How to remove ground pin on power cable

Take a pair of pliers and break off the ground pin on the male end.

Disassemble the sub side connector and remove the green/center wire from the end.  I'd wrap it in black tape and reassemble it. This will preserve the value and let you reverse it.

I suggest the sub side because if the cable is shielded, you'll want to preserve the ground at the wall side.

If your going to remove the end might as well replace it.  They make male plugs with removable ground pins.  They just unscrew.  If it doesn't fix what ails ya, screw it back in.   

What Erik said.

Yeah. In know. But when he's right, he's right. Not that I would recommend electrical tape. Not when there's heat shrink. And if you're gonna use tape at all at least make it fo.Q tape.

Still and all, credible. 

The Ebtech Hum-X is another safe and effective solution.

Hey Jim!

All the voltage in the 120V AC used in home audio returns to ground via circuit and chassis ground. The two wires coming in, one is hot the other is ground. So even with just two wires your component is grounded.

This is the way all components were made for many years. Decades. Millions of homes in the USA are to this day still wired this way. Its both electrically and historically ignorant to try and say it is unsafe to disconnect a ground.

Sad to say that is the reality, millions of electrically historically ignorant people crowd the forums, so many they drown out the few who actually know what they’re talking about. Their irrational fraidy cat fear combines with their ignorance and that’s how you get the know it all whose name we won’t mention who told me I would kill myself and burn down my neighborhood if I tried to look inside my amp. Lethal even when unplugged.

Yeah. Right. Just like its unsafe to not have two grounds.

Which like I said, ignorance and irrational fear abounds. Now you know we have two grounds, the utility ground everything has plus the redundant earth ground they made us add. But that’s not enough. Nothing is ever enough when you’re irrational fear mongering. Now we need to also ground everything to the plumbing. Three grounds!

There always comes a point in every discussion of electricity where the common sense ends and Nervous Nancy and the Technobabbler’s take over. This is it. The end of the common sense. And now, without further ado, performing twenty five shows a day for endless nights only, our encore presentation of Nervous Nancy and the Technobabblers!

That’s the biggest blunder I’ve ever seen you make here, Miller. There’s a big difference between the neutral (grounded) conductor, and the ground wire, the later being solely as a safety measure in the event of an equipment malfunction.If the OP’s piece came with a three-prong cord, it was for a reason. (it’s the chassis ground, not the neutral wire)
Nothing is grounded to the plumbing any longer, hasn't been for decades. The plumbing is all plastic in most modern homes.

Rule One:
Don't argue proper wiring with Jea48.
Bob

Hi,
if your sub has a floating ground (i doubt it) then why did the manufacturer put it there in the first place. Do not remove it and do not break the earth pin from the AC connector. You can try a different wall outlet for the sub.

I'm not sure if any subject has had more incorrect advice given about it than electricity. And I'm not even knowledgeable enough to recognize most of it. Thanks, Jim. 

My house and every house I build is grounded to the incoming water supply. Everything is copper. The panel and meter is also grounded with not 1 but 2 separate grounds rods 6’ apart staked into the ground. I’ve never heard of a homes electric not being grounded. Then again, this is Chicago and building codes are very strict. 

Panel grounded to incoming water supply. Meter bank to ground rods. A little clarification. 

Just continue to use the cheater plug and don't mutilate an expensive cable.  If you want to get crazy, get one of Synergistic Research's "Quantum Tunneled" cheater plugs.

if your sub has a floating ground (i doubt it) then why did the manufacturer put it there in the first place. Do not remove it and do not break the earth pin from the AC connector.

Since the use of a cheater plug apparently eliminates a ground loop issue, AC safety ground is presumably connected within the sub.

On another note, I wonder if the manufacturer’s ok about defeating the AC safety ground was put in writing, e.g. in an email, or if it was stated verbally. Usually a company will avoid making statements that would create even the slightest risk of a lawsuit.

And on another note as well, given that this is a sub its housing is presumably non-conductive, which would reduce the risk of defeating the safety ground connection compared to doing so with a component having a metallic enclosure. However some subs have metallic heatsinks on the rear, and all of them have screws, connectors, etc., which conceivably could become electrified with 120 volts in the event of an internal fault, perhaps one that is eventually induced by the vibration that occurs within a sub coupled with a manufacturing flaw. And in addition to creating a safety hazard such a fault could potentially damage the rest of the system, depending on how safety ground and circuit ground are interconnected within the sub. The purpose of the safety ground, of course, being to cause the circuit breaker in the electrical panel to trip in the event of such an occurrence.

