Ground loop (electricity)

A ground loop is caused by the interconnection of electrical devices that results in multiple paths to ground, thereby forming closed conductive loops through the ground connections. A common example is two electrical devices, each connected to a mains power outlet by a three-conductor cable and plug containing a protective ground conductor for safety. When signal cables are connected between both devices, the shield of the signal cable is typically connected to the grounded chassis of both devices. This forms a closed loop through the ground conductors of the power cords, which are connected through the building wiring. In the vicinity of electric power wiring, there will always be stray magnetic fields, particularly from utility lines oscillating at 50 or 60 hertz. These ambient magnetic fields passing through the ground loop will induce a current in the loop by electromagnetic induction. The ground loop acts as a single-turn secondary winding of a transformer, the primary being the summation of all current-carrying conductors nearby. The amount of current induced will depend on the magnitude and proximity of nearby currents. The presence of high-power equipment such as industrial motors or transformers can increase the interference. Since the conductors comprising the ground loop usually have very low resistance, often below one ohm, even weak magnetic fields can induce significant currents. Since the ground conductor of the signal cable linking the two devices is part of the signal path of the cable, the alternating ground current flowing through the cable can introduce electrical interference in the signal. The induced alternating current flowing through the resistance of the cable ground conductor will cause a small AC voltage drop across the cable ground. This is added to the signal applied to the input of the next stage. In audio equipment, the 50 or 60 Hz interference may be heard as a hum in the speakers. In a video system it may cause distortion or synchronization problems. In computer data connections, it can cause slowdowns or failures of data transfer. Ground loops can also exist within the internal circuits of electronic equipment, as design flaws. The addition of signal interconnection cables to a system where equipment enclosures are already required to be bonded to ground can create ground loops. Proper design of such a system will satisfy both safety grounding requirements and signal integrity. For this reason, in some large professional installations such as recording studios, it is sometimes the practice to provide two completely separate ground connections to equipment bays. One is the normal safety ground that connects to exposed metalwork, the other is a technical ground for cable screens and the like. ==Representative circuit==

The circuit diagram illustrates a simple ground loop. Circuit 1 (left) and circuit 2 (right) share a common path to ground of resistance \scriptstyle R_G. Ideally, this ground conductor would have no resistance (\scriptstyle R_G = 0), yielding no voltage drop across it (\scriptstyle V_G = 0), keeping the connection point between the circuits at a constant ground potential. In that case, the output of circuit 2 is simply \scriptstyle V_\text{out} = V_2. However, if this ground conductor has some resistance (\scriptstyle R_G > 0), then it forms a voltage divider with \scriptstyle R_1. As a result, if a current (\scriptstyle I_1) is flowing through \scriptstyle R_G from circuit 1, then a voltage drop across \scriptstyle R_G of \scriptstyle V_G\; =\; I_1 R_G occurs, causing the shared ground connection to no longer be at the actual ground potential. This voltage across the ground conductor is applied to circuit 2 and added to its output:V_\text{out} = V_2 - V_G = V_2 - \frac{R_G}{R_G + R_1}V_1.\, Thus, the two circuits are no longer isolated, and circuit 1 can introduce interference into the output of circuit 2. If circuit 2 is an audio system and circuit 1 has large AC currents flowing in it, the interference may be heard as a 50 or 60 Hz hum in the speakers. Also, both circuits have voltage \scriptstyle V_G on their grounded parts that may be exposed to contact, possibly presenting a shock hazard. This is true even if circuit 2 is turned off. Although ground loops occur most often in the ground conductors of electrical equipment, similar loops can occur wherever two or more circuits share a common current path. If enough current flows, similar problems occur in these conditions. ==Common ground loops==

