Grounding Issue For Cpu

[Gary A]

Right, wrong or otherwise I got really tired of getting shocked everytime I touched any metal on my computer or anything hooked to it. I pounded a copper coated earth rod into an area that stays damp and attached a wire from the ground rod to the case of my computer. PROBLEM SOLVED!

[tracker]

Some years ago, I thought also it was time to ground my pc...drove a pin in the ground and got myself a touchable pc. Then a thunderstorm came... ofcourse i did not install an expensive earth-leak switch.

The switch of the extension-cord/power socket in the "OFF" position, and the pc "off" as well ( i wasn't at home), it blew up the powersupply in the computer. Just only over the ground wire....

be careful...

[Crossy]

Sorry, changed my mind.

Edited June 9, 2006 by Crossy

[Tywais]

Some years ago, I thought also it was time to ground my pc...drove a pin in the ground and got myself a touchable pc. Then a thunderstorm came... ofcourse i did not install an expensive earth-leak switch.

The switch of the extension-cord/power socket in the "OFF" position, and the pc "off" as well ( i wasn't at home), it blew up the powersupply in the computer. Just only over the ground wire....

be careful...

I just have to respond to this, sorry.

Which is better dead PSU or dead YOU??

Of course, you can't be sure that your PC would not have died if it was ungrounded, can you??

Earth leakage breaker would not have saved you from a lightning strike, that's not what they do.

Certainly can't compare a lightning strike with normal occurances. A ground strike creates hugh current gradients in the earth causing a voltage differential between grounds which can be quite high. The fact that it was able to jump the power switch shows it. I've had this happen even in a place with very good ground systems.

That reminds me, most houses in the US have a separate ground and lightening rod from the MEMs system but rarely see that here.

Edited June 9, 2006 by tywais

[ianc66]

Crossy thanks for the excellent site http://www.crossy.co.uk/wiring/.

I'm just about to get the electrics installed in my new house it was to be three wire and properly earthed but now you have given me the ammunition to make sure it is right.

A few points :--

You mention not putting all illumination on Elcbs so you can get out of the house in an emergency, I was planning to use solar powered lights outside, and install a battery powered emergency light system inside, the box with a battery, and a couple of spotlights which come on on power fail -- I've found a decent one with an earth.

I'll be sure to install Shuko sockets for the Kitchen appliances, temporarly at my rental propery -- which does have a proper earthing system I've got some of the Shuko to thai three pin adaptors but two won't fit on a twin socket.

[Crossy]

Crossy thanks for the excellent site http://www.crossy.co.uk/wiring/.

I'm just about to get the electrics installed in my new house it was to be three wire and properly earthed but now you have given me the ammunition to make sure it is right.

You mention not putting all illumination on Elcbs so you can get out of the house in an emergency, I was planning to use solar powered lights outside, and install a battery powered emergency light system inside, the box with a battery, and a couple of spotlights which come on on power fail -- I've found a decent one with an earth.

I'll be sure to install Shuko sockets for the Kitchen appliances, temporarly at my rental propery -- which does have a proper earthing system I've got some of the Shuko to thai three pin adaptors but two won't fit on a twin socket.

Cheers for the positive feedback, it's always encouraging to see that people are reading and actually taking notice of your efforts

If you've battery backed lighting, by all means put everything on the ELCB.

The Schuko sockets are too big to get a double into a standard Thai wallbox, the ones I found in Homepro have space for a Schuko and a two pin in a single box. You'll have to do a bit of planning as to where each type gets installed, pretty easy to change when you get it wrong though

[tjo o tjim]

The switch of the extension-cord/power socket in the "OFF" position, and the pc "off" as well ( i wasn't at home), it blew up the powersupply in the computer.

The problem you experienced is from dangerous voltage still coming through the neutral. The power strip just switches the "hot" wire, same for PSU.

To protect against this, you should make sure you have a 2-mode transient-voltage surge suppressor. This will protect you from a spike on the phase or neutral line.

[Gary A]

Recently my UPS quit on me. I plugged everything directly into the wall socket. I'm not sure if this caused me a problem but I lost my video card, a DVD read/write and finally the CPU. The voltage up here is up and down and off often. I have a new UPS after replacing everything that went bad and WON'T ever plug my computer in again without using the UPS.

[elkangorito]

Recently my UPS quit on me. I plugged everything directly into the wall socket. I'm not sure if this caused me a problem but I lost my video card, a DVD read/write and finally the CPU. The voltage up here is up and down and off often. I have a new UPS after replacing everything that went bad and WON'T ever plug my computer in again without using the UPS.

Good idea Gary.

UPS units can vary in design & therefore 'function'. If you live in an area where the power is a bit problematic, make sure that your UPS has the following capabilities;

1. Over/under voltage protection.

2. Over/under frequency protection.

3. Waveform distortion protection (any differentiation of the input sine wave).

The above info only applies to a single phase power supply.

[Gary A]

My old UPS only lasted about a year. Before I scrapped it I checked the battery and it was fully charged. The UPS would simply quit during normal useage. Turning it on and off would get it going again but it was a pain.

