So, is the low voltage guys trying to kill me?

Posted by TechGjod@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 18 comments

[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hefUrIiSOq7UTwcaYHSo\_GVgSxb3AYkn/view?usp=drive\_link](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hefUrIiSOq7UTwcaYHSo_GVgSxb3AYkn/view?usp=drive_link) People complain that the White Noise isn't working, we have an amp and white noise generator in the chimney blocked networking rack (installed before I got here, equipment on both sides of the rack, fans pushing towards the middle but... we can't have downtime to fix that... /rant ) Anyway, reaching in. trying to unplug the power (cuz, nothing is labeled) and the fricken thing arcs a few inches from my face. I pull the power to the rack (yes... I am getting yelled at) and pull out the amp, and see this in the power. How pissed should I be?

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18 Comments

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AnomalyNexus@reddit

That is some burn down the building level of cursed. Curious though why a device would have both a 3 pin power lead and a grounding point. Like isn't what the wire did just in the device already. Anyone know?

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orion3311@reddit

Very, that should already be connected internally, why bother doing that??

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WindowsVistaWzMyIdea@reddit

Good news, you don't need a work comp claim That's scary to find

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Udder_Influencer@reddit

if someone on your payroll did that, they should be fired right now. if it's old, you gotta check every power plug on site.

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ProperEye8285@reddit

Sweet Jesus on the Cross...

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bythepowerofboobs@reddit

That is actually pretty hilarious.

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19610taw3@reddit

I bought a house that had something similar on all of the outlets to fool the home inspection into looking like the house had grounded outlets.

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Tx_Drewdad@reddit

wtaf

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greaseyknight2@reddit

That looks like a connection to the ground. Looks dumb, but it should just be ground, that's not carrying any power or shock.

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BigDowntownRobot@reddit

You can see the discoloring from arcing on the plug, right? The man just told you arced. If you can \*see\* an arc, that's a tremendous amount of load transferring through the air. Do you think that little bit of twisted wire resting delicately against the grounding pin is heavy enough to carry 15 amps? What if that entirely unsecured wire was to touch hot or neutral? Now you're feeding overload current back into your lines. Why do you think it has a dedicated grounding pin outside of the plug? It's not just to reduce interference from high loads, it's also for safety. Have you considered that the external grounding pin could already be connected to the IEC grounding circuit instead of being an independent ground, so all this does is add a ton of resistance to the existing IEC ground and now your entire ground circuit is running \*outside\* of the chassis through an uninsulated wire in open air, that is too light to run a table lamp? Why are you giving this advice that can hurt people when you genuinely don't know what you're saying??

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_araqiel@reddit

Until that fucking unsecured wire moves

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graph_worlok@reddit

Just no.. that’s not what these are for, and there’s nothing stopping that bit of scrap from hitting live or neutral if something looks at it the wrong way

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graph_worlok@reddit

Surprised a fuse didn’t blow, I wonder what other presents / booby traps are there

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BadSausageFactory@reddit

earth to common isn't the problem but a wire jammed into an outlet is, and yes it makes me wonder if ground isn't connected between racks or systems or something. this screams band-aid.

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_araqiel@reddit

That wouldn’t fix the problem, those kind of grounding screws are bonded to the power ground

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BadSausageFactory@reddit

the low voltage guys are trying to frame the electricians

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AlexisCM@reddit

I've seen stupid stuff left over from the last IT guy that was here before me but nothing like that. The grounding setup is outright brain dead. Doubt an AC arc would kill you but that's a quick way to kill electronics. I'd be amazed about how stupid it was to set it up like that, but angry would be reserved for something else.

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singlejeff@reddit

That was a pretty stupid 'solution' for grounding. You could be pissed if you want but how long ago was that installed? Before you got there? Other than some arc flash are you harmed? I'd put it in my story queue and move on.