Actually the reason to ground the neutral somewhere in the system is to
ensure that there is no potential difference between earth and neutral in
this type of system. Once the neutral is grounded, as it is at the power
company pole, you want to maintain that ground throughout the system. If the
neutral is allowed to rise above ground anywhere it presents a shock hazard.
The reason for having separate ground and neutral wires after your main
panel is to ensure that the ground wire does not rise above ground by
carrying any current.
The ground wire is there to carry fault current to trip the circuit breaker
in the event that the hot wire should short to the chassis of equipment
being powered.
A ground wire is NOT required for a ground fault interrupter to properly
operate. It operates only on the differential current between hot and
neutral.
Actually a safer system would be if the neutral was not grounded anywhere
and ground fault interrupters were used on all circuits. Then it would not
matter if hot or neutral happened to come in contact with the chassis. But
this can't be done in the US as the power company has chosen to ground the
neutral at many places in the system.
73
Gary K4FMX
> -----Original Message-----
> From: amps-bounces@contesting.com [mailto:amps-bounces@contesting.com] On
> Behalf Of Alex Eban
> Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2009 1:45 AM
> To: dezrat1242@yahoo.com; amps@contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [Amps] TL922 Power Plugs
>
> To be precise, the danger is in NOT connecting the earth and the neutral
> together.
> The connection is crucial to the operation of the ground fault
> interrupter
> if fitted. Voltage drop differentials on overlong wires can trip it or,
> else, cause it to malfunction.
> Here, in 4Zulu land, even the metal skeleton of the building is connected
> at
> the same common point. In my opinion, the ground rod is more useful as a
> local grounding point against lightning, more so than serving as an
> electrical ground.
> Sooo, the connection you made- neutral to ground locally- is sound from an
> engineering point of view.
> Alex 4Z5KS
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: amps-bounces@contesting.com [mailto:amps-bounces@contesting.com] On
> Behalf Of Bill, W6WRT
> Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2009 4:34 AM
> To: amps@contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [Amps] TL922 Power Plugs
>
> ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
>
> On Tue, 3 Nov 2009 19:59:51 -0500, "Carl" <km1h@jeremy.mv.com> wrote:
>
> >YOU the slave to the system are at danger. For the same reasons you
> >need seat belts, helmets, dual master cylinders, air bags and
> >everything else the nanny state demands to protect you from yourself.
>
> REPLY:
>
> Yada, yada, yada. I've heard all that before but it still does not answer
> my
> question: Exactly what is the danger?
>
> 73, Bill W6WRT
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