sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring grounding ribbon or braid???

first time I have run across this, but I have a company insisting I use a braided type ground wire to ground my rack mounted IP Office. I didn't have much luck searching the internet. Anyone got a source? Ed???

Try putting "grounding bond braid" in google, I found several types and sources.

Amazon sells braided copper wire on spools and premade braided ground straps. Prices are not bad.

just needed the right terminology. Thanks guys!

A braided ground strap is normally used to ground a componet to a rack or ground multiple racks to each other, not to a cold water pipe or ground rod.

What's the advantage of the braided cable, as opposed to a stranded or solid wire?

Justin

More surface area, thus a better ground. Electricity travels on the surface of a wire not through its center. So stranded is better than solid, braided is better than stranded in therory.

Do a search for ladder rack grounding kits. I use the braided bonds to join rack sections. Black Box or Panduit come to mind.

More surface area, thus a better ground. Electricity travels on the surface of a wire not through its center. So stranded is better than solid, braided is better than stranded in therory.

Stop listening to those IT weanies! They don't know s***!

That's BS unless you are talking about RF. Besides, the ground screw on the IPO chassis is just a UL requirement, not something required for operation. It's required by the listing in case someone pulls the line cord of a wall mounted system thereby removing the ground provided through the electrical receptacle, allowing the premises wiring to "float". If the system equipment (any equipment) is rack mounted, the ground from the other rack components (including the PDU or outlet strips) will be in common with the rack through their mounting screws and provided to all other equipment. Providing a separate ground for a rack of equipment can actually cause problems if the rack ground is derived elsewhere than that of the electrical supply grounds due to stray currents. Those currents can damage equipment as I have related many times.

Further, if a rack contains no powered equipment, such as would be the case with a rack full of patch panels, a ground is neither required by the NEC or even necessary. The premises wiring has no electrical connection to the rack.

-Hal

God bless you, Hal. I'm so tired of companies selling hardware by creating potential hazards in their own minds. They do this in an effort to spook the IT bunch into buying their snake oil.

Exactly. So with their mindset, I should also be bonding a metal 183A1 backboard that carries four 66 blocks? What about the metal BIX frames? Should those be bonded as well? Oh, and don't forget those metal shelving units in the warehouse. This whole thing is quickly becoming more of a joke on a daily basis.

A manufacturer comes up with a potential risk, develops a potential fix for this 'risk', sets up a booth at a seminar and the next thing you know, we have a new hazard. Such BS, yet so many people (even those who I thought were professionals) are falling for it.

The NEC is comprised of a board that almost completely exists of manufacturer executives. When things get slow, they simply invent some new risk, convince the NEC board of this risk and within a few years, their new toy is mandated. The NEC is one step below the crooked standard that our US Congress uses.