Grounding question

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

Probably not, even on pinballs next to each other one off the other on you
touch both and feel a slight poke, that is the difference in potential, you
can try but will still poke you.

Trin
"John" <JUNKripley.forsaleFREE@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:xYqXe.18329$h02.9785@tornado.texas.rr.com...
>I have a japanese candy cab that seems to have a grounding problem. The
>plug only has two prongs (I think this is typical of japanese cabs), yet
>the cab has green ground wires throughout. If I play the game sitting in a
>plastic chair, wearing sandals, no problem. If I play the game and also
>touch a nearby grounded cab, I can feel a low voltage current if I rub
>against it with a sensitive part of my body (no not that part ... the
>tricep for example). This is not a iso-transformer issue from what I can
>tell.
>
> If I rewired the power cord to 3-prong and wired ground to the cab (metal
> cabinet), would that resolve my problem?
>
> Thanks,
> John
>

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

I'd suggest wiring it with a 3-prong cord, and connecting the
frame-ground to earth ground for safety.

The idea is that if there is an internal short, and somehow the frame
gets connected to a voltage source (as it sounds like has happened)
that there's a path to earth with significantly less resistance than
through you. However, this will only mask (and make somewhat safer)
the underlying problem--that there is is some sort of wiring fault
which is causing your frame to have potential other than zero.

If you plug your machine into a circuit having a GFCI (ground fault
circuit interrupter), it will give you further protection, in that it
will trip if there is even a small difference between the current in
the hot and neutral lines (they should be idential but in opposite
directions if there is no ground fault) then it will trip. So, if you
do have a wiring fault and more then a few (don't know exact specs off
the top) mA of current is going anywhere it's not supposed to (i.e.
through the ground wire and/or your body) it will open the ciruit.

df