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Road Rage & PCB Ground Wiring

Started by DeepBlueC, October 08, 2012, 12:07:00 AM

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DeepBlueC

I'm experiencing some denseness regarding ground wiring when using a Road Rage for 15V operation. The standard wiring diagram shows ground from the DC jack going straight to the input jack sleeve with one ground connection from the effect PCB to the 3PDT switch (which ultimately winds up at the input jack sleeve as well). I'm good so far. But then the Road Rage diagram comes along and shows DC jack ground going to the Road Rage PCB, and then there's an additional ground connection next to the 15V output that says "ground for all applications." (Plus another ground point for PCB or additional DC jack, but I get that I don't need to use that.)

So here's where I'm confused. Do I connect the ground next to the 15V output to the input jack sleeve, treating the Road Rage and the DC jack as one unit? Do I instead connect that ground to one of the effect PCB ground points? Do I have to connect ground from the DC jack to the Road Rage to begin with as long as all grounds end up at the same place? Or are these methods all interchangeable and it really doesn't matter?  ???

Pardon my aforementioned denseness, and thank you in advance, oh wise project wizards.  :)

gtr2

Ground is ground.  Just do whats most convienient.
1776 EFFECTS STORE     
Contract PCB designer

DeepBlueC

Guess I'm always concerned about inadvertently creating a ground loop. I'm thinking the best practice would be to have each component (DC jack, Road Rage, effect PCB) have only one ground connection and then star-ground to the input jack sleeve (or through the 3PDT to the input jack sleeve). Which is why the Road Rage wiring diagram confused me as it shows ground going "through" the Road Rage rather than just out of it, if that makes sense.

stecykmi

from my experience, effects tend to be pretty forgiving with ground loops and such. that said, it'll never hurt to follow some basic grounding procedures, namely, don't ground something more than you need to. grounding everything to a single point isn't a bad idea either.

i've seen tons of "vintage" effects that are pretty loosey-goosey with grounding and they sound fine, though.

DeepBlueC

After thinking about this a bit, I thought I'd flog poor old Bessie with one more question. In an attempt to capture stray DC, especially when power travels over the PCB en route to its destination, is there any downside to wiring ground this way:

1) From DC jack to Road Rage ground point next to +9V input,

2) From Road Rage ground point next to 15V/18V/-9V power outs to effect PCB ground point next to PCB power in, and

3) From a 2nd PCB ground point to the 3PDT switch, eventually connecting to input jack ground.

This seems to be more in the spirit of the Road Rage wiring diagram, and this way I could twist power and ground wires together when they travel in the same direction. I think I'm slowly but surely getting this, but I want to be sure I'm on the right track. Any chance of ground loops or other trouble here?