Grounded AC/DC devices in Japan

[gamephile]

Hello,

I'm lucky enough to have been selected for the JET program where I'll be assisting with English language teaching in Japan. Obviously since I'm a forum member it should come as no surprise that I'm bringing a lot of my computer stuff. I know from talking with my predecessor that the apartment I'm living in has unpolarized and ungrounded outlets. I'm planning on getting adapters, and I also know that their electricity system is 100v/50 or 60hz.
So while my AC/DC converters will still work, they will probably do so at less efficiency.

My question is what problems or scenarios will arise with not having any of my devices grounded? What part does polarization play in this? I know there is a higher potential (haha) for electrocution but I'm hazy on why. I'm shipping a desktop PC, and LCD monitor. I will also be taking a laptop. These are the big things that I'm worried about since they all have grounded plugs.

Thanks Highly Technical...ers!

Jake

 

[Modelworks]

You shouldn't have a problem with going to japan.
Its one of the more friendly power wise for USA products.

Japan often has outlets that have two slots for each plug, exactly the same size with no ground hole. Grounding is a safety and will not affect the performance of the devices used. You might want to pick up some of the adapters that change a 3 prong plug to 2 prong.

That or buy some cheap power cords for the pc and break off the ground. This will give you a plug that will plug right into the japanese outlets.


Polarization is another safety item, but isn't required for something to work on ac power and your chances of getting shocked by not using a polarized plug are very very small.

 

[Paperdoc]

The round third prong for Ground is just that - ground only, and usually connected to the exterior chassis (case) of your device. For safety concerns, it ensures that the only parts you can touch from outside are grounded, and any malfunction producing current leakage has a place to go - ground- that is safe and, hopefully, will actually cause a circuit breaker to blow, shutting it all down. With no ground connection available these functions can't work, so it is possible for a malfunctioning system to make dangerous voltages available on the exterior - but not likely.

There is another more subtle function for case grounds. Some systems use them as part of the shielding from electrical noise. A grounded case surrounding a circuit board can shield it from external noise, and perhaps keep it from radiating its own noise outside. With no ground connection there is a hypothetical possibility of increased interference from electrical noise. Not common, but possible.

Polarization is a different system. It uses different sizes of the two parallel blades to distinguish "hot" from "neutral" in a grounded-neutral electrical system. In North America, the wider blade is neutral. Having plugs and sockets built this way simply makes sure you cannot connect the "hot" side of an electrical outlet to the neutral side of your device. In a lot of systems, this does not matter at all. It is pretty poor design (but it is done!) to depend on having the interior chassis as the neutral side of the active circuit. And in many systems, such as most computers, the only connection to the power from the wall actually is an input transformer that effectively isolates the whole device from any conerns over which side is "hot".