Regards,
-- Al

PS Audio has made power cords with removable ground pins in the past.  Not sure if they currently make them.  Sounds like the best bet is to get an electrician out to solve the wiring problem.

I do have to say it is fishy as hell for a manufacturer to use a 3 pin IEC connector, with a working ground and say it's removable.  As I understand it, to not require a ground pin you need the powered section to be double isolated.

I have a Hsu sub which has a 2 pin IEC connector. There is literally no ground pin there, and I can therefore use 2 or 3 pin IEC cables. That's the correct way to do this.

From some posts here, apparently many homes continue to be grounded via the water line. Haven't done that here for ages, almost all of the plumbing is PEX, and even on older homes (like mine), enough modern repairs have been made with plastic that it has interrupted that ground path in many instances. Every new home I've been on for over twenty has been grounded to an 8' ground rod at the panel, and for quite a few years now, two 8' ground rods.
L.

Mickeyb, if the panel and meter are grounded to two ground rods (NEC code currently, I believe) what is the additional grounding to the water line?? I’m curious.

I can think of 101 ways by which a chassis can become live.

millercarbon’s post should result in his account being terminated.
His advice could be L E T H A L !!

@nemesis18 - do you have the sub plugged into a different circuit? Is it on the other leg of the power service?

Are you sure you need it plugged into a different circuit?
See https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/should-subwoofer-be-plugged-into-same-circuit/post?highlight=breaker&postid=1843996#1843996 - A/C circuits can supply several multiples of rated breaker capacity for brief instances ala musical peaks. If your system is properly configured so the sub frequencies are not in the mains, they do not require the power.

DBA? Then use an isolation transformer. The life you save maybe your own!!!

@builder3

https://www.thespruce.com/water-heater-bonding-wire-4125747

I can think of 101 ways by which a chassis can become live. 

I can only think of two: Frankenstein. Frank N Furter. 99 still to go. You got me.

Don’t cut the grounding 3rd pin off the male plug; it voids a warranty if it’s still in effect. Same for any DIY ’surgery’ to defeat it...
Besides, it’s likely there for a good reason. Like keeping your hide intact.

Instead, try a simple test 1st.
Insert a 3>2 ’cheater plug’ that comes with the separate ground wire.
(These are also colloquially referred to as a ’dead man plug’.....Gee, I wonder why.....}.

Turn your unit back on. Listen for annoying noise.
If it’s gone, wonderful.
If not, problem is elsewhere.

Bonus points and curiosity cure: Ground wire to the central screw that holds the cover plate of the wall box. Hum returns, Bingo.  Hum still exists....Well, fook....*L*

I had a similar hum issue a while back.....had nothing to due with the AC lines....faulty interconnect RCA cable....took a while to find That...

From some posts here, apparently many homes continue to be grounded via the water line.

This hasn't been acceptable ( up to code ) in decades. I mean, there's no requirement to fix this, generally, but you may no longer rely on copper pipes for new construction and upgrades.  You MUST use grounding rods (sometimes more than 2, depends on soil conditions) for the electrical ground and they must connect to the neutral only at the service entrance. Any sub panels must maintain the ground/neutral separation.

There are some requirements to ground copper pipes, which I forget why, but you don't use them as electrical safety grounds. Not only are the connections iffy, but with modern water pipes using mostly plastic it is quite easy to find an older home which has plastic in the middle.

millercarbon:

There always comes a point in every discussion of electricity where the common sense ends and Nervous Nancy and the Technobabbler’s take over. This is it. The end of the common sense. And now, without further ado, performing twenty five shows a day for endless nights only, our encore presentation of Nervous Nancy and the Technobabblers!

That's some kwisatz haderach level presience there, fellas.

Which like I said, ignorance and irrational fear abounds. Now you know we have two grounds, the utility ground everything has plus the redundant earth ground they made us add.

Like most everything, mc is ignorant on electrical wiring. There is one ground and that is the utility neutral. The Earth safety [ground rod, Ufer, copper pipe] is connected to it in the event lightning hits the electrical service. The Earth safety takes the current to earth, not the neutral.

The Earth safety on equipment is to prevent the chassis becoming live in the event of accident or failure.

Nervous Nanny:

1. remove safety ground pin
2. slide heavy amp w captive cord into rack
3. pinch cable between amp and rack, cut through insulation to hot lead
4. drop amp
5. cut off toe

I see SatTV and Cable 'grounded' to hose bibs on houses plumbed with PEX.

