[Teapole]

Hey, I'm getting a new modem for my internet service soon and I want to make sure that there's no grounding issues for the outlet that it will be plugged into.

Unfortunately, the area it needs to be is an old two prong outlet. As of now I have a spike-strip extension cord with a red light 'line fault' I'm assuming that means grounding issue. So I have a couple questions.

If I use an adapter (the ones that plug into bottom or top, provide three extra places to plug in) and put a screw through the little ground flap into the outlet plate, will that ground it and prevent dirty power?

If I buy the whole replacement at a hardware store (box, plate, etc..) three prong, will it be grounded correctly, or does something else determine that?

Do I have any other options to get this area grounded correctly. My main thing is I don't want dirty power going into the modem.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Teapole]

Hey, I'm getting a new modem for my internet service soon and I want to make sure that there's no grounding issues for the outlet that it will be plugged into.

Unfortunately, the area it needs to be is an old two prong outlet. As of now I have a spike-strip extension cord with a red light 'line fault' I'm assuming that means grounding issue. So I have a couple questions.

If I use an adapter (the ones that plug into bottom or top, provide three extra places to plug in) and put a screw through the little ground flap into the outlet plate, will that ground it and prevent dirty power?

If I buy the whole replacement at a hardware store (box, plate, etc..) three prong, will it be grounded correctly, or does something else determine that?

Do I have any other options to get this area grounded correctly. My main thing is I don't want dirty power going into the modem.

Thanks in advance!

BTW - I'm from North Carolina and the house is up to code I believe (kitchen, bathroom, garage all have three-prong)

 

[ddawg16]

A grounded outlet will not solve dirty power.

If all of your connections are good, I'm sure your power is ok.

The MOST important thing is to make sure your cable coming to the house is properly grounded. There should be a ground block at the point of entry that has a heavy wire going to the ground system of your house.

The power supply for the cable modem is going to be a wall wart....basically an AC/DC switching power supply. It's not going to be affected if the outlet it's plugged into is not grounded.

But the outer shield of your cable going to the modem does set up the ground reference. That is why it needs to be grounded before it gets into the house.

All of the Ethernet jacks are transformer coupled....so they will not be bothered by ground issues.

 

[Teapole]

Okay, awesome.

I had the cable company come out a year or two ago because of bad connections. We had three or four guys say they were stumped until one decided to venture under the house to find that the cable was ungrounded and there were a lot of problems.

Eventually Time Warner Cable hired a private guy to come out and he redid everything, grounding the cable I guess. It was an all day thing, not exactly sure what he did but hopefully that's what it was.

 

[Oso954]

BTW - I'm from North Carolina and the house is up to code I believe (kitchen, bathroom, garage all have three-prong)

If the house was all "up to code" you wouldn't have that two prong receptacle.

The big question is was the house built with the ground wires connected to the metallic boxes or not ? If so, you can install a 3 prong receptacle and extend/connect the ground to the receptacle.

But depending on exact age, those wires may not exist or may not be properly connected.

For that one specific receptacle, I would pull it and look for ground wires in the box. For the other existing 3prongs, I would use a multimeter or an inexpensive receptacle tester to check for a ground.

 

[Teapole]

I can tell you this. There are a lot of grated - ceramic heater things all over the house that have long been disconnected from power. I've taken a few apart and there's what looks like pos - neg - and twisted ground that is screwed into the bottom of the ... enclosure.

 

[dmxtothemax]

If you are concerned no earth ? then involve an electrician please, earthing is a complex issue and inexperienced people playing around with the earthing usually leads to other problems. Not to mention code issues as well.
:vs_no_no_no:

 

[AllanJ]

Provided that the grounded conductor (neutral) in the service wiring to the utility pole is intact and you have one or more ground rods then you can always string additional wires from electronic equipment for earthing purposes.

A common auxiliary grounding (earthing) consists of a bare #14 wire daisy chained from one electronic device to another, connected to the chassis of each. The far end of this wire is connected to a ground rod that is part of the building earthing system (grounding electrode system) or to the panel neutral bus bar or to the fat wire (grounding electrode conductor) going between those two components.

In the U.S., a ground rod that is used for anything (such as for a radio or a modem or a telephone system) must be connected to the building grounding electrode system (using a #6 copper wire run outdoors along the foundation as much as possible).

Assume that power conditioners (used to clean up dirty power) require a ground (grounded receptacle if plugged in) although some models don't.

 

[Jump-start]

Hey, I'm getting a new modem for my internet service soon and I want to make sure that there's no grounding issues for the outlet that it will be plugged into.

Unfortunately, the area it needs to be is an old two prong outlet. As of now I have a spike-strip extension cord with a red light 'line fault' I'm assuming that means grounding issue. So I have a couple questions.

If I use an adapter (the ones that plug into bottom or top, provide three extra places to plug in) and put a screw through the little ground flap into the outlet plate, will that ground it and prevent dirty power?

If I buy the whole replacement at a hardware store (box, plate, etc..) three prong, will it be grounded correctly, or does something else determine that?

Do I have any other options to get this area grounded correctly. My main thing is I don't want dirty power going into the modem.

Thanks in advance!

Grounding does not clean up or solve "dirty" power.

No offense, but considering your skill level (like calling AC electricity pos/neg) it would be best to hire an electrician.

 

[AllanJ]

Dirty power can come that way from the utility, or things in the house, notably large motors, can make the power dirty. Power conditioners filter the dirtiness (frequencies above 60 Hz, and individual spikes much shorter than half a cycle).

Do you have any receptacles that you know are grounded and does the red fault light come also on when the spike strip is plugged in there? The red light could just signify that the surge/spike protection in the power strip no longer works, having been normally sacrificed to a surge or spike some time ago.

 

[Know A Little]

The majority of so called "Dirty Power" is a result of neutrals grounded down stream from the main serviced neutral ground bond, so a two pong ungrounded outlet is a cleaner method, though not the safest.