Oscilloscope Measurements of Outlet Ground

I do not have a diagram of my home’s electrical wiring. I have repeated dozens of measurements, and the results are similar.

Oscilloscope Settings

  • 5 ms/div
  • 200 mV/div
  • Trigger: auto
  • Input Coupling: AC
  • Probe Setting: 1X

Oscilloscope Grounded to Dedicated Outside Grounding Rod and Measuring Stray Electricity in Outlet Ground

Oscilloscope Grounded to Adjacent Outlet Ground and Measuring Stray Electricity in Outlet Ground

Oscilloscope Grounded to Electrical Panel Ground and Measuring Stray Electricity in Outlet Ground

Oscilloscope Grounded to Earth Ground and Measuring Stray Electricity in Separate Earth Ground (Grounding rods 6 inches apart)

Body AC Voltage with Body Ungrounded, Body Grounded with Grounding Rod, and Body Grounded with Outlet Ground

Author

  • Doctor Doan

    Dr. Andrew Doan specializes in ophthalmology, aerospace medicine, neuroscience, public health, and gaming/media/personal technology addiction research. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from The Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine. He completed an Internal Medicine Internship and Ophthalmology Residency at the University of Iowa. Then, he completed an Eye Pathology fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles. With a desire to care for aviators and flight crew, in particular their mental health and physical needs, Dr. Doan completed a residency in Aerospace Medicine and a Masters in Public Health at the Naval Aerospace Medical Institute. To better understand the impact of media and gaming addictions, Dr. Doan spent three years full-time with psychiatrists and psychologists to study and research media addictions. He has studied gaming/media/personal technology addictions for over 13 years. To date, he has trained over 2000 healthcare providers on media and gaming addiction. Dr. Doan practices comprehensive ophthalmology full-time and teaches online on his YouTube Channel.

    View all posts

5 responses to “Oscilloscope Measurements of Outlet Ground”

  1. Ryan Avatar
    Ryan

    Hi Doctor
    Would you let us know how to test dirty electricity of water pipe or window frame by oscilloscope ?
    I am wondering if thet are polluted by dirty electricity
    Thank you very much

    Ryan

    1. Doctor Doan Avatar

      An easier approach is to test for stray voltage AC. If there are stray voltages, then there is likely dirty electricity too. If the voltage is zero or near zero, then you should be okay.

      Use a voltmeter that can measure at least 600 mV AC. Ground the meter to the Earth, set on V AC, and probe the metal pipe and window.

      1. Ryan Avatar
        Ryan

        Hi Doctor,
        Thank you very much for your reply. It’s a easier way to test dirty electricty. Another two followup questions
        1. Could I use the same approach to test dirty electricity of outlet ground? No stray voltage AC means no dirty electricity. Or from you video, use both AstroAI multimeter and oscilloscope to check is more accurate to test.
        2. I am also curious. For testing dirty electricity of metal piple and widnow, could I still use the oscilloscope to test? Or there is no way to do it because some kind of reasons.

        1. Doctor Doan Avatar

          If the outlet ground has no stray voltages relative to earth, this generally indicates a healthy wiring system without major leakage currents. However, dirty electricity (high-frequency transients and harmonics) can still exist on the electrical system, even if no stray voltage is present.

          You can use an oscilloscope to look for dirty electricity in the pipes and windows. The technical aspects are beyond the scope of texting back and forth. Take this course with the Building Biology Institute: Residential Microsurge Electrical Pollution Fundamentals.

  2. Ryan Avatar
    Ryan

    Thank you doctor.

    I watched your tutorial on YouTube and bought a oscilloscope . I think it shouldn’t be difficult after watching. I just need to look at the waveform on the oscilloscope and check if there are spikes. And check the difference of Vmax and Vmin. If the difference is very small which means no dirty electricity

    It seems that I am wrong. It’s technical.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *