Happ's 3" trackball grounding

[QuarterJunkie]

I'm finishing up wiring my control panel and had a question regarding grounding of the trackball. I notice that there are 2 fairly heavy guage ground wires coming off the trackball. Is it ok to ground these to the GND connection on my Ipac (tie in with my button grounds), or should they be wired directly to the pc chassis (or the ground wire from the power supply)? I'm just curious because of the guage of the wire. Is there too much current drain for the Ipac to handle?

[Minwah]

I would connect this to the mains earth connection rather than the IPAC.

[fatfingers]

And, for my stupid brain, where, exactly would this mains earth connection be?

[BobbyG66]

That is the ground from the main power cord powering up your arcade.
It depends how you have your power connected to your unit.

I wonder if that is why my Happ boards blew out?
I had mine grounded to my Ipac.

[TOK]

I don't think that blew out your boards... I ran a lead from the ground on my IPAC to a lug, then routed all my button and trackball grounds to it. That system has been up and running for about 4 years. I think the ground on the ball is primarily a static ground.

[QuarterJunkie]

Oh. Alright. If it is for static, I'll just run a wire to a case screw on the pc.

Thanks!

[fatfingers]

So, won't the case be charged then?  Or is that all somehow grounded to "mains"?

[QuarterJunkie]

The case should be grounded through the electrical outlet (asuming it is a metal case)...Otherwise, you could also ground it to a ground wire from a power supply (either of the 2 middle black wires) molex connector.

[2600]

The case should be grounded through the electrical outlet (asuming it is a metal case)...Otherwise, you could also ground it to a ground wire from a power supply (either of the 2 middle black wires) molex connector.

No, they are not the same ground.  Do not do that.

Screw it onto the case screw that attaches to the power supply.  Internally, the power supply connects the case to earth gnd coming from the outlet.

[mountain]

The case should be grounded through the electrical outlet (asuming it is a metal case)...Otherwise, you could also ground it to a ground wire from a power supply (either of the 2 middle black wires) molex connector.

No, they are not the same ground.  Do not do that.

Screw it onto the case screw that attaches to the power supply.  Internally, the power supply connects the case to earth gnd coming from the outlet.

The two middle pins on the Molex connector, the case, the input ground pin where your AC plugs into the power supply, they are all tied together. Do what is easiest, probably connecting it to the output of the power supply is the most common.