Basic power quality methodology

The more advanced that electronic equipment becomes, the more dependent it is on clean power. I ran into a good reference source on troubleshooting power quality problems. It explains basic procedures such as creating a current one-line, doing a walk around, and keeping an incident log. It's worth checking out ...

Basic power quality methodology

Jerry, thanks, this is a great reminder that all those codes everyone ignores, like NFPA 70B, 110, 111, etc... If you actually DO all that recommended and required maintenance and record keeping, you saving money in the long run!

Grounding is incredible important, as well. Traditional NEC grounding methods are fine for safety, but just plain suck at grounding modern electronic equipment. Long pieces of copper wire back to a ground rod might as well be an open circuit to the EMI in a modern datacenter. Supplemental ground systems, equipotential planes, and other methods are required to shunt the noise to ground. It's counterintuitive, but grounding equipment to the metal grid of a raised deck floor is actually far more effective than a wire straight down to a ground rod, because at those frequencies, the capacitance between the raised deck and the earth is a lower impedance than the inductor a straight piece of cable turns into.

Connection to dirt is not important in noise control. It is the bonding of all surfaces into an equi-potential plane that is important. IMHO we should stop using the word 'grounding' when we mean is 'bonding'.