suppressor....not surge preventer or arrestor.
Call it what you want, you're much more likely to see F-connector support in a media center-oriented surge device than any UPS.

There are inherent issues with grounding across a UPS (or an inverter) and, as I pointed out, most don't provide a bonding point which is a non-negotiable NEC requirement for grounding.

Looking at the first few pages of UPS's listed on Amazon (with a query of "ups with coax surge suppression") shows that you're more likely to find a DB9 serial port (typically pretty useless these days) than you are F-connectors.
 
Not really. Many of the best UPSes (fast switching, long-running) don't have F-connector features.

Call it what you want, you're much more likely to see F-connector support in a media center-oriented surge device than any UPS.

There are inherent issues with grounding across a UPS (or an inverter) and, as I pointed out, most don't provide a bonding point which is a non-negotiable NEC requirement for grounding.

Looking at the first few pages of UPS's listed on Amazon (with a query of "ups with coax surge suppression") shows that you're more likely to find a DB9 serial port (typically pretty useless these days) than you are F-connectors.
Man. Sometimes it's like you need and extra few sheets of charmin on top after the tank is full again before pushing the handle.
Looking at Amazon ring chow ping from Shenzhen UPS's?
"Ones worth having". A look at the little pictures or one step deeper at the user guide. If you need it and it's not there,
look at others that do. Almost every single one I saw does have F ports.
APC, Cyber Power, Tripp Lite, consumer and business grade units with coax connectors are plentiful. You gotta' look.
Many even have Ethernet ports.
The DB9 port. For your info. Is to interface the unit to a pc for a clean shutdown instead of the battery depleting and the pc acting like you pulled the cord. Some older ones are DB9>DB9, DB9>USB. Newer ones use Ethernet to USB for the management interface. Windows now even comes with a plug and play interface. Chill out.
 
You gotta' look.
Because they are few and far between.
Is to interface the unit to a pc for a clean shutdown instead of the battery depleting and the pc acting like you pulled the cord. Some older ones are DB9>DB9, DB9>USB. Newer ones use Ethernet to USB for the management interface.
Way to conflict with your own statements. Most UPSes moved to USB ten years ago. Ethernet is something I've seen in the last five years or so. DB9 is strictly a legacy feature as RS-232 is no longer well-supported (even KVMs are USB now).

As someone who has a NUT setup, there's very little you can teach me about UPSes.

 
Because they are few and far between.

Way to conflict with your own statements. Most UPSes moved to USB ten years ago. Ethernet is something I've seen in the last five years or so. DB9 is strictly a legacy feature as RS-232 is no longer well-supported (even KVMs are USB now).

As someone who has a NUT setup, there's very little you can teach me about UPSes.

Why. Why is this needed. A statement. Self proclaimed 'engineers' on a soap box irk everyone.
On the bright side, there are brushup courses. No. Really! They even bring out a bit of a positive outlook on folks.
Lot's of words, little proof. Like a lecture with no lab. Where's the fun in that! Dude. When was the last time you said anything with sunshine in it?
Like....never?
On the bright side. If it's a UPS you need and a means of protection for your 75 ohm coax. And perhaps Ethernet. Maybe an RS232 port. A green one, a blue one. The colors you choose. Let's head out to the battery store for a few NP7-12's and trace a few mosfets. And get that sucker working again.
Ya' kill me dude.
UPSAsst.jpg
 
The UPS units I have require the sealed lead acid battery to be replaced every 2-3 years. I don't bother with surge suppression on ethernet cables but I use, at the very least, grounding blocks for F connectors that I attach to a solid copper ground bus bar that has a ground that goes outside to an 8 foot ground rod. If I ever want to get something better than a ground block I'm sure Polyphaser has something. I use Polyphasers on my ham radio antennas though.
 
I use Polyphasers also. I would bet if you look at the pc boards of almost every device out there that has a port for external cabling. You will find TVS voltage clamps. So. Although you may not use them, any voltage spike above 6-7 volts gets routed straight to the ground plane. Before they were implemented years ago you literally could look at one of the early pc's and blow a port. And why 'usually' hot-swapping USB, HDMI, etc cables is relatively safe these days.
Oh. That was a good reply. Good job.
 

Is it legal to get TV and radio broadcasts from another country?

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