Electronic – How to get ground from a NEMA 5-15R wall socket without electricity

groundgrounding

I have some network equipment that I want to connect to ground (they come with 2-prong wall wart PSUs and have a separate screw hole for a grounding pigtail) – but where would I get ground from in a regular home?

For me, the obvious choice would be an existing wall outlet (regular USA 120V 15A NEMA 5-15R). But I don't need the 120V, I kinda just want to get the ground, connect it to a copper grounding strip or bus bar, and then connect grounding pigtails to that.

If that is sane, then I wonder: How would I get the ground out of the wall socket? I guess I could just jam a banana plug or something into the grounding hole, or cut open a power cable and make sure the +/- electrical plugs aren't connected. But that seems hack-ish and dangerous.

But there also don't seem to be "simple" NEMA 5-15R-ground-taps available (kinda the exact opposite of this), which makes me wonder if a) this approach is actually the correct one and b) whether there might be a much simpler/better way to get ground from somewhere in a regular home. (A non-corrosive steel post outside isn't an option really here, no good way to run a wire into the room)

Best Answer

I have seen adapters that are exactly what you want. On the side that plugs into the wall they have one conductive prong for the earth connection and two plastic dummy prongs to fit the live and neutral. On the other side they present the earth connection either as a single banana socket or a screw terminal.

So they do exist, but I'm not going to try to find a specific part number for you to order because shopping questions are off-topic. Keep hunting and try using "ESD" as a keyword since these are often used to hook up electrostatic discharge prevention equipment.