Connecting AC ground to DC negative.

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WhatULive4
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Connecting AC ground to DC negative.

Post by WhatULive4 » Mon May 31, 2010 2:02 am

Is this a safe thing to do? I've looked online, and all I can find are references to boat electrical systems.

I am internalizing my AC/DC converters for both the screen (12v) and NES (5v) on my aluminum NES laptop. From what I've read, it would be fine to connect 1 of these sources to AC ground (in case anything shorts out, it'll trip the breaker and hopefully not fry my NES). However, I can't find any info on whether I can connect the negative lead on both DC sources to a common ground. I'm guessing this could introduce some type of ground loop or feedback, but I'm not very knowledgeable in this department.

I could just leave them floating, but it will be easier for me to mount them to the aluminum chassis if I don't have to isolate the NES motherboard when I reuse the original mounting holes with grounding strips.

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Re: Connecting AC ground to DC negative.

Post by gannon » Mon May 31, 2010 3:51 am

Negative lead on both dc sources? You have to connect them to get video to show anyways, don't you?

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WhatULive4
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Re: Connecting AC ground to DC negative.

Post by WhatULive4 » Mon May 31, 2010 5:37 pm

I'm honestly not sure, and don't know why you would have to. Connecting a console running at 5v, to a portable monitor running on 12v when they are not attached in one console do not have the negative leads connected, so I wasn't sure if this was safe to do. I haven't even bought my screen yet but I'm just getting everything else ready.

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