On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 04:42:53 GMT, Chris Hornbeck
wrote:
On 28 Sep 2004 04:03:44 GMT, ospam (WillStG) wrote:
Doug, if there is a metal box that the wires run through, the metal box
and metal conduit are the ground (assuming it's connected properly.) So you
could use a 3 prong to 2 prong connector and connect the green ground wire to
the center screw - that's what the little horseshoe is there for.

I really don't think that this is a safe general practice. American
houses from the 1950's (like mine) are usually wired with two
conductors and no third (safety) ground. Assuming otherwise is
not safe.


My house is 1951. Most of the outlets were 2-prong, but all of the
wiring is with ground so correcting that was merely a matter of
installing the proper outlets.

You can temporarily attach a 3-prong outlet and use a standard outlet
tester to test whether or not a ground pate exists, but that won't tell
you about the ground quality--which can be lousy.

Armored cable (type AC or trade name "BX") isn't the best ground as it
corrodes and the metal bonding strip is easily broken. I have seen AC
cable with a separate ground, but that won't fix your existing
situation.

There's nothing "Magical" about power wiring, but it requires attention
to detail and a certain amount of know how.

If you're in doubt about something, the best thing to do is hire an
electrician to look things over. As smart as we all are, most of us
are neither electricians nor electrical engineers and aren't really
qualified to evaluate your wiring--particularly not via USENET.

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 04:42:53 GMT, Chris Hornbeck
wrote:
On 28 Sep 2004 04:03:44 GMT, ospam (WillStG) wrote:
Doug, if there is a metal box that the wires run through, the metal box
and metal conduit are the ground (assuming it's connected properly.) So you
could use a 3 prong to 2 prong connector and connect the green ground wire to
the center screw - that's what the little horseshoe is there for.

I really don't think that this is a safe general practice. American
houses from the 1950's (like mine) are usually wired with two
conductors and no third (safety) ground. Assuming otherwise is
not safe.


My house is 1951. Most of the outlets were 2-prong, but all of the
wiring is with ground so correcting that was merely a matter of
installing the proper outlets.

You can temporarily attach a 3-prong outlet and use a standard outlet
tester to test whether or not a ground pate exists, but that won't tell
you about the ground quality--which can be lousy.

Armored cable (type AC or trade name "BX") isn't the best ground as it
corrodes and the metal bonding strip is easily broken. I have seen AC
cable with a separate ground, but that won't fix your existing
situation.

There's nothing "Magical" about power wiring, but it requires attention
to detail and a certain amount of know how.

If you're in doubt about something, the best thing to do is hire an
electrician to look things over. As smart as we all are, most of us
are neither electricians nor electrical engineers and aren't really
qualified to evaluate your wiring--particularly not via USENET.

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 00:03:44 -0400, WillStG wrote
(in article ):

"Snowdog" wrote:

Thanks to everyone for your helpful comments. Quick recap..bass player gets
shocked on the lips by vocal mic while wearing his bass.

I pulled the three prong outlet from the wall that the bass player plugs
into...and sure enough, there are only two wires connected to the plug.
There is no grounding wire. I do see a ground terminal on the outlet to add
a ground wire. House was built in '56.

What are my options to add a ground? Can I connect a wire to the ground
terminal, run it down through the wall into the crawl space under the house
and stake it into the ground ( the earth)? BRBR

Doug, if there is a metal box that the wires run through, the metal box
and metal conduit are the ground (assuming it's connected properly.) So you
could use a 3 prong to 2 prong connector and connect the green ground wire to
the center screw - that's what the little horseshoe is there for.

If not, well I have had occasion to buy very heavy guage 3 wire romex and
run a new wire to a basement outlet box through a false wall from a basement
electrical panel. I ran the wire and wired the box (using reference books as

a
guide), but I had my brother do the electrical panel connection part as he is
experienced and qualified in electrical matters and knows how to do such
things
without getting killed by inadvertently touching a buss bar in an open panel
with a screwdriver. Not too difficult a job or a lenghthy procedure, but
one
that does require knowing what you're doing.


Will Miho
NY Music & TV Audio Guy
Off the Morning Show! & sleepin' In... / Fox News
"The large print giveth and the small print taketh away..." Tom Waits


Damnit Will!! Stop talking about audio!! Uh, sorry, I was momentarily
confused. I'm not used to Will being on topic.

Ty Ford





-- Ty Ford's equipment reviews, audio samples, rates and other audiocentric
stuff are at www.tyford.com

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 00:03:44 -0400, WillStG wrote
(in article ):

"Snowdog" wrote:

Thanks to everyone for your helpful comments. Quick recap..bass player gets
shocked on the lips by vocal mic while wearing his bass.