Like most everything, mc is ignorant on electrical wiring.

+1. Or as Mark Twain famously said, “What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so.”

Best regards,
-- Al
 

Erik, thanks. Your last post is generally in line with my observations. (I’m a builder, been 31 years). Everything gets dedicated ground rods now. No waterpipes, no Ufers cast in the foundation, etc. It’s not that a buried line wouldn’t normally be sufficient, it’s that there’s too much potential for it to become rendered ineffective though ongoing plumbing modernization and repairs. It’s happening at my house currently, nearly 70 year old water line feeding the home, big section of it is going away, replaced with PEX.
Jim, thanks as well. I’ve read your answer about six times. I understand what it says (pretty sure), but don’t understand why. Can you offer an explanation. At anywhere beyond the most remedial, I don’t comprehend the interaction of the neutral and the ground, when they’re bonded, when they’re not, etc. I realize this may be a tall order, if so, just say so.
Thanks

miller, as much as I appreciate 99% of your posts, I’m not sure how you defend your position on this. It’s simple. The ground is the only safeguard in the event that any metal item becomes energized due to an equipment defect or failure.
Our house was built in 1952. I can't tell you what the code requirements may have been then. Jim may know. Everything was wired with two-conductor cables, forerunner of romex, I guess. All the boxes, etc, were metal, and they all were connected with a dedicated ground wire, one to the other. I’ve yet to find a fault in any of it, I’ve probably modernized 30% of the home, at this point. There wasn’t a three prong outlet anywhere, (not sure if they existed at the time) so you’re on your own with the toaster, etc, but every box, switch, plug, etc, was grounded. Somebody knew it was important then. It still is.
L.

ieales, I've seen 2 homes that have been struck by lightning, which isn't that common here. One was older, one very new. The lightning certainly made it's way to ground alright, used about a fourth of the home to do so, including even the framing and siding. The ground wire at the panel was sorely outmatched, shall we say. I think the service mast was blown clear out of the wall on the older home, IIRC. Small sample, no idea what "normal" may be.

@builder3
AFAIK, the Earth safety is for when lightning hits the electrical service, meaning the power from the street. The mesh of earthed neutrals in the neighborhood might just carry enough current to limit the damage.

Sadly, modern building codes remove all those nice tall utility poles with their fat earths, leaving my roof the highest object in the neighborhood for a ¼ mile.

If my house gets hit, all bets are off.

We have trees. Of course, they're far more likely to crush our house in a storm than get hit by lightning. Whadya gonna do?

miller, as much as I appreciate 99% of your posts, I’m not sure how you defend your position on this. It’s simple. The ground is the only safeguard in the event that any metal item becomes energized due to an equipment defect or failure. 

You're right it is pretty simple. The two wires in a two wire system, only one of them is hot. That's your 120V. The other wire is ground. Technically called neutral but this brings up the first redundancy. There's ground where any voltage potential goes into the actual earth ground. A rod driven deep into the ground. The neutral wire is also ground, only in the common layman's sense of grounding. I don't always get all pedantic in explaining. The ones who know will understand and the others will get triggered and then I can pick and choose whether to ignore the ones who get triggered or try and explain. 

I say try because it hardly ever works. Oh well. 

I don't by the way have a whole lot of respect or patience for "code". Having learned from a journeyman electrician and having wired a whole house, twice, my experience with "code" is some moron making you re-do a whole weeks work because he thinks you should have an extra 1" of wire in the box. Or 1" less. They are that retarded. Meanwhile, in other "code" I have to install hurricane clips to hold my roof on. We have yet to record a hurricane in Seattle. Code can, as the Robert Duvall character in Jack Reacher would say, "Suck it!"

Our house was built in 1952. I can't tell you what the code requirements may have been then. Jim may know. Everything was wired with two-conductor cables, forerunner of romex, I guess. All the boxes, etc, were metal, and they all were connected with a dedicated ground wire, one to the other.

 

Wonderful story. Really. Charmed. What that has to do with anything I haven't the foggiest.

Look. Those old homes. Forget the metal boxes. Forget they are connected. Forget they are grounded. Why? Because I want you to think of something evidently never occurred to you before.

All those outlets they have how many plugs again? Oh yeah- two. And the stuff you plug into them? Two wires, right? One hot, one neutral. Just like I said. 

So now here's the question: When your whatever it is connected with two wires somehow gets energized, of what use exactly is the metal outlet box being grounded? Anyone? Beuller?