I bought the best one (most expensive) one the shop had. It clicks a lot. LOL! When the power fails and doesn't come back on within about five minutes I shut the computer down. The software that came with the UPS has some conflicts with other programs so I removed it. I'm not concerned with automatic shut down because when I leave the computer for any length of time I shut it down anyways.

Recently my UPS quit on me. I plugged everything directly into the wall socket. I'm not sure if this caused me a problem but I lost my video card, a DVD read/write and finally the CPU. The voltage up here is up and down and off often. I have a new UPS after replacing everything that went bad and WON'T ever plug my computer in again without using the UPS.

Good idea Gary.

UPS units can vary in design & therefore 'function'. If you live in an area where the power is a bit problematic, make sure that your UPS has the following capabilities;

1. Over/under voltage protection.

2. Over/under frequency protection.

3. Waveform distortion protection (any differentiation of the input sine wave).

The above info only applies to a single phase power supply.

[Gary A]

I have installed the sofware for my UPS again. It is called UPSee. Both Zone Alarm and Spy Sweeper warn me that this is keylogger spyware.

What to do ??

[Crossy]

I have installed the sofware for my UPS again. It is called UPSee. Both Zone Alarm and Spy Sweeper warn me that this is keylogger spyware.

What to do ??

If this came on a CD with the UPS I'd contact the UPS supplier, it's probably a false alarm but you never can tell.

I gave up with Spysweeper because of an excessive number of false triggers (even on software I'd written).

Try an alternative spyware killer (AdAware or similar) to see if that also sets a red flag.

Edited June 11, 2006 by Crossy

[lopburi3]

Believe a little over the one year warranty is normal.

Batteries do not seem to last very much longer than a year here from my and many reports.

Battery check needs to be under load to get a true indication of condition. It probably was dying.

New unit is probably controlling voltage to a narrow range and more clicks heard. So they are probably 'good' clicks.

On your new post I would Google the name. But I would not worry about loss of software as you don't seem to need it any more than I do. If I leave the area I shutdown anyhow and don't have anything open that I would lose on a power failure in any case. Not exactly the end of the word even if I did lose something.

[tjo o tjim]

I bought the best one (most expensive) one the shop had. It clicks a lot.

Hopefully, the clicks you are hearing are the automatic voltage regulator and not a sign that it is on inverter; there should be a light showing that you are on inverter, but might not be one for the AVR.

Each time you hear a click, that's a sign that the voltage has changed (usually by 2%, up or down). With the AVR, this will keep you from running on batteries then.

If you are actually running on battery, that would explain why the unit dies in a year; the inverters on these little units just aren't designed for frequent cycling or operation for any duration.

I'm not a big fan of the automatic shutdown software; a hard crash isn't that bad on normal PCs unless you are running a database that gets corrupted. Frequent hard crashes aren't good for the computer, but if it is just a matter of the handful of times a year when the outage lasts longer than the batter, I wouldn't worry about it. The software is usually pretty buggy, although the monitoring of the UPS unit is a "nice-to-have." For just monitoring, some of the units have an internal web server that can display the data. Much less problematic, and easier for networks.

[Gary A]

When the UPS is running on the battery it gives short beeps continously. The UPS software has been deleted.

I also have Zone Alarm Pro and I think the anti spyware feature is pretty good. Since both it and Spy Sweeper thought it was a problem I uninstalled the UPS software. I then ran another sweep with Spy Sweeper and had it delete what it found. When I bought Bit Defender 9 anti virus a three month subscription of Spy Sweeper came free with it. I'm not sure if I would pay for it but it is supposedly the only one that detects the phishing schemes. If Zone Alarm Pro runs and finds nothing I may pay for Spy Sweeper and not renew Zone Alarm Pro. The free version would be good enough.

Edited June 11, 2006 by Gary A

[Greenside]

While this useful thread has turned to UPS's and previously mentioned power supplies for computers I'd like to draw people's attention to the UPS thread on this forum recently, insofar as buying a good quality power supply may limit your choice of UPS to a pricey one. I just gave up on buying a UPS (and got more disciplined about saving work in progress) since paying out 5000+ baht seemed too high a price just to avoid the occasional crash but now see that maybe they have a role to play in keeping my system in good shape. Maybe time to reconsider?

Oops! Sorry for reviving this old thread - someone sent me a link to it and I didn't see the date!

Edited April 26, 2008 by Greenside

[Tywais]

Oops! Sorry for reviving this old thread - someone sent me a link to it and I didn't see the date!

Not a problem. The UPS serves two purposes: One is to protect data but just, if not more important (if you perform regular backups), is to protect the computer and its components themselves. The latter could be an expensive proposition exceeding the price of a good UPS.

[Crossy]

Oops! Sorry for reviving this old thread - someone sent me a link to it and I didn't see the date!

Not a problem. The UPS serves two purposes: One is to protect data but just, if not more important (if you perform regular backups), is to protect the computer and its components themselves. The latter could be an expensive proposition exceeding the price of a good UPS.

Yep, I'm with Tywais here

At an absolute minimum you should ger an AVR (Automatic Voltage Regulator) which will protect your kit from mains fluctuations. Have a look at this thread http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=162728