cab giving off weird voltage

[malelanct]

I'm getting voltage off my cab, off the metal nuts and screws into the CP and off anything metal i touch on it, underneath the CP there is a grounding strap connected.

any idea where this voltage is? its nothing major, but its definitely not right, when i touch a screw you get that feeling like you have a 9volt on your tongue.

i'll share any info required.

[CoryBee]

I'm no electrical engineer but sounds like something isn't grounded properly.

[BobA]

Make sure you have a ground for all your metal parts and also be sure that hot goes to the live wires and neutral to the return.

[MonMotha]

This is usually due to the earth ground not being hooked up to an actual solid earth ground connection (use the "third" prong on your electrical outlet) and having an SMPS (e.g. PC power supply) that has its "ground" (Note: NOT the DC- or COMMON terminal, the "EARTH GROUND" terminal) hooked up to that same (not actually grounded) earth ground node.  What happens is that the Y-caps in the EMI filter form a capacitive divider to that ungrounded "ground" node, raising it to about 60V, but you can only pull a mA or so off of it usually.  It's generally not harmful, but it can be surprising certainly and is indicative of a problem.

If you are confident that you do have all the metal bits in your cabinet connected to the third prong on your outlet, then you need to have an electrician or similarly qualified person ensure that your outlet is properly wired.

[PL1]

malelanct ,

Just to be clear, is your cab frame tied to ground?

If you're using this type of Power supply, did you connect the frame to GND (ground) or FG (frame ground)?


(Photo credit: Paradise Arcade)

If using a computer-style power supply, how is the ground connected?


Scott

[boardjunkie]

Its got little to do with the pwr supply. I think either the cabinet grounding is not there/not correct, or the outlet he's plugged into is wired wrong. He said there is a gnd strap on the panel, so that tells me his grounding is not "at gnd". He could just remove the gnd strap from the panel and it would be fine, but I'd want to know why what should be grounded is floating just to prevent other things from acting screwey.

[malelanct]

vacation this weekend, i'll post some pics when i get in next week, thanks for all the advice, just to clarify a few things.

the cabinet is new to me and i bought it working, i haven't torn into it yet, here is what i do know.

its a jamma board and arcade power supply
there is a grounding strap under the cp , i do not know where this goes (will find out when i take pictures)
it is plugged into a correctly wired outlet, and the plug has 3 prongs, but i'm not sure everything is connected up right on the cabinet side, but i can rule out an outlet wiring problem.