SMPS and grounding

[beautiful music]

AFAIK i haven't a ground in my home so when i touch any devices in my chain i feel the tingling which is due to earth leakage currents.

 

And here it is my AC Mains (220V) which i use it to feed my devices in the chain:

 

 

And i'm using this power strip 

 

 

My Chain contains the following devices;

 

Laptop > tXUSBUltra+LPS-1 > DAC\AMP > Headphone

 

Any advice and thoughts

[Energy]

Decided to ground my MeanWell GST25A07-P1J that came with the UpTone Audio LPS-1.

 

It has a floating ground unlike with the MeanWell GST40A07-P1J (which should be easier to solder for most folks). I went with using a Canare Star Quad 4S6 cable and cut out the jacket to utilize the internal wires. Two wires combined equals a total effective gauge of 17 gauge and should serve as a good route for the high frequency common-mode noise to exit.

 

 

Added with this NEMA 5-15P to 2 C13s Splitter Power Cord saves space by narrowing both SMPS's to a single plug.

 

 

http://www.signalandpower.com/Splitter-Power-Cords/P-12Y1212-012B-14-5-15P-to-C13s-splitter-15A/

[Energy]

1 hour ago, beautiful music said:

AFAIK i haven't a ground in my home so when i touch any devices in my chain i feel the tingling which is due to earth leakage currents.

 

And here it is my AC Mains (220V) which i use it to feed my devices in the chain:

 

And i'm using this power strip 

 

My Chain contains the following devices;

 

Laptop > tXUSBUltra+LPS-1 > DAC\AMP > Headphone

 

Any advice and thoughts

 

I would recommend saving up and getting your house/listening room grounded. Have a thick ROMEX line from the room going out to the circuit breaker and have some poles planted to the earth in various locations of your home to remove excess currents. I'm not sure about 220V/230V but you can see if hospital grade receptacles are available for you as well as ditching the conventional design power strips and going with a thicker power distributor since a lot of your gear is running one one line.

 

Like the pictures I posted, I would also recommend grounding your LPS-1's SMPS unit even if you currently have no ground/no earth/float. If you are not good at soldering, I believe this one is grounded natively https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/CUI/SDI30-12-UC-P5/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMs1jjUfAXmXyqv86XjbjzLxpWuwymXjUM1WvLoTXq3UsA%3D%3D . I'm not sure how much noise it will if your home is not grounded but worth a shot. 

[tboooe]

1 hour ago, Energy said:

Decided to ground my MeanWell GST25A07-P1J that came with the UpTone Audio LPS-1.

 

It has a floating ground unlike with the MeanWell GST40A07-P1J (which should be easier to solder for most folks). I went with using a Canare Star Quad 4S6 cable and cut out the jacket to utilize the internal wires. Two wires combined equals a total effective gauge of 17 gauge and should serve as a good route for the high frequency common-mode noise to exit.

 

 

Added with this NEMA 5-15P to 2 C13s Splitter Power Cord saves space by narrowing both SMPS's to a single plug.

 

 

http://www.signalandpower.com/Splitter-Power-Cords/P-12Y1212-012B-14-5-15P-to-C13s-splitter-15A/

Really awesome mod.  I was thinking of doing this too.  Just to be clear, it looks like you are soldering the wire to the blob of solder on the under side of the board?  Is there any distinguishing numbering at that point?  I just want to make sure I solder in the right place.  Also, I assume the case is just held together by clips?  Any pointers on opening it?

[R1200CL]

1 hour ago, Energy said:

I would recommend saving up and getting your house/listening room grounded.

 

The best earth you can get i to hammer a copper stick into the soil

 

Cheap, and works great. But maybe not easy to utilize everywhere.

You can also connect to the water pipe as an option, if they are copper.

 

http://www.esgroundingsolutions.com/different-types-of-grounding-electrodes/

 

 

[Energy]

The wire is soldered to the floating ground on one end while the other end is soldered to the blob of solder on the under side of the PCB. That blob is where the negative output is connected to. By soldering it on there you are shunting the negative output directly to the ground. I used a multi-meter set to continuity mode to find out which solder point the negative output was. If you own a MeanWell GST40A07-P1J then it should look like this instead.

