Changing of 2 pin plug to 3 pin plug(Grounding)
- Thread starter emptinessben
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Tetragrammaton
Member
In normal electrical practice. Red, Yellow, blue are phase(live) cable, black is always neutral and green or yellow/green is Earth. But some appliances uses White or brown as phase and black or blue as neutral. It's either white as phase, black as neutral, green/yellow or green as Earth. Or brown as phase, blue as neutral, and green or green/yellow as Earth.
In any instance of any electrical points, Black must be neutral and Red, Yellow, Blue as phase and Green or Green/yellow as Earth(In accordance to CP 5). In a connection for AC supply, polarity does not matter as it'll work anyway. But be very careful about fitting the ground on the right place. An Ohm meter or multi-tester would be ideal in determining connection. For DC supply, polarity matters. Must get the right polarity for a connection.
Answering to Boss Adaptors or Technically it will be known as a step-down transformer. It is also a convertor of current from AC to DC on most cases. From the Primary connection (AC 230V), grounding is not necessary as the neutral is actually the ground for the transformer. While the output voltage as in 9V normally rectified into DC to create a constant flow in current and the current is normally quite small probably less than 1 amp.
For a 2 cable amplifiers. You may discharge some electrical leaks that is in this case would create unnecessary noise from any metal parts of the amplier. You just have to add another cable to be joint to the 3 pin plug. Optionally, you could replace the double core cable with a 3 core cable to avoid the unsight effect. But in many cases, if an amplifier is only fitted with a two core wire without grounding meaning the ampere is rather small and negligible amount of noise would be produce.
In a 3 pin plug, the fuse is 13 amp. Any device that exceed the 13 amp primary usage must never use a 13 A plug top. There's a fuseless rounded head plug top that requires different 15 A socket.
Hope this little information helps!
Saluti!
Tetragrammaton
In any instance of any electrical points, Black must be neutral and Red, Yellow, Blue as phase and Green or Green/yellow as Earth(In accordance to CP 5). In a connection for AC supply, polarity does not matter as it'll work anyway. But be very careful about fitting the ground on the right place. An Ohm meter or multi-tester would be ideal in determining connection. For DC supply, polarity matters. Must get the right polarity for a connection.
Answering to Boss Adaptors or Technically it will be known as a step-down transformer. It is also a convertor of current from AC to DC on most cases. From the Primary connection (AC 230V), grounding is not necessary as the neutral is actually the ground for the transformer. While the output voltage as in 9V normally rectified into DC to create a constant flow in current and the current is normally quite small probably less than 1 amp.
For a 2 cable amplifiers. You may discharge some electrical leaks that is in this case would create unnecessary noise from any metal parts of the amplier. You just have to add another cable to be joint to the 3 pin plug. Optionally, you could replace the double core cable with a 3 core cable to avoid the unsight effect. But in many cases, if an amplifier is only fitted with a two core wire without grounding meaning the ampere is rather small and negligible amount of noise would be produce.
In a 3 pin plug, the fuse is 13 amp. Any device that exceed the 13 amp primary usage must never use a 13 A plug top. There's a fuseless rounded head plug top that requires different 15 A socket.
Hope this little information helps!
Saluti!
Tetragrammaton
daryl
New member
The plug I got with my Vox reads 16A 250V on the power socket side and 10A 250V on the side connected to the amp. Is it okay to get the standard 13A 3pin plugs? And does anyone know where to get a job like this done? I'm bad with this kind of stuff! Thanks
anyone knows?
nevermind, it works!
anyone knows?
nevermind, it works!
subversion
Moderator
it definitely does. we get frustrated trying stuff at the shops because of this issue which would lead many of us into thinking there's a problem with the instrument when it's the amp all along... 
matt-muser
New member
if the plug of ur amp has anything less than 13a, will it be alright?
im kinda scared then when i chop off the cable i will get only two wires inside, im using a silivertone amp.
im kinda scared then when i chop off the cable i will get only two wires inside, im using a silivertone amp.
matt-muser
New member
i just check my amp plug, it says 250v 16a.. can i still ground it? normal plug have only fuse of 13a, does this mean i cannot ground my amp?
Tetragrammaton
Member
Hi there!
It's been sometime since I check on this thread. Well, answering to your question here it is. Actually, I don't really get you. Ok, I assume your plug(ending joining to the power-point) reads as 16A 250V. And your device says 10A 250V. For this case, your device maximum load only runs at 10A/250V. So if you replace the plug-top with a 13A plugtop, you're safe. You only need to worry the amperage of your device so that it will work properly. Most musical device never goes higher than 13A except some very high amplifier wattage.
PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THE CONNECTION.
Hope this help!
Saluti!
Tetragrammaton
Tetragrammaton
Member
I'm sure your plug reads 16A but what about your device? As I wrote earlier, most musical device does not exceed 13A current in rating. But, it is always best to check on your device. Lets say you've checked and it's less than 13A and you're ready to change the plugtop. When cutting, observe how many core cables are there inside the insulated cable. If you have 3 core cables. It means when you connect with a new plugtop it will be grounded as it is suppose to. But if you still have problems with the hissing sound check with an ohm meter to see if the internal ground port is connected with the ground cable.
