[rescue] Rescued VAX 4500 question

[Tim H.]

OK, I will bite.  In a proper installation ground is NOT used, the wire is unnecessary for any normal operation, it is there simply to drain voltage if there is a misfunction in the equipment.  In fact that is how a ground fault circuit breaker works, if the curent in the hot line is not exactly equal to the current in the neutral line, then it trips, because there must be a current leakage to ground.  So how did a grounding upgrade fix the problem?

Oh, wait, I was thinking of ground at outlet, If your electrical code bonds neutral->ground at the service box, an improved building ground could help.  Please enlighten me, I didn't think Euro power was significantly different than ours in the US. (other than the obvious voltage/frequency difference)

Tim

On Mon, 10 Jun 2002 15:58:53 +0200 (MEST)
"Stephen D. B. Wolthusen" <stephen at wolthusen.com> wrote:

<SNIP>
> 
> I've had a VS4500 running in my basement for some time (Germany, 240VAC) now.
> Without the antique drives the power requirements appear to be quite modest 
> (although SCSI drives look a little ... puny ... compared to their DSSI
> brethren, the speed difference is very much noticeable). Don't have wattage
> numbers at hand, though. Just don't get me started about the power (and
> grounding!) requirements of the PDP-8 and -11s. The -8 managed to get the
> lights flickering before a major grounding upgrade.
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
>         later,
>         Stephen
> 
> Stephen Wolthusen (stephen at wolthusen.com)
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