 

 

The ABS plastic case is very easy to open. Underneath it there should be two circular silicone pieces that is flush against the plastic. You will want to pry it out with a small flat-head screwdriver followed by removing the Phillips head screws beneath them. Make sure you push tightly when screwing and unscrewing otherwise you'll end up stripping the screw heads. Pulling off the plastic cap after that should be a cinch. Just make sure to remove the metal clip on the inside corner of the unit before taking out the PCB. The metal clip is used to strap a gray rubber cover that goes over a rectifier/regulator against the case so that the board doesn't move. The rest should be self explanatory. 

 

5 minutes ago, R1200CL said:

 

The best earth you can get i to hammer a copper stick into the soil

 

Cheap, and works great. But maybe not easy to utilize everywhere.

 

 

 

Is that really possible? I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to earthing. At first I thought it needed to be galvanized rods with zinc plating to help with weather proofing or longevity concerns but it seems that even a simple copper rod would do it after searching on google. I think the water pipe grounding trick is a pretty good idea as long as the pipe is continuous and not using plastic insulators that separate them otherwise the ground cable run will have to be connected to whichever pipe area has the most continuous pipe available. Connecting a wire to each one of them would be devastating.  I believe the site you linked recommends there still being at least one more other form of electrode (rod, plate, etc) that needs to be used despite using the pipes as a form of electrode.

 

Anyways, it's fine if your space isn't properly grounded or earth but it poses as a safety hazard. Even my music listening room is not grounded. The grounded receptacle and power distributor I have is all floating. I wonder whether I should just call an electrician and lose a couple grand to have the whole house grounded or just do it myself by plunging some rods into the earth and connect it to my receptacle since I'm the only one who really cares for it.  I need a path for the leakage currents and common-mode noise to escape. 

[BigGuy]

1 hour ago, Energy said:

 

Anyways, it's fine if your space isn't properly grounded or earth but it poses as a safety hazard. Even my music listening room is not grounded. The grounded receptacle and power distributor I have is all floating. I wonder whether I should just call an electrician and lose a couple grand to have the whole house grounded or just do it myself by plunging some rods into the earth and connect it to my receptacle since I'm the only one who really cares for it.  I need a path for the leakage currents and common-mode noise to escape. 

It may be possible to DIY the grounding but be sure to check building codes to find out what is correct for your town, etc.  When they installed my cable TV service they put in a separate ground from that of the main service panel.  I was later informed by electrician that having the two grounds could cause a delta which could be a problem.

[sandyk]

8 hours ago, beautiful music said:

AFAIK i haven't a ground in my home so when i touch any devices in my chain i feel the tingling which is due to earth leakage currents.

 

And here it is my AC Mains (220V) which i use it to feed my devices in the chain:

 

 

And i'm using this power strip 

 

 

My Chain contains the following devices;

 

Laptop > tXUSBUltra+LPS-1 > DAC\AMP > Headphone

 

Any advice and thoughts

 

Which country are you in ?

Have you checked another wall socket ?

[One and a half]

18 minutes ago, sandyk said:

 

Which country are you in ?

Have you checked another wall socket ?

Middle East perhaps. Interesting the hot is looped, but the neutral isn't. Very suspect though. Still most systems have earth fault detection of some kind,  provided there's an earth to connect to in the beginning. 

[sandyk]

19 minutes ago, One and a half said:

Very suspect though.

 

  Indeed !

[BigGuy]

1 hour ago, One and a half said:

Very suspect though.

...and scary!

[Energy]

9 hours ago, R1200CL said:

 

The best earth you can get i to hammer a copper stick into the soil

 

Cheap, and works great. But maybe not easy to utilize everywhere.

You can also connect to the water pipe as an option, if they are copper.

 

http://www.esgroundingsolutions.com/different-types-of-grounding-electrodes/

 

 

 

8 hours ago, BigGuy said:

It may be possible to DIY the grounding but be sure to check building codes to find out what is correct for your town, etc.  When they installed my cable TV service they put in a separate ground from that of the main service panel.  I was later informed by electrician that having the two grounds could cause a delta which could be a problem.

 

I think I'll get one of these and plunge it into the earth just for my room. 

 

NOS Grounding Electrolytic Electrode StraightShaft 10'

 

Seems like the best option out of all earthing/grounding tricks. Digging a small hole 10' to fit this thing on the other hand seems like quite the task... And would having one be enough is the real question.. Maybe for a single room, yes? 

 

@beautiful music I just noticed the dual hot wires into your receptacle/outlet.. fishy..