But if you have only 2 wires. You can add a new wire connecting it to any metal part(DO NOT CONNECT TO THE PCB IF THERE IS) of the amplifier. Best to connect inside the amp. On the other hand, joint that cable to earth on the plugtop. If you think that's unsightly, change a 3 core cable all together.
Saluti!
Tetragrammaton
ymmak
New member
i think ur plug reads 16A meaning that the plug can tahan 16A of power surge and the fuse wun blow, but i dun think ur amp will draw anything more than 13A. if it does draw more than 13A, then go and use the power socket needed for washing machines or air-cons, i heard they supply more than the normal 13A, but i dont know how much.
i think some pple r confuse reading this thread is becoz they r confused with some fundamental technical stuff. my parents r eee engineers, so they explained a little to me, so now i share a little.
1) types of wall sockets:
there are many different types of wall sockets. different country gotta different standard. for singapore, most, if not all, singaporean households got 2 types of wall sockets: 13A ones with 3 rectangular holes, or >13A ones with 3 rounded holes.
2) get to know the holes of the singaporean wall sockets:
whether they can supply 13A or more than 13A, for singaporean socket, the top hole is for grounding, right is live and left is neutral.
3) purposes of grounding:
one of the main purpose of grounding, that everyone should know, is for safety by preventing electrical shock due to short circuit or power leak. for audio equipments, grounding also help to minimise feedback, but i dont know how it works.
4) how to do grounding:
note that there are many ways of grounding. by placing part of the metal component of the electrical appliances on the grounding is also grounding. but the reason why this is not encouraged becoz this is not proper grounding. a proper grounding is effective and safe. manufacturers introduce earth wire as an effective and safe way of grounding.
4) does all cables have the 3 wires: live, neutral and earth?
nope, but most electrical appliances have the 3 wires: live, neutral and earth (aka ground, although i heard 'earth' and 'ground' got subtle differences).
5) what about those with 2 wires?
but there are some electrical appliances that got only 2 wires. they only have live and neutral, so they lack the earth wire. even though they do not have the earth wire, doesnt mean they do not have any form of grounding or that they r dangerous. most appliances have some sort of grounding, but not necessary must have the earth wire to ground. eg. hp chargers or ur boss psa adaptors.
6) does all plugs have 3 prongs?
nope, the usa ones have only 2. most singaporean products will have 3, but some, like those of hp chargers, have 2 prongs only. depending on the type of plugs, u can tell whether the cables have 3 wires just by looking at the plugs.
7) if the plug only has 2 prongs, does it mean it has only 2 wires?
nope. 2 pins plug like those u use for charging hp or those boss psa adaptors have 2 wires. but there r some 2-pins plugs with 3 wires. for example, the usa plugs have 2 prongs, but if u split open the cables, they have 3 wires: live, neutral and earth. if u see the usa plugs carefully, at the top, u actually see a silver hole (similar to the plug u see in the 1st pic uploaded by the threadstarter), that is actually for grounding. the usa wall sockets will have something to insert into this silver hole, therefore allowing the electrical appliances to be grounded. but singaporean wall sockets do not have the thing to insert into that silver hole, so if u just plug the 2 pins plug into a singaporean wall socket, there will not be grounding.
8) so how do u do grounding if the original plug has only 2 pins?
make sure that there is an earth wire before doing anything. for some appliances, u can identify whether there are 3 wires just by looking at the plug. how to identify? that i m not too sure. but anw, if there are 3 wires, just change the 2-pin plug to a 3-pin plug like how the threadstarter has described.
9) so how is all these info relevant to me as a guitar player?
most amps i have seen b4 and played with (those i owned b4, those in the studios i frequent, those in my church, and some from guitar shops) are made in the usa. so their cables most likely come with 3 wires, but a 2-pin plug, which is capable of grounding but unable to due to incompatibility with singaporean wall sockets. so just change the 2-pin to 3-pins and ur problem is solved.
honestly, knowing all these will not improve ur playing, but may improve the sound of ur guitar. plus, u get to know some simple useful household electrical stuff. so y not?
if i got any parts that r wrong, pls correct me immediately. i m learning as well.
Last edited:
sonyericssonk610
New member
just a qns... i use a laney amp( haven ground yet). When i use my SX guitar theres hum, but when i use my epip les paul custom theres very very little hum. But when i step on my cs-3 and my boss mt-2, theres a lot of hum. is this case does the earthing of amp help?
KennethC
New member
Guys, I just followed the instructions in the initial post to convert my 2pin to a 3 pin plug on my Deluxe Reverb. Problem is, I now get a permanent hiss in the background w/o any pedals connected. It isn't loud, but it's noticeable. It's noisier than when I had my 2pin on...I changed it to 3pin so I wouldn't get the minor current shocks when touching the bridge of my guitar by accident. Now it seems like that's gone, but the hiss has surfaced. Anyone know what might've gone wrong?
show off ah...wahahaha..kiddin man...:mrgreen:
btw...great lesson on grounding...
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