8mm Forum: Earth leakage

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Topic: Earth leakage

Graham John Thorpe
Junior
Posts: 2
From: SO31 7BQ/Southampton/United Kingdom
Registered: Nov 2010

posted November 09, 2010 01:00 PM

I have a Bauer T10S which worked well in our previous home with its old fashioned fuses.
In our new home with trip switches the trip occurs as soon as I switch on the projector. I am told this is due to earth leakage.
Is there any way I can get the projector to work in this new situation?
Mnay thanks

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Steve Klare
Film Guy

Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted November 09, 2010 02:19 PM

Whew!...I thought for a minute the Earth was leaking!

If "Earth Leakage" is the same as a "Ground Fault" it means that the current in one leg of your AC input is higher than the other, and the difference is sneaking down the third prong of your power cord back to the planet. Good Thing too: without that third prong it might wind up sneaking to ground through You!

A lot of modern outlets have a means of detecting this fault and disabling power. Is this like a red button in your wall socket?

Has anybody ever rewired your AC input wiring?. I took a machine apart once and found somebody had connected the AC return wire (neutral) to Ground instead of the second pin of the socket. This would have popped a GFI immediately.

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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...

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Martin Jones
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1269
From: Thetford , Norfolk,England
Registered: May 2008

posted November 09, 2010 02:46 PM

Steve has summed up the situation nicely. In the UK, the item he refers to as a "GFI" we call an "RCD" or Residual Current Detector.
This is the item you refer to as a "trip" which is situated on the main fuse board and is mandatory on all new electrical installations.
It trips because there is poor insulation in the projector which enables some of the mains current to "leak" to earth.
There are two cures in your case....
1. Find the leak and cure it; ajob for an electronic or electrical engineer rather than an electrician.
2. Supply the projector through a "Mains Isolating Transformer" of at least the same rating as the TOTAL projector consumption. In this configuration, the projector earth lead can still be connected to earth, or left unconnected. As long as the Transformer is a true "isolating" type there is NO danger of shock resulting from the faulty insulation.

But 1. is the best solution... 2. should only be used as a temporary measure.

Martin

--------------------
Retired TV Service Engineer
Ongoing interest in Telecine....

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Graham John Thorpe
Junior
Posts: 2
From: SO31 7BQ/Southampton/United Kingdom
Registered: Nov 2010

posted November 12, 2010 12:32 PM

Steve & Martin
Many thanks for your help.
Go well
Graham

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Steve Klare
Film Guy

Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted November 12, 2010 12:56 PM

Graham,

We are technical types: to us finding out what was the problem and how you fixed it is like knowing how a mystery novel ends.

-if you find out, please let us know!

--------------------
All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...

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