Dotcomformat

Ya know, I never thought of that - A DOTCOM passive panel not having a specific ground connection.  

You're right that unless it's screwed to a common metal panel (as opposed to something like wood or plastic) it will always be floating until a patch cord is inserted.  It certainly wouldn't hurt to find a way to ground it, but I think your safe in leaving it disconnected like the multiple isn't either.

The only disadvantage I can think of would be potential voltage spikes from external equipment that could be at a slightly different voltage until plugged in.  And that gets into proper studio grounding anyway, which should always be done to prevent ground loops, etc.  (Boy am I guilty here!)

Hope that helps.

--- In dotcomformat@yahoogroups.com, "shadowfaac" <shadowfaac@...> wrote:
>
> 
> Hey all.
> 
> I bought a custom utility panel from Metalbox for my dotcom system. This is a 1U 19" rack panel with four 4-way multiples, two passive attenuators, and six 1/4" to 1/8" adapters (for interfacing with my euro system).
> 
> Anyway, the panel is all passive but it came with a power cable with only the ground pin connected. The problem is that this cable has a MOTM-style connector instead of the dotcom style. 
> 
> I'm wondering if it would be a bad idea to just leave the ground cable unplugged. Looking at the back of the panel, I can see that all the ground pins on all the jacks have been connected together, so I am assuming that plugging a patch cable between any jack in the panel and any module in my system should provide any necessary grounding. Also, the dotcom multiples and mini-jack interface (which this panel sort of substitutes) do not have a power connector and are not grounded directly to the PS, so I think I should be safe.
> 
> .Alfonso.
>