Grounding Electrical Appliances
Below are instructions for grounding electrical appliances.
- Grounding a Lamp - Skill level : Intermediate -- see video below
- Grounding a Laptop - Skill level : Beginner
Note that these instructions assume that you are using a properly grounded outlet. This can be tested with a cheap outlet tester.
How to Ground a Lamp
To ground a lamp, first make sure to choose a lamp with metal continuous from the base metal screw to the socket, and with a polarized plug (of the top 2 pins, one pin is bigger than the other). The grounding wires will be connected to the base screw.
Tools and Parts
- Shielded, grounded 12' AC power cable, low outgassing and RoHS-certified
- Wire stripper
- Wire nuts
- Wrench, to loosen base screw of lamp
White = Neutral, Connects to lamp's neutral (the same side as the bigger lug)
Green = Ground, Connects to lamp's base screw, assuming it is continuously metal to the socket
Silver = Ground, Twist with Green, and connects to lamp's base screw
How to Ground a Laptop
You may want to ground your laptop if it has a 2-pin plug and is not connected to any devices with a 3-pin plug. To do this, you can obtain a grounding cord for the laptop and connect it to a metal interface on the laptop, such as the USB port.
Caution: Some computers may temporarily shut down upon plugging in the grounding cable. If you ground your laptop, you do so at your own risk. Note also that while it can be helpful to ground electrical appliances, do NOT attempt to ground yourself in a high electrical environment. For more info, see Electric Fields.
How to Ground a Laptop with a 2-pin plug
Below is a grounding cable from Less EMF.
Although you could make your own grounding cable, this is a hard-to-beat price.
This is a special cable under $10 where only the grounding wire will be used-- the hot and neutral wires should not be present, or if they are, they should not be plugged in. One end has the ground plug. In some cases, the hot and neutral pins are removed from the plug. In other cases, the hot and neutral pins are still present in the plug, but are not wired past the plug of the cable. In the example below from Less EMF, there is only one thin wire coming out of the head.
The metal ring on the other side of the plug can be inserted snugly in the upper portion of the USB port, although it is a little hard to fit in.
For easier insertion, you can remove the ring terminal and crimp on a spade terminal instead with the help of a wire stripper and crimper for ease of insertion.
You can now insert the plug into the outlet and insert the spade terminal into the USB interface of your computer shown below.
You can squeeze it on the top part of the USB interface, so that it is fit snugly and touched to the metal of the USB interface. If you run out of USB ports as a result, you can connect the metal terminal to a USB hub which is connected to the computer.
Note that the electrical ground may itself be contaminated with induced voltages or "dirty" electricity-- thus, some recommend to ground electrical appliances to a copper rod in the earth instead. Always check your grounding with meters to make sure it decreases body voltage without increasing intermediate frequencies.
For further grounding ideas, see Safer Use of Computers from Create Healthy Homes.
For more info, see Electric Fields.