Earth Bonding

[ern500evo]

Hi guys,
I've got a couple of 4 way horizontal PDU's(the type you would find in a comms cabinet), i was going to fit one into the back of my rack so i can loom the power cables for my amp head, rack tuner and the power supply for my sansamp so that when i get to a gig/rehearsal i just open the back, plug the PDU in and away i go. My query is that the PDU's have an earth bonding stud on them and when i've used them in comms cabinets i've always ran an earth back to the earth bar in the cabinet, as it says on the PDU that it requires earthing. would i need to earth it in my rack? it's a Gator ABS rack case which i'm sure has no earth facility so not sure how i'd go about it. Any help greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Lee

[jimmyb625]

I wouldn't have thought you'd need to bond this, as like you say, it's in an ABS rack. Probably the only thing to check is that you've got an earth connection via the plug in the usual way.

[flyfisher]

Comms cabinets are often wired with a 'star earth' arrangement, for all the equipment, metalwork and the cabinet itself, hence the earth stud on the PDU.

But in this application, all the equipment in the rack case is effectively earthed to a single point anyway . . . in the single 3-pin plug.

Just make sure all the power cables are properly earthed and you should be OK. The metal strips of the ABS case will be earthed via the metal screws and cases of the equipment in the rack anyway.

[icastle]

In a comms cabinet you generally find that several different phases are in use for resilience so at that point the use of a secondary earth point is always advisable.

No real need for it in your particular application - though you could run a cable between the stud point and whatever metal chassis parts you can get a crimp eyelet onto.

[ern500evo]

Cheers guys, just wanted to double check. Much appreciated.