I pulled the three prong outlet from the wall that the bass player plugs
into...and sure enough, there are only two wires connected to the plug.
There is no grounding wire. I do see a ground terminal on the outlet to add
a ground wire. House was built in '56.

What are my options to add a ground? Can I connect a wire to the ground
terminal, run it down through the wall into the crawl space under the house
and stake it into the ground ( the earth)? BRBR

Doug, if there is a metal box that the wires run through, the metal box
and metal conduit are the ground (assuming it's connected properly.) So you
could use a 3 prong to 2 prong connector and connect the green ground wire to
the center screw - that's what the little horseshoe is there for.

If not, well I have had occasion to buy very heavy guage 3 wire romex and
run a new wire to a basement outlet box through a false wall from a basement
electrical panel. I ran the wire and wired the box (using reference books as

a
guide), but I had my brother do the electrical panel connection part as he is
experienced and qualified in electrical matters and knows how to do such
things
without getting killed by inadvertently touching a buss bar in an open panel
with a screwdriver. Not too difficult a job or a lenghthy procedure, but
one
that does require knowing what you're doing.


Will Miho
NY Music & TV Audio Guy
Off the Morning Show! & sleepin' In... / Fox News
"The large print giveth and the small print taketh away..." Tom Waits


Damnit Will!! Stop talking about audio!! Uh, sorry, I was momentarily
confused. I'm not used to Will being on topic.

Ty Ford





-- Ty Ford's equipment reviews, audio samples, rates and other audiocentric
stuff are at www.tyford.com

: Ty Ford

Damnit Will!! Stop talking about audio!! Uh, sorry, I was momentarily
confused. I'm not used to Will being on topic.Ty Ford-- Ty Ford's equipment
reviews, audio samples, rates and other audiocentric stuff are at
www.tyford.com

I see you are using a newsreader program that doesn't
automatically insert wordwrap returns too now. AOL for OSX
is a pain when I use that, the way all the sentences run
on often even when I try to format them. But HTML has been
making my OS9 crash a lot lately, and OSX is much more
stable. Oh well...


Will Miho
NY Music & TV Audio Guy
Off the Morning Show! & sleepin' In... / Fox News
"The large print giveth and the small print taketh away..." Tom Waits

: Ty Ford

Damnit Will!! Stop talking about audio!! Uh, sorry, I was momentarily
confused. I'm not used to Will being on topic.Ty Ford-- Ty Ford's equipment
reviews, audio samples, rates and other audiocentric stuff are at
www.tyford.com

I see you are using a newsreader program that doesn't
automatically insert wordwrap returns too now. AOL for OSX
is a pain when I use that, the way all the sentences run
on often even when I try to format them. But HTML has been
making my OS9 crash a lot lately, and OSX is much more
stable. Oh well...


Will Miho
NY Music & TV Audio Guy
Off the Morning Show! & sleepin' In... / Fox News
"The large print giveth and the small print taketh away..." Tom Waits

(Scott Dorsey)

WillStG wrote:

It was once code in some places that the metal conduit boxes attached to
metal coiled conduit served as the ground path. If that is the case in
Doug's
house, it is s simple matter of using the ground path that was intended.

This is BX cable. It was required for residential installs in a few big
cities, but was never required universally by the NEC. It's good stuff.

That's what I have had in homes here in the NY/NJ area, usually most of the
house has been upgraded to 3 prong plugs with proper wiring and maybe a couple
of areas (like the basement, it's always the basement) are still 2 wire with
metal conduit as they tried to save money by not upgrading everything.

Will Miho
NY Music & TV Audio Guy
Off the Morning Show! & sleepin' In... / Fox News
"The large print giveth and the small print taketh away..." Tom Waits

(Scott Dorsey)

WillStG wrote:

It was once code in some places that the metal conduit boxes attached to
metal coiled conduit served as the ground path. If that is the case in
Doug's
house, it is s simple matter of using the ground path that was intended.

This is BX cable. It was required for residential installs in a few big
cities, but was never required universally by the NEC. It's good stuff.

That's what I have had in homes here in the NY/NJ area, usually most of the
house has been upgraded to 3 prong plugs with proper wiring and maybe a couple
of areas (like the basement, it's always the basement) are still 2 wire with
metal conduit as they tried to save money by not upgrading everything.

Will Miho
NY Music & TV Audio Guy
Off the Morning Show! & sleepin' In... / Fox News
"The large print giveth and the small print taketh away..." Tom Waits