deskthority

I've disassembled my Dell at101w and I have seen there is a ground wire (earthing) that goes from the ps/2 port wire and it is connected to the bottom of the plate.

What happens if I don't connect this back when I reassemble it? Is there a danger of electric shock? Will the keyboard work properly?

What happens if I modify the keyboard to use USB (something like this: ?
USB doesn't have earthing right?

The ground is never necessary(though there are some boards where you need it Model F for exemple), but it's usually a precaution, there is a GND pin on the pro micro, you could wire it to the one already existing if you're really scared about it


(I think)

Myoth wrote: 25 Jan 2019, 08:52 The ground is never necessary(though there are some boards where you need it Model F for exemple), but it's usually a precaution, there is a GND pin on the pro micro, you could wire it to the one already existing if you're really scared about it

I wouldn't do that. There's chassis aground and there's signal ground. If it goes to the bottom plate that is probably chassis ground. So it should go from the USB/PS2 chassis (if even connected) to the bottom plate. Signal ground is probably already connected.

If you have a custom controller installed I would simply leave it as is unless you experience "noise" while touching the metal parts of the keyboard... which I really doubt but it happened in the past when we did full steel cases.

matt3o wrote: 25 Jan 2019, 09:01
If you have a custom controller installed I would simply leave it as is

The wire goes from the ps/2 cable, If I install custom controller the cable also changes so there is no ground wire to connect

This is what it looks like:

the black big wire goes very likely from the external chassis of the PS2 (the "ring") to the plate. It's mostly for interference.

matt3o wrote: 25 Jan 2019, 09:25 the black big wire goes very likely from the external chassis of the PS2 (the "ring") to the plate. It's mostly for interference.

Oh. Ok. Thanks.

Mostly for EMI that ground , on a normal switched board like that it will be fine. I never put the back shield back in on boards like that.

Where you DO need a good ground is on capacitive boards like the model F , you can have all sorts of crazy fun if you dont ground a model F properly

andrewjoy wrote: 25 Jan 2019, 11:59 you can have all sorts of crazy fun if you dont ground a model F properly

For example?

Yavion wrote: 25 Jan 2019, 12:07

andrewjoy wrote: 25 Jan 2019, 11:59 you can have all sorts of crazy fun if you dont ground a model F properly

For example?

Many 100s if not 1000s of keystrokes getting sent every second

andrewjoy wrote: 25 Jan 2019, 12:29

Yavion wrote: 25 Jan 2019, 12:07

andrewjoy wrote: 25 Jan 2019, 11:59 you can have all sorts of crazy fun if you dont ground a model F properly

For example?

Many 100s if not 1000s of keystrokes getting sent every second

What I always do for my AT101W USB mods is solder the ground wire from the plate to the USB port's shielding.
By the way, can you do a post on your AT101W? It's looking pretty interesting!

andrewjoy wrote: 25 Jan 2019, 12:29

Yavion wrote: 25 Jan 2019, 12:07

andrewjoy wrote: 25 Jan 2019, 11:59 you can have all sorts of crazy fun if you dont ground a model F properly

For example?

Many 100s if not 1000s of keystrokes getting sent every second

I have a generic laptop charger that isn't grounded properly (2-wire) and it makes my Alps64 go crazy when it's plugged in.
Also it gives a small shock when you touch a port. I ought to get a proper 3-wire charger eventually.

abrahamstechnology wrote: 30 Jan 2019, 17:07

andrewjoy wrote: 25 Jan 2019, 12:29

Yavion wrote: 25 Jan 2019, 12:07

For example?

Many 100s if not 1000s of keystrokes getting sent every second

I have a generic laptop charger that isn't grounded properly (2-wire) and it makes my Alps64 go crazy when it's plugged in.
Also it gives a small shock when you touch a port. I ought to get a proper 3-wire charger eventually.

Even if you did , you cannot guarantee that the outlet will be grounded, not with the 1800s electrical system you use over in the colonies

I am happy to live in a country that has a good grasp of the concept of earthed mains outlets.

abrahamstechnology wrote: 30 Jan 2019, 17:04 What I always do for my AT101W USB mods is solder the ground wire from the plate to the USB port's shielding.
By the way, can you do a post on your AT101W? It's looking pretty interesting!

I was going to but the end result didn't go as expected since I've cut a new case for it manually and it has many flaws as I used just simple tools to do it.

I need a laser cutter.