[MikeTN]

Okay...

Had DTV installed last week.

HD DVR in living room went dead yesterday (stuck on "just a few more seconds").

DTV is sending out a new one to replace it.

So... I was moving the HD DVR form the bedroom to the living room in the meantime.

I happened to touch my Apple TV. I got shocked. It wasn't 110V, but I would guess ~ 60V.

Same thing when I touched chassis of my Integra receiver and my HD DVR.

When I put the new HD DVR in and hooked it up, no shocks anywhere.

Got me to thinking... could the voltage have fried the DVR?

Could it be grounding?

My dish is grounded to the wire I ran when I did my Dish install several years ago (#6 copper from dish to main water pipe as it enters house- same location as electrical service is grounded).

They did not ground the multiswitch though.

Now that the cable runs are different, the cables to the receivers are shorter than the ground wire. Closest and easiest path to ground right?

So could this be a grounding issue, or just an issue with the one HD DVR since it went away?

What can I do to ground the multiswitch since the main ground wire from the dish runs right next to it?

It's a solid run, so I can pass it through (besides being too large) the multiswitch grounding clamps.

It should be a solid run to the grounding point.

Is it worth clamping a wire from the multiswitch to the run of # copper running from the dish to the electrical service ground (water pipe)?

Is it ok like it is?

I realize this could be a 10 page long discussion on grounding, but what do you think in this case?

 

[2dogz]

First thing you want to do is get an electrical tester ( a plug with three LEDs) at home depot, $8 or so. Test all recepticles that these boxes are plugged into. You want to know the the building ground is okay. You should not be getting shocks by touching any of the boxes.

Second, the multiswitch get its ground from the grounded shielding of the coax cable. No extra needed.

Third, are the cables from the dish going to a grounding block near where they enter the house? You didn't say.

 

[MikeTN]

Building ground is ok (first thing I checked).

The cables from the dish are not going to a ground block at all- they enter the house right next to the multiswitch (or enter the crawlspace rather). The only grounding is the #6 from the dish.

When I had Dish, I had the cables entering near the point where the #6 was connected to the water pipe / electrical ground. I had a ground block there at the entrance.

That's what got me to wondering about the multiswitch grounding and the fact that the ground wire is a longer run that the cables now.

 

[2dogz]

Building ground is ok (first thing I checked).

The cables from the dish are not going to a ground block at all- they enter the house right next to the multiswitch (or enter the crawlspace rather). The only grounding is the #6 from the dish.

When I had Dish, I had the cables entering near the point where the #6 was connected to the water pipe / electrical ground. I had a ground block there at the entrance.

That's what got me to wondering about the multiswitch grounding and the fact that the ground wire is a longer run that the cables now.

The Dish installer did it right. Sounds like the D* installer skipped a step. The grounding block is required by building code. If no ground block, call D* and tell them about the lack of ground. Insist if necessary. They require it in their install procedures. They'll fix it.

 

[2dogz]

Still need to find out where you are getting those shocks from also. Something not right.

 

[MikeTN]

The Dish installer was me....

I can stick a ground block out there. I just assumed that would be the multiswitch (since it had a place for ground connections just like the ground blocks do).

The shocks are gone with the new receiver..... I would have guessed voltage from the LNBs, but that should have been apparent with the new box as well (I would have thought).

 

[TigersFanJJ]

Is it worth clamping a wire from the multiswitch to the run of # copper running from the dish to the electrical service ground (water pipe)?

There is really no need to purchase a ground block. Just use a piece of 10AWG solid copper wire (not stranded) and a #4 split bolt that you can get from Lowes or Home Depot and connect the multiswitch to your ground wire. That will work just fine. It is approved and often recommended to ground off the multiswitch instead of a ground block. Some might say that is the reason the multiswitch was designed with a ground terminal (just big enough for a 10AWG wire) on it.

 

[kevinm34232]

FYI I installed a dish for a seasoned FPL (Florida Power and Light) employee. He previously had DISH, which incidently had no messenger wire from the dish to ground block. But the ground block had a STRANDED (10 gauge I think) ground wire run to his electric meter. I told him we have to use 10 gauge solid copper for QC he chuckled about it and said especially with high frequencies the stranded is better because it has more surface area and they use large stranded wire now instead of solid. They have eliminated many problems with lightning and replacing whatever it is they replace that was going bad before. I thought it was interesting but who knows. Anyway I left his stranded ground. Also he said grounding the dish makes it more prone to lightning strikes than not being grounded but it's a catch 22.

 

[joe diamond]

FYI I installed a dish for a seasoned FPL (Florida Power and Light) employee. He previously had DISH, which incidently had no messenger wire from the dish to ground block. But the ground block had a STRANDED (10 gauge I think) ground wire run to his electric meter. I told him we have to use 10 gauge solid copper for QC he chuckled about it and said especially with high frequencies the stranded is better because it has more surface area and they use large stranded wire now instead of solid. They have eliminated many problems with lightning and replacing whatever it is they replace that was going bad before. I thought it was interesting but who knows. Anyway I left his stranded ground. Also he said grounding the dish makes it more prone to lightning strikes than not being grounded but it's a catch 22.

Florida folks live in lightning country!

Up here in MD I once ran across an HSP repair project where ....some DTV CX had no protection plan and they were toast........some were correctly grounded and they had major eq damage..........some were ungrounded and were OK..........SOME WERE CORRECTLY GROUNDED but connected to phone lines and their eq was toast....but being fixed / replaced. Phone lines are connected to a real big lightning grid.

I have heard that grounding the dish protects the LNB but go figure.

Joe

 

[davring]

Two separate occasions my house was struck by lightning, once the transformer behind the house and the next the power line behind my house. Both times there were very few electrical items left working in my home. Lightning laughs at ground wires

 

[TigersFanJJ]

Florida folks live in lightning country!

Up here in MD I once ran across an HSP repair project where ....some DTV CX had no protection plan and they were toast........some were correctly grounded and they had major eq damage..........some were ungrounded and were OK..........SOME WERE CORRECTLY GROUNDED but connected to phone lines and their eq was toast....but being fixed / replaced. Phone lines are connected to a real big lightning grid.

I have heard that grounding the dish protects the LNB but go figure.

Joe

I had that happen here about a year ago. It came in on the phone line and did some nasty damage to my correctly grounded Directv system (among other things). Had to replace a couple of receivers, my two 6x8s, power passing splitters, and the lnb.

 

[2dogz]

I have heard that grounding the dish protects the LNB but go figure.

Grounding the dish drains built up static charge caused by air movement to protect the electronics in the LNB. That's about all the little bitty messenger wire is good for.