What's in your opinion the correct order of terminals - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: capt bullshot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 09, 2017, 09:16:58 am
content: Regarding these posts:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-%28tea%29-group-therapy-thread/msg1345057/#msg1345057Quotehttps://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-%28tea%29-group-therapy-thread/msg1345061/#msg1345061QuoteWhat's your opinion on this issue, is this an issue for you, what's your thought of intuition on this subject?

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 09, 2017, 09:35:56 am
content: The order doesn't matter to me. I have HP (+/-), Tektronics and BK Precision (-/+). As long as PE/chassis/earth ground is not in the middle, I'm fine. I go more by the red/black color coding.If the power supply is dual polarity and there is an actual common ground then that should probably be in the middle.

author: woody
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 09, 2017, 09:45:10 am
content: Quote from: rdl on November 09, 2017, 09:35:56 amSo do I. All the more baffled I am by my recently acquired Agilent 34401A that has red connectors for everything. Looking at pictures the newer 34401's have black connectors for LO. But mine hasn't. What were they thinking?

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 09, 2017, 10:00:05 am
content: HP always seemed to use black for earth ground and red for everything else. Around the time they became Agilent that changed.

author: iainwhite
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 09, 2017, 03:52:12 pm
content: Quote from: rdl on November 09, 2017, 10:00:05 amI have HP branded 3610 and 3611 that have the Red/Black/Green binding posts, so it predates the Agilent re-brand.I think I prefer +/-/G personally.

author: Ero-Shan
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 09, 2017, 04:22:09 pm
content: I keep seeing the x ordinate of a diagram (or the number line [might be the wrong term], "Zahlenstrahl" in German).No sane people would ever put the negative to the right and the positive to the left.

author: iainwhite
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 09, 2017, 05:42:06 pm
content: I see what you mean about the X axis of a graph.I guess I just don't look at the Power supply the same way as a Cartesian graph.Or maybe I am insane?

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 09, 2017, 09:50:05 pm
content: Quote from: Ero-Shan on November 09, 2017, 04:22:09 pmFYI, yes, it's a number line in English. (I learned the German word just recently, while helping my 10 year old nephew with his math homework.)

author: Nusa
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 09, 2017, 11:03:52 pm
content: This is like asking which is the correct side of the bed to get out of. I wouldn't recommend telling your spouse they're on the wrong side, however.I rarely see it on newer equipment, but I rather like the triangle configuration, with GND below and midway between + and -.

author: Cubdriver
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 10, 2017, 04:05:25 am
content: It doesn't really matter to me, as long as they're marked.Most of my power supplies are HP, and have the positive on the left. Some are negative on the right, earth in the center, and some (the little 10W 621xA ones) have their negative terminals in the center and the earth ground on the right. As for colors, mine all use black for the earth ground terminal, and red for the positive. Depending on the age, the older also have black negative binding posts, while the 'newer' ones have floating negative posts marked with a red ring. The 711A has the triangular arrangement, with + as red at the top right, - as black at the bottom right, and gnd as black at left center. None are new enough to have any green binding posts.The tek plug-ins (PS503As) have positive and negative variable outputs L>R: green - negative V out, black - common, red - positive V out; and a separate fixed 5V supply that has white and red binding posts directly below the rightmost ones of the variable section, L>R for gnd and positive.-Pat

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 10, 2017, 06:27:47 am
content: I answered other because the best terminal arrangement is one or more equilateral triangles as shown below. The same applies to multimeters which should have the volts-ohms, low current, and high current jacks equal distance from the common jack also as shown below.If I were designing a dual tracking power supply, I would place positive, common, and negative in an equilateral triangle and include two ground terminals making a "W".

author: capt bullshot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2017, 09:36:30 am
content: Bumping this thread up, ATM the poll is quite undecided ...

author: Mr. Scram
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2017, 10:56:34 am
content: I would like to clarify that I've indicated what I feel is most intuitive, not what's correct. Neither is wrong. I can live with both orders of terminals without trouble. As long as they're clearly labeled, it's fine.

author: Neomys Sapiens
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2017, 10:27:00 pm
content: I looked at all power supplies present and found NO consistent scheme. One idea would be to associate the arrangement of the terminals with the direction of actuation of the inceptors. So right = more, rightestmost = highest potential. But for a multichannel instrument even that might be unclear.More important: maintain a 19.75mm spacing between those terminals on a lab instrument, that are likely to form a circuit together, because there are dual plugs and various adaptors for this spacing. That is becoming a very difficult decision when you have a major power supply (with sense lines) and you have to place all terminals in one plane!Is it is more likely to use the abomentioned contraptions on the output or the sense pair?Of course, I would prefer being able to do either, but that would mean pairs above each other. And having a marked size difference while simultaneously maintaining the same 'connection plane' (insertion depth of plug).

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 14, 2017, 11:28:15 pm
content: My HP 3610 has red-red-black. I would have liked the red-black-green. My GW-Instek GPC 3020 has red for positive on the right, black for negative on the left and green for ground in the middle on both channels. The fixed 5V is red on right and black on left.

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2017, 11:56:05 pm
content: I like having the ground in the middle because I try to use shielded two conductor plus ground wire using the ground wire to tie grounds on the equipment together when that opportunity presents itself. The order of positive and negative in the horizontal plane doesn't really matter to me. As long as the positive is red and the negative is black.Maybe positive/red on top if the two are verticalGreen for ground makes sense too.Intelligent use of color coding makes equipment more intuitive to use.

author: Nusa
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 15, 2017, 12:00:00 am
content: Sometimes the standard is that there is no standard. This would be one of those cases.