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Old 6th August 2009   #505
Virtalahde
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Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Kuhmoinen, Finland
Posts: 639

No, the safety ground is not connected as it's supposed to be. It can be clearly seen from this photo:


http://papa-movie.com/Distortion_Box_intr_2.jpg

On the right side, one can clearly see that the red wire (which should be a green&yellow according to the standard) goes straight from the IEC connector's safety ground lug to the ground lift switch, and not anywhere else. In the event of failure, the positions of the other ground lift switches and how the unit is connected to other equipment MIGHT be enough to pop the unit's own fuse, but as I said - it's a gamble. The fuse at the breaker box is not going pop, and if the unit's own fusing fails protecting, the wall juice just keeps coming in.

You can switch signal grounds how you wish, but you do not make the safety ground switchable.

If you want to start a name-dropping game with old, classic equipment..

Pro Audio Equipment

Some of the equipment from the 50's and 60's have a 2-prong AC connector which obviously does not contain a safety ground. It was not installed in the electrical systems of the buildings back then. I don't know more about the electric installation history of that period, but standards are now different.

However, feel free to stare at those schematics. Find me a schematic that shows a switchable safety ground. You can start looking at the UA LA2A:

http://www.triodeel.com/urei.gif

Yep, 3rd connector straight to the chassis. The same with every piece of equipment with a 3-prong connector, safety ground lug goes to the chassis!

The point is.. You just can not sell products with an attitude of "Yeah, but what do they know?". You don't make up your own standards. The safety ground system is as basic electrical safety as it gets, and it in some of HCL's products, this has been violated severly.

I'm pretty sure the law in Ukraine is the same - why wouldn't it. Ukraine is a modern country.
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