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Electronics Repair (sci.electronics.repair) Discussion of repairing electronic equipment. Topics include requests for assistance, where to obtain servicing information and parts, techniques for diagnosis and repair, and annecdotes about success, failures and problems. |
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#1
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48 V AC to case of cable box
Voltage question for some electronics repairs techs...
After feeling electricity when connecting two cable wires via a coupler, I traced the source back to my Scientific Atlanta 8300HD cable box. This cable box has no ground prong. When all wires expect the power are disconnected, my meters reads 48 V AC from the case to ground. For ground, used both my hot water base board and the neutral and ground from the receptical. The outlet polarity is not reversed. When touch ground and the box with my hands, I can intermittently feel slight tingling, about the strength of a dying 9 V on the tongue. I've also verified the cable wire is grounded. When it is connected to the box, the voltage on the case of course disappears. Obviously it cannot source much current, since this is effectively shorting a voltage source to ground. The cable company has had two other boxes out, and both have the same symptoms. Am I missing something here? This cannot be normal. For a two pronged appliance, I assume the case should be electrically isolated from both the hot and the neutral. Does this sound right? Any ideas or info would be appreciated. Thanks. DMT |
#2
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48 V AC to case of cable box
ineedcoffee wrote: Voltage question for some electronics repairs techs... After feeling electricity when connecting two cable wires via a coupler, I traced the source back to my Scientific Atlanta 8300HD cable box. This cable box has no ground prong. When all wires expect the power are disconnected, my meters reads 48 V AC from the case to ground. For ground, used both my hot water base board and the neutral and ground from the receptical. The outlet polarity is not reversed. When touch ground and the box with my hands, I can intermittently feel slight tingling, about the strength of a dying 9 V on the tongue. I've also verified the cable wire is grounded. When it is connected to the box, the voltage on the case of course disappears. Obviously it cannot source much current, since this is effectively shorting a voltage source to ground. The cable company has had two other boxes out, and both have the same symptoms. Am I missing something here? Yes. A lot. This cannot be normal. Yes, it is. For a two pronged appliance, I assume the case should be electrically isolated from both the hot and the neutral. Does this sound right? No. How would _YOU_ isolate the chassis when the RF connectors are grounded to the chassis without causing other problems, and keep the price reasonable? How will you pass the strict EMI requirements if the RF can radiate out of the case? Any ideas or info would be appreciated. Thanks. That is normal capacitive leakage in the power supply. If you put a 1 Kohm resistor across your voltmeter you will see almost nothing. Do things the right way. You are supposed to hook up all of the RF cables BEFORE you plug it in. Then the chassis is grounded, and there will not be enough voltage for you to feel anything. -- http://improve-usenet.org/index.html Use any search engine other than Google till they stop polluting USENET with porn and junk commercial SPAM If you have broadband, your ISP may have a NNTP news server included in your account: http://www.usenettools.net/ISP.htm |
#3
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48 V AC to case of cable box
On May 9, 8:41*pm, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote: ineedcoffee wrote: Voltage question for some electronics repairs techs... After feeling electricity when connecting two cable wires via a coupler, I traced the source back to my Scientific Atlanta 8300HD cable box. *This cable box has no ground prong. *When all wires expect the power are disconnected, my meters reads 48 V AC from the case to ground. *For ground, used both my hot water base board and the neutral and ground from the receptical. *The outlet polarity is not reversed. When touch ground and the box with my hands, I can intermittently feel slight tingling, about the strength of a dying 9 V on the tongue. I've also verified the cable wire is grounded. *When it is connected to the box, the voltage on the case of course disappears. *Obviously it cannot source much current, since this is effectively shorting a voltage source to ground. The cable company has had two other boxes out, and both have the same symptoms. Am I missing something here? * *Yes. A lot. *This cannot be normal. * *Yes, it is. *For a two pronged appliance, I assume the case should be electrically isolated from both the hot and the neutral. *Does this sound right? * *No. *How would _YOU_ isolate the chassis when the RF connectors are grounded to the chassis without causing other problems, and keep the price reasonable? *How will you pass the strict EMI requirements if the RF can radiate out of the case? Any ideas or info would be appreciated. *Thanks. * *That is normal capacitive leakage in the power supply. *If you put a 1 Kohm resistor across your voltmeter you will see almost nothing. * *Do things the right way. You are supposed to hook up all of the RF cables BEFORE you plug it in. Then the chassis is grounded, and there will not be enough voltage for you to feel anything. --http://improve-usenet.org/index.html Use any search engine other than Google till they stop polluting USENET with porn and junk commercial SPAM If you have broadband, your ISP may have a NNTP news server included in your account:http://www.usenettools.net/ISP.htm I figured I was making some incorrect assumptions. Just for the fun of it, I tried an ammeter with a resistor and some current did flow but it was only 1/10 of one milliamp. I'm glad to know that nothing is wrong. Thanks for taking the time to answer. Regards DMT |
#4
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48 V AC to case of cable box
ineedcoffee wrote:
