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Grounding Issue? Actual electric shock
Posted: 16 Feb 2023
by deeplink
So here's an issue;
I have a small modular rig which is connected but is switched OFF.
I have an audio cable from the modular to my digitakt.
If I touch the jack from the audio cable and my digitakt at the same time I get considerably electrocuted.
What is going on here and how I can I fix it?
Is my gear at risk of being damaged?
Re: Grounding Issue? Actual electric shock
Posted: 16 Feb 2023
by LABONERECORDINGS
Re: Grounding Issue? Actual electric shock
Posted: 16 Feb 2023
by jam-s
Its hard to give solid advice on this without knowing the exact electrical setup including the distribution net topology (TT, TN-S, TN-C, TN-C-S, or something else) and also the exact wireing in the building including the breakers and/or RCBOs etc.
If you've got a multimeter around, you could try to measure the voltage between those contacts. as you can feel it I would suspect your equipment to be at risk.
Re: Grounding Issue? Actual electric shock
Posted: 16 Feb 2023
by challism
Re: Grounding Issue? Actual electric shock
Posted: 16 Feb 2023
by DaveyG
deeplink wrote: ↑16 Feb 2023
So here's an issue;
I have a small modular rig which is connected but is switched OFF.
I have an audio cable from the modular to my digitakt.
If I touch the jack from the audio cable and my digitakt at the same time I get considerably electrocuted.
What is going on here and how I can I fix it?
Is my gear at risk of being damaged?
It's almost certainly caused by your rack ground being at a different potential to you and the rest of the stuff in the room, most probably because your rack PSU is not tied to mains earth.
Fixing it needs a bit of thought if you are to avoid introducing hum. It's hard to be more specific without knowing your PSU and whether the rack chassis is earthed to the rack PSU. Perhaps someone with the same rack/PSU can help.
But top marks for worrying about the damage to your gear before worrying about the damage to you!
