[Elecraft] Was Grounding negative side of power supply? - CORRECTING A SERIOUS ERROR

[Don Wilhelm]

Jim,

Yes, Yes, Yes!, I think you read it wrong.

While multiple ground rods and multiple ground path are ok, National 
Electric Code requires them to be connected to the Utility Entry-point 
Ground.  I have posted on this subject many, many times - any additional 
ground rods must connect to the entry ground rod (or point) for safety 
under fault conditions.  I have 20 or 30 ground rods spread about for 
lightning protection - all connected together by #4 or #6 wire and also 
connected to the utility entry ground rod.

Yes, the neutral wire is only to be connected to the safety ground 
inside the entry panel (sub-panels and wired electrical devices must 
isolate the two) - but we were talking about grounds, not the neutral.

One additional note about ground rods at the service entry - I was 
surprised to learn (while building a rental house this year) that now 2 
ground rods are required at the entry, separated by at least 6 feet, and 
connected together with a #6 or larger wire.

73,
Don W3FPR

Jim Brown wrote:
> NO, NO, NO!
>
> Joe, who rarely ever gets it wrong, has led us down a VERY wrong path, 
> and you, who also rarely get it wrong, have followed him. :) 
>
> It is the NEUTRAL that must be bonded to EARTH and SYSTEM GROUND at the 
> main panel/service entrance, and ONLY at that panel. An additional 
> NEUTRAL connection to ground (or the green wire) is what causes an unsafe 
> condition. 
>
> Multiple paths to earth for the chassis of equipment are a GOOD thing, as 
> long as they are all bonded together. in fact, safety codes and good 
> engineering practice all say that you can have as many connections to 
> EARTH as you want, that more connections are better, AND that all of 
> these earth connections MUST be bonded together by a low impedance path. 
>
>   
>