On May 9, 8:41 pm, "Michael A. Terrell" wrote: ineedcoffee wrote: Voltage question for some electronics repairs techs... After feeling electricity when connecting two cable wires via a coupler, I traced the source back to my Scientific Atlanta 8300HD cable box. This cable box has no ground prong. When all wires expect the power are disconnected, my meters reads 48 V AC from the case to ground. For ground, used both my hot water base board and the neutral and ground from the receptical. The outlet polarity is not reversed. When touch ground and the box with my hands, I can intermittently feel slight tingling, about the strength of a dying 9 V on the tongue. I've also verified the cable wire is grounded. When it is connected to the box, the voltage on the case of course disappears. Obviously it cannot source much current, since this is effectively shorting a voltage source to ground. The cable company has had two other boxes out, and both have the same symptoms. Am I missing something here? Yes. A lot. This cannot be normal. Yes, it is. For a two pronged appliance, I assume the case should be electrically isolated from both the hot and the neutral. Does this sound right? No. How would _YOU_ isolate the chassis when the RF connectors are grounded to the chassis without causing other problems, and keep the price reasonable? How will you pass the strict EMI requirements if the RF can radiate out of the case? Any ideas or info would be appreciated. Thanks. That is normal capacitive leakage in the power supply. If you put a 1 Kohm resistor across your voltmeter you will see almost nothing. Do things the right way. You are supposed to hook up all of the RF cables BEFORE you plug it in. Then the chassis is grounded, and there will not be enough voltage for you to feel anything. --http://improve-usenet.org/index.html Use any search engine other than Google till they stop polluting USENET with porn and junk commercial SPAM If you have broadband, your ISP may have a NNTP news server included in your account:http://www.usenettools.net/ISP.htm I figured I was making some incorrect assumptions. Just for the fun of it, I tried an ammeter with a resistor and some current did flow but it was only 1/10 of one milliamp. I'm glad to know that nothing is wrong. Thanks for taking the time to answer. Regards DMT You're welcome. -- Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to prove it. Member of DAV #85. Michael A. Terrell Central Florida |
#5
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48 V AC to case of cable box
ineedcoffee wrote:
Voltage question for some electronics repairs techs... After feeling electricity when connecting two cable wires via a coupler, I traced the source back to my Scientific Atlanta 8300HD cable box. This cable box has no ground prong. When all wires expect the power are disconnected, my meters reads 48 V AC from the case to ground. For ground, used both my hot water base board and the neutral and ground from the receptical. The outlet polarity is not reversed. When touch ground and the box with my hands, I can intermittently feel slight tingling, about the strength of a dying 9 V on the tongue. I've also verified the cable wire is grounded. When it is connected to the box, the voltage on the case of course disappears. Obviously it cannot source much current, since this is effectively shorting a voltage source to ground. The cable company has had two other boxes out, and both have the same symptoms. Am I missing something here? This cannot be normal. For a two pronged appliance, I assume the case should be electrically isolated from both the hot and the neutral. Does this sound right? Any ideas or info would be appreciated. Thanks. DMT Is it possible that the shield of the cable is not grounded where it enters your home? JAM |
#6
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48 V AC to case of cable box
Leo Marx wrote:
ineedcoffee wrote: Voltage question for some electronics repairs techs... After feeling electricity when connecting two cable wires via a coupler, I traced the source back to my Scientific Atlanta 8300HD cable box. This cable box has no ground prong. When all wires expect the power are disconnected, my meters reads 48 V AC from the case to ground. For ground, used both my hot water base board and the neutral and ground from the receptical. The outlet polarity is not reversed. When touch ground and the box with my hands, I can intermittently feel slight tingling, about the strength of a dying 9 V on the tongue. I've also verified the cable wire is grounded. When it is connected to the box, the voltage on the case of course disappears. Obviously it cannot source much current, since this is effectively shorting a voltage source to ground. The cable company has had two other boxes out, and both have the same symptoms. Am I missing something here? This cannot be normal. For a two pronged appliance, I assume the case should be electrically isolated from both the hot and the neutral. Does this sound right? Any ideas or info would be appreciated. Thanks. DMT Is it possible that the shield of the cable is not grounded where it enters your home? JAM This is quite normal for any equipment having a powersupply interference filter. You might feel a slight trickle of current, but once you apply all cabling before you apply power, you will be oke. Almost all computers, printers, etc have it. There are two small capacitors from each of the main power wires, to the frame, to suppress radio interference. That means you see about half the mains voltage at the case, but at a very high, safe impedance(although it tickles). Once you connect and ground things you wont feel a thing. |
#7
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48 V AC to case of cable box
Leo Marx wrote: ineedcoffee wrote: Voltage question for some electronics repairs techs... After feeling electricity when connecting two cable wires via a coupler, I traced the source back to my Scientific Atlanta 8300HD cable box. This cable box has no ground prong. When all wires expect the power are disconnected, my meters reads 48 V AC from the case to ground. For ground, used both my hot water base board and the neutral and ground from the receptical. The outlet polarity is not reversed. When touch ground and the box with my hands, I can intermittently feel slight tingling, about the strength of a dying 9 V on the tongue. I've also verified the cable wire is grounded. When it is connected to the box, the voltage on the case of course disappears. Obviously it cannot source much current, since this is effectively shorting a voltage source to ground. The cable company has had two other boxes out, and both have the same symptoms. Am I missing something here? This cannot be normal. For a two pronged appliance, I assume the case should be electrically isolated from both the hot and the neutral. Does this sound right? Any ideas or info would be appreciated. Thanks. DMT Is it possible that the shield of the cable is not grounded where it enters your home? If the shield was not grounded there, it is grounded at the CATV amplifier, so you would not see 48 VAC. I already explained the case, and how to deal with it. -- http://improve-usenet.org/index.html Use any search engine other than Google till they stop polluting USENET with porn and junk commercial SPAM If you have broadband, your ISP may have a NNTP news server included in your account: http://www.usenettools.net/ISP.htm |
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