CarPC works with NO GROUND!?

**buurin** · 07-25-2006, 04:59 PM

Lately my sound has been clipping, and I wasnt sure why. I checked my audio connections and figured maybe my cheap headunit was having issues...

Today I went to vaccum my car and I see one of the wires going to my M1-ATX PSU is disconnected completly! What threw me off even more is that the wire was red yet my carputer was currently on and working fine! Turns out it was my ground wire ( For whatever reason I made it red )

Anyways... Does it make any sense that the carputer would function with absolutely no ground? Apparently it must make some sense because it is running.

I am going to solder all connections tonight. I never did like those butt connectors.

**ergman** · 07-25-2006, 05:05 PM

Is it possible the way you mounted the PC chassis or PSU it was grounded anyways. There should be no way to run the CarPC without a ground.

**mccdeuce** · 07-25-2006, 05:07 PM

yeah - it would all depend on how you have your system hooked up.

My casing is grounding, and therefore works without the ground - but I have it plugged in anyway.

You have to remember that the whole car is pracitcally grounded so it is getting its ground connection from another source.

Not really a big deal.

**GuessWhosBack** · 07-25-2006, 05:10 PM

car PC was probably grounding through the RCA cables, and through the headunit case = not good!

**buurin** · 07-25-2006, 05:12 PM

I have an ampie case with m1-atx... Sitting on under the passenger seat of the car which is obviously carpeted.

I suppose the m1 is 'grounded' to the case but the case is not grounded to chasis. Its getting its ground from somewhere -- which I need to fix ASAP. I blew out my rear USB and I bet my poor ground had something to do with it.

**MatrixPC** · 07-25-2006, 05:27 PM

Originally Posted by buurin

Lately my sound has been clipping, and I wasnt sure why. I checked my audio connections and figured maybe my cheap headunit was having issues...

and

Originally Posted by GuessWhosBack

car PC was probably grounding through the RCA cables, and through the headunit case = not good!

**buurin** · 07-25-2006, 05:58 PM

Originally Posted by MatrixPC

and... this is how I increase my post count

and

**GuessWhosBack** · 07-28-2006, 03:51 AM

glad we sorted that out.. HAHA!!

**blessani** · 07-28-2006, 05:54 AM

Read read read ...... Most bizzare grounding situation...

I had the same thing happen to me. As above, you'll find that everything is grounded somehow. Just make sure each item is properly grounded to avoid any future electrical issues.