A common type of ground loop is due to faulty interconnections between electronic components, such as laboratory or recording studio equipment, or home component audio, video, and computer systems. This can create inadvertent closed loops in the ground wiring circuit, which can allow stray 50/60 Hz AC current to be induced and flow through the ground conductors of signal cables. The voltage drops in the ground system caused by these currents are added to the signal path, introducing noise and hum into the output. The loops can include the building's utility wiring ground system when more than one component is grounded through the protective earth (third wire) in their power cords. Ground currents on signal cables The symptoms of a ground loop, ground noise and hum in electrical equipment are caused by current flowing in the ground or conductor of a cable. Fig. 1 shows a signal cable S linking two electronic components, including the typical line driver and receiver amplifiers (triangles). (B, green) which are always present around AC electrical wiring. The ground loop constitutes a conductive wire loop. According to Faraday's law of induction, any time-varying magnetic flux passing through the loop induces an electromotive force (EMF) in the loop, causing a time-varying current to flow. The loop, therefore, acts like a short circuited single-turn transformer winding; any AC magnetic flux from nearby transformers, electric motors, or adjacent power wiring, will induce AC currents in the loop by induction. The larger the area spanned by the loop and the larger the magnetic flux through it, the larger the induced currents will be. Since its resistance is typically very low, often less than 1 ohm, the induced currents can be large. • Another less common source of ground loop currents, particularly in high-power equipment, is current leaking from the hot side of the power line into the ground system. In addition to resistive leakage, current can also be induced through low impedance capacitive or inductive coupling. The ground potential at different outlets may differ by as much as 10 to 20 volts and alters frequency response. A transformer designed specifically for the relevant frequency range must be used. Optoisolators can perform the same task for digital lines but introduce signal delay. • In circuits producing high-frequency noise such as computer components, ferrite bead chokes are placed around cables just before the termination to the next appliance (e.g., the computer). These present a high impedance only at high frequency, so they will effectively stop radio frequency and digital noise, but will have little effect on 50/60 Hz noise. • Reinforce the shield of the signal cable connecting C1 and C2 by connecting a thick copper conductor in parallel to the shield. This reduces the resistance of the shield and thus the amplitude of the unwanted signal. • A technique used in recording studios is to interconnect all the metal chassis with heavy conductors like copper strips, then connect to the building ground wire system at one point; this is referred to as star grounding or single-point grounding. However, in home systems, multiple components are usually grounded through their 3-wire power cords, resulting in multipoint grounds. • Battery-powering one or more of the circuits can avoid a ground loop, because the entire device may be disconnected from mains power. A hazardous technique sometimes used by amateurs is to break the third wire ground conductor P in one of the component's power cords, by removing the ground pin on the plug, or using a cheater plug. This creates an electric shock hazard by leaving one of the components ungrounded. Balanced lines A more comprehensive solution is to use equipment that employs differential signaling. Ground noise can only get into the signal path in single-ended signaling, in which the ground or shield conductor serves as one side of the signal path. When the signal is sent as a differential signal along a pair of wires, neither of which are connected to ground, any noise from the ground system induced in the signal lines is a common-mode signal, identical in both wires. Since the line receiver at the destination end only responds to differential signals, a difference in voltage between the two lines, the common-mode noise is canceled out. Thus these systems are very immune to electrical noise, including ground noise. Professional and scientific equipment often uses differential signaling with balanced lines. ==In low frequency audio and instrumentation systems==

If, for example, a domestic HiFi system has a grounded turntable and a grounded preamplifier connected by a thin screened cable (or cables, in a stereo system) using phono connectors, the cross-section of copper in the cable screen(s) is likely to be less than that of the protective ground conductors for the turntable and the preamplifier. So, when a current is induced in the loop, there will be a voltage drop along the signal ground return. This is directly additive to the wanted signal and will result in objectionable hum. For instance, if a current I of 1 mA at the local power frequency is induced in the ground loop, and the resistance R of the screen of the signal cable is 100 mΩ, the voltage drop will be V = I \cdot R = 100 μV. This is a significant fraction of the output voltage of a moving coil pickup cartridge, and imposes an objectionable hum on the cartridge output. In a more complex situation, such as sound reinforcement systems, public address systems, music instrument amplifiers, recording studio and broadcast studio equipment, there are many signal sources in mains-powered equipment feeding many inputs on other equipment and interconnection may result in hum problems. Attempting to cure these problems by removing the protective ground conductor creates a shock hazard. Solving hum problems must be done in the signal interconnections, and this is done in two main ways, which may be combined. Isolation Isolation is the quickest, quietest and most foolproof method of resolving hum problems. The signal is isolated by a small transformer, such that the source and destination equipment each retain their own protective ground connections, but there is no through connection from one to the other in the signal path. By transformer isolating all unbalanced connections, the unbalanced connections are converted to balanced connections. In analog applications such as audio, the physical limitations of the transformers cause some signal degradation, by limiting bandwidth and adding some distortion. Balanced interconnection Balanced connections see the spurious noise due to ground loop current as common-mode interference while the signal is differential, enabling them to be separated at the destination by circuits having a high common-mode rejection ratio. This rejection can be accomplished with transformers or semiconductor output drivers and line receivers. With the increasing trend towards digital processing and transmission of audio signals, the full range of isolation by small pulse transformers, optocouplers or fiber optics become more useful. Standard protocols such as S/PDIF, AES3 or TOSLINK are available in relatively inexpensive equipment and allow full isolation, so ground loops need not arise, especially when connecting between audio systems and computers. In instrumentation systems, the use of differential inputs with high common-mode rejection ratio, to minimize the effects of induced AC signals on the parameter to be measured, is widespread. It may also be possible to introduce narrow notch filters at the power frequency and its lower harmonics; however, this can not be done in audio systems due to the objectionable audible effects on the wanted signal. ==In analog video systems==