None. None at all. What happens is the component, the whatever it is, the neutral wire carries the charge right back to the utility ground. Just like it always does. Which is why nobody electrocuted themselves all those decades using the old system.

Never had anything to do with the outlet boxes being grounded. That my friend is what we call a redundancy. Never did have anything to do with the safety of the stuff plugged into it. Not until the third wire came along. Technically, not even then. The third wire, the true earth ground, is merely another redundancy.

What happened, as if anyone cares, is people with real lives became so wealthy and so comfortably numb they didn't care when the morons who think 1" more or less in the box really matters came along and said, "You've got millivolts of voltage potential on that neutral wire, we can eliminate that infinitesimally micro risk that hasn't caused a single death in a million man-years." And we said, "I don't have the foggiest what "potential" means but "voltage" sounds scary so yeah sure go for it."

So now you know. That's how I defend my position. By being right. Works every time. 

miller, you are still missing the point, and in a big way. The ground is a safety device, carrying current to ground (rather than the home-owner) in the case of dangerous malfunction or device failure. The ground has nothing whatsoever to do with the actual circuit. The neutral isn't, it's a conductor. It isn't used as a safety device.
 And as far as my "charming story", of course I realize what you, in your boundless arrogance, seem to think I could never have thought of. I understand completely that nothing plugged in at my house was ever grounded. Hadn't gotten that far yet, in the scheme of things. Everything else was, though. The metal box, which you wouldn't normally contact, and thru it, all the metal in every switch, outlet, light fixture, heater, etc, etc, all grounded.

Jim, I appreciate you taking the time, and also spelling it out in a way easily digested by a layman. I’m out west, in Oregon. The AHJ here for years was the State Electrical Inspector, most were great with one exception. A few years back, that responsibility fell to the local county inspector, presumably with a few courses under his belt, and the State’s blessing. The PUD has never had any requirements that I’ve been aware of regarding the location of the ground rod(s), so they are always located beside the footing, from what I’ve seen. Bear in mind it’s pretty wet, here.
The only real difference I see here is the lack of a bond to the water pipe. I understand everything you’ve written on that, and can’t disagree with any of it. But it’s just never done here, NEC or no. Just about all new homes are PEX, from the meter, so there’s that. But even in the earlier ones, it just hasn’t been done to my knowledge for about 25 years here. I’m sure you understand exactly why it’s an issue. I’ve been under so many homes where the ground was clamped on the nearest copper or iron pipe, which was sometime later rendered worthless with modern repairs. Obviously the fault lies with the choice of the original clamp location. Once again, thank you.

Millercarbon has been deservedly schooled here so I’m reluctant to pile on. But he is just so ignorant on electrical circuits and electrical safety!

millercarbon

The two wires in a two wire system, only one of them is hot. That’s your 120V. The other wire is ground. Technically called neutral but this brings up the first redundancy. There’s ground where any voltage potential goes into the actual earth ground. A rod driven deep into the ground. The neutral wire is also ground ...

No, the neutral wire is neutral; it is not ground and that’s an important distinction. Electricity always wants to flow back to the source - not the ground. That’s why an aircraft can have a functioning electrical system even though - obviously - it can have no "ground." But it does have a neutral that flows back to the source.

I don’t by the way have a whole lot of respect or patience for "code". Having learned from a journeyman electrician and having wired a whole house, twice, my experience with "code" is some moron making you re-do a whole weeks work because he thinks you should have an extra 1" of wire in the box. Or 1" less. They are that retarded.

I’ll just echo what others have said here and suggest that you do not know what you are talking about.

I have a friend who is a master electrician. He’s done some exceptional work at my house. He is often confronted by potential customers who want him to take shortcut on a project, which he’ll refuse, citing code. When the potential customer asks what the purpose of the code is, he recites the same two-word answer: "Somebody died."
And that’s exactly how the electrical codes (and other building codes) have evolved.

The third wire, the true earth ground, is merely another redundancy.

No, it’s not redundant and if you understand the difference between neutral and ground, you’d understand that. The third wire is safety ground. The neutral wire is neutral.

So now you know. That’s how I defend my position. By being right. Works every time.

You’ve clearly been shown to be completely wrong on this entire topic and that you refuse to learn reveals much, much more about you than you realize.

So you guys think its fair to nitpick me to death, then remove my post so people don’t get the explanation. Its okay for you to use my words, but not me. Someone, not all but some number of you, are the most despicable spineless weasely lowlifes imaginable.