Grounding, Earths, and general power questions

[dstole]

I recently decided to try and imrove my "home studio" and buy some gear that was a bit of a step forward, rather than just buying the cheapest thing I could...anyway, I managed to pick up a Drawmer 1960 and 1961 on an auction site and they arrived yesterday. I so desperately want to use them, but the manual says they have to be grounded!

Hmmn. This has gotten me to thinking.
I live in a Japanese house (rental) in the "country" and I am pretty sure that the room I am using doesn't have a ground set up. All of the outlets are 2 pin, and many of the supplied power chords come 3 pin US style with an adapter that changes it to 2 pin with a wire for the ground. I have most of my equipment plugged into a power bar that accepts 3 pin, so haven't used the adapters.

So how do I ground these things? Can I use the adapters and connect them all to a grounding wire that I run from the ground floor up to a window, or do I call an electrician and see what he has to say. Just looking for advice.

Also, when I unplugged a bunch of gear to rerack my new toys I somehow managed to get what chord was what confussed. All the chords have pretty much the same thing on them, which is nothing. Is mixing power cables going to cause trouble? How do you keep track of these things in the studio or in a portable set up? Time for some tape or labels or something maybe?

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.
Leon

[tINY]

In the USA, a ground is usually attached to a copper rod that is driven into the earth. Also, in the USA, the neutral line is typically less than 5 Vrms potential to the ground (and hopefully less than 1).

I've seen larger wires run out the the water main and attached for a ground (if the pipe is metal, this usually works alright).

I don't know what the standards are in Japan (other than diferent islands have different voltages and frequencies). You may want to seek local help. If you can get somebody to explain what is going on, you'll be better off than just paying a lot of yen to have the apartment rewired.



-tINY

[Geoff_T]

Originally Posted by tINY

In the USA, a ground is usually attached to a copper rod that is driven into the earth. Also, in the USA, the neutral line is typically less than 5 Vrms potential to the ground (and hopefully less than 1).

I've seen larger wires run out the the water main and attached for a ground (if the pipe is metal, this usually works alright).

I don't know what the standards are in Japan (other than diferent islands have different voltages and frequencies). You may want to seek local help. If you can get somebody to explain what is going on, you'll be better off than just paying a lot of yen to have the apartment rewired.



-tINY

Hi

Another issue to consider is that in some parts of Japan the ac voltage is around 100 volts. This shouldn't bother most professionally designed products despite being around 10 to 20% below their normal operating requirement.

Products whose power supplies have marginal headroom may drop out of regulation.

[tINY]

Yes, my understanding is that Japan is nominally 100 volts in most places. I do believe the regulation requirements are a bit looser, though.

It's been a while since I looked over the specs.

Good point about the voltage, though.


-tINY