In analog video, mains hum can be seen as hum bars (bands of slightly different brightness) scrolling vertically up the screen. These are frequently seen with video projectors where the display device has its case grounded via a 3-prong plug, and the other components have a floating ground connected to the CATV coax. In this situation the video cable is grounded at the projector end to the home electrical system, and at the other end to the cable TV's ground, inducing a current through the cable which distorts the picture. The problem is best solved with an isolation transformer in the CATV RF feed, a feature included in some CATV box designs. Ground loop issues with television coaxial cable can affect any connected audio device such as a receiver. Even if all of the audio and video equipment in, for example, a home theatre system is plugged into the same power outlet, and thus all share the same ground, the coaxial cable entering the TV may be grounded by the cable company to a different point than that of the house's electrical ground creating a ground loop, and causing undesirable mains hum in the system's speakers. ==In digital and RF systems==

In digital systems, which commonly transmit data serially (RS-232, RS-485, USB, FireWire, DVI, HDMI etc.) the signal voltage is often much larger than induced power frequency AC on the connecting cable screens. Of those protocols listed, only RS-232 is single-ended with ground return, but it is a large signal, typically + and - 12V, all the others being differential. Differential signaling must use a balanced line to ensure that the signal does not radiate and that induced noise from a ground loop is a common-mode signal and can be removed at the differential receiver. Many data communications systems such as Ethernet 10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX and 1000BASE-T, use DC-balanced encoding such as Manchester code. The ground loop(s) which would occur in most installations are avoided by using signal-isolating transformers. Other systems break the ground loop at data frequencies by fitting small ferrite cores around the connecting cables near each end or just inside the equipment boundary. These form a common-mode choke which inhibits unbalanced current flow, without affecting the differential signal. Coaxial cables used at radio frequencies may be wound several times through a ferrite core to add a useful amount of common-mode inductance. This limits the flow of unwanted high-frequency common-mode current along the cable shield. Where no power need be transmitted, only digital data, the use of fiber optics can remove many ground loop problems, and sometimes safety problems too. Optical isolators or optocouplers are frequently used to provide ground loop isolation, and often safety isolation and can help prevent fault propagation. ==Internal ground loops in equipment==

Generally, the analog and digital parts of the circuit are in separate areas of the PCB, with their own ground planes to obtain the necessary low inductance grounding and avoid ground bounce. These are tied together at a carefully chosen star point. Where analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) are in use, the star point may have to be at or very close to the ground terminals of the ADC(s). Phase lock loop circuits are particularly vulnerable because the VCO loop filter circuit is working with sub-microvolt signals when the loop is locked, and any disturbance will cause frequency jitter and possible loss of lock. ==In circuit design==

Grounding and the potential for ground loops are also important considerations in circuit design. In many circuits, large currents may exist through the ground plane, leading to voltage differences of the ground reference in different parts of the circuit, which can lead to hum and other problems. Techniques exist to avoid ground loops, and otherwise, guarantee good grounding: • The external shield, and the shields of all connectors, should be connected together. • If the power supply in the design is not isolated, this external chassis ground should be connected to the ground plane of the PCB at a single point; this single-point connection avoids large currents through the ground plane of the PCB. • If the design uses an isolated power supply, this external ground should be connected to the ground plane of the PCB via a high voltage capacitor, such as 2200 pF at 2 kV. • If the connectors are mounted on the PCB, the outer perimeter of the PCB should contain a strip of copper connecting to the shields of the connectors. There should be a break in copper between this strip, and the main ground plane of the circuit. The two should be connected at only one point. This way, if there is a large current between connector shields, it will not pass through the ground plane of the circuit. • A star topology should be used for ground distribution, avoiding loops. • High-power devices should be placed closest to the power supply, while low-power devices can be placed farther from it. • Signals, wherever possible, should be differential. • Isolated power supplies require careful consideration of parasitic, component, or internal PCB power plane capacitance that can allow AC present on input power or connectors to pass into the ground plane, or to any other internal signal. The AC may find a path back to its source via an I/O signal. == See also ==