[R1200CL]

@Cornan

if you have a iDevice, you must try this. 

No need for JSGT. ? Well almost...

 

 

[Cornan]

1 hour ago, R1200CL said:

@Cornan

if you have a iDevice, you must try this. 

No need for JSGT. ? Well almost...

 

 

 

Thanks @R1200CL! A pity that I am not a Roon user. Since all my music comes from Tidal (or Spotify connect) I have not seen a "end-point" for it! ?

I still use my iPhone SE controlling LightningDS, when I am not using Android tablet (BubbleDS Next) or iPad. 

Interesting though. Makes me wonder if Roon works like OpenHome since it could improve in a similar way IME?

 

BTW. I have the Dragonfly Black v1.5 (portable) which can do MQA. Could maybe be something interesting to try with the iPhone Roon endpoint? Is there a portable NAS around (like QNAP Qgenie) that works with Roon?

[One and a half]

6 hours ago, Energy said:

 

 

I think I'll get one of these and plunge it into the earth just for my room. 

 

NOS Grounding Electrolytic Electrode StraightShaft 10'

 

Seems like the best option out of all earthing/grounding tricks. Digging a small hole 10' to fit this thing on the other hand seems like quite the task... And would having one be enough is the real question.. Maybe for a single room, yes? 

 

@beautiful music I just noticed the dual hot wires into your receptacle/outlet.. fishy..

You may have another earth electrode driven, provided it connects to the existing ground electrode for the house. Running a separate earth cable for another system while keeping the existing setup like for an audio system is strictly forbidden in many countries. Essentially it bypasses fuses and circuit breakers from clearing when there's a fault, creating fires, and shocks, so it's really, bad! Don't do it!!

[beautiful music]

21 hours ago, sandyk said:

 

Which country are you in ?

Have you checked another wall socket ?

 

21 hours ago, One and a half said:

Middle East perhaps. Interesting the hot is looped, but the neutral isn't. Very suspect though. Still most systems have earth fault detection of some kind,  provided there's an earth to connect to in the beginning. 

 

Yes indeed I'm living in middle east

 

 

[beautiful music]

22 hours ago, sandyk said:

 

Which country are you in ?

Have you checked another wall socket ?

Here's another photo for another socket in my house. 

 

[sandyk]

1 hour ago, beautiful music said:

Here's another photo for another socket in my house. 

 

 

 Garry sure did nail your location !

It seems they are more than a bit behind the times in your country as far as electrical safety goes.

[R1200CL]

19 hours ago, Cornan said:

A pity that I am not a Roon user

 

As a true experimental Swede, you’re obligated to do. Period. ?

 

Here is a two months trail for Roon

NL1601HBPROJECT

 

If you own that specific Qnap you’re mentioning, I don’t think it’s a winner, but almost anything else you have available as a computer will most likely do. 

 

 

[charlesphoto]

16 minutes ago, R1200CL said:

 

As a true experimental Swede, you’re obligated to do. Period. ?

 

Here is a two months trail for Roon

NL1601HBPROJECT

 

If you own that specific Qnap you’re mentioning, I don’t think it’s a winner, but almost anything else you have available as a computer will most likely do. 

 

 

 

Thanks, don’t mind if I do! Tried it once soon after it came out and was a bit erm... but now that I have an iPad that I can actually control it with I think I’ll try it again. For now would need to load it on my 2013 Mac Pro in the office. Def not a low power low noise device, but we’ll see...

[charlesphoto]

Oops, code not valid. 

[thyname]

1 minute ago, charlesphoto said:

Oops, code not valid. 

 

‘That’s because this is public site and someone probably grabbed it before you.

[charlesphoto]

No because it's only valid until 12/31/17. Turns out I can't do another free trial anyway since I'm in the system already.

 

Any feedback on running Roon core on a Mac Pro (it does have an SSD)? Just not sure if I want to ditch my Vortexbox and spend $ on yet another computer....

[thyname]

Just now, charlesphoto said:

No because it's only valid until 12/31/17. Turns out I can't do another free trial anyway since I'm in the system already.

 

Any feedback on running Roon core on a Mac Pro (it does have an SSD)? Just not sure if I want to ditch my Vortexbox and spend $ on yet another computer....

 

‘You are probably better off asking Roon folks to extend your current trial

[charlesphoto]

Got it figured out (made a new account under a different email). Download taking forever though...