Main > Main Forum
Grounding a USB trackball necessary?
zenmasterbooty:
I don't get it...The USB cable contains a ground (along with a +.5v and twisted data pair). Why would you need another ground.
Also, for a wrist strap to work, the bench must be grounded. Attaching a ground wire to "any ole piece of metal" wouldn't necessarily be effective at dissipating static.
Kremmit:
In theory, it's supposed to be attached to something inside the cab that is in turn connected to earth ground. Lots of people skip it, but it certainly can't hurt to hook it up if it's not too much trouble.
2600:
Signal Ground does not equal Earth Ground.
Depending on where you live(i.e. you shock yourself a lot in the winter) you can build up a charge touch your spinner, trackball, etc and 2000 volts get's sent back to your PC. Not good and your PC won't take that abuse for very long.
A simple, Good enough for Gov't work, way to ground everything is to connect a wire to one of the mounting screws of your PC's Power Supply. The Power Supply case is connected to your AC earth Ground and it will dissipate back into that. I like to use one of those ring terminal crimp connectors and just slip it over the mounting screw, but whatever works for you. I attach the other end to the trackball and to a mounting screw for my spinner. If you use a modular panel, it's only one more wire to connect.
CheffoJeffo:
The green grounds are for dissipating static charges in the rollers ... there are those who will say that you don't need to connect them and Happs support has been known to say that you really only need them in dry climates.
I connect mine -- compared to the entire cab-building process, it is the most minor of inconveniences.
Cheers.
CheffoJeffo:
--- Quote from: DaveMMR on June 06, 2006, 01:16:41 am ---I was going to ask because I have no convenient way of attaching it to something (panels swap out). I was just going to screw it down, hide under a blanket, cover my eyes and hope that somehow, everything turns out okay.
--- End quote ---
Couldn't you make a simple contact point on your panel where it attaches to the cab ? Like the contacts used in old (e.g. before magnetic contacts) alarm systems to detect if a window or door is open. The panel side would connect to the earth ground on your TB while the cab side would connect to an earth ground in your cabinet.
Having said all of this, I notice that even Bob Roberts has suggested that earth grounding may be more trouble than it is worth:
--- Quote --- FAQ: In most of my games the earth ground ends at the AC filter & does not tie the metal cab parts together. What's the deal here?
Yes it's true that inert cab metal grounding is often nonexistent or it has the CP excluded due to minor shocks between games when one is improperly wired... it has the monitor frame excluded due to herringbone interference presenting itself on the screen... it has the PS excluded due to chattering &/or interference, and there are many varying opinions on this within the industry & all I can say on that is that any shocks that I have gotten from inert metal vid game parts since their inception, has been from earth grounded pieces. I have never received a shock from an inert vid game metal part that was not tied to earth ground!
--- End quote ---
http://homearcade.org/BBBB/buildit.html
Cheers.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version