# Ground Board to enclosure or not?

**URL:** <https://community.openweedlocator.org/t/ground-board-to-enclosure-or-not/70>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [June 21, 2026, 8:12pm UTC](https://community.openweedlocator.org/t/ground-board-to-enclosure-or-not/70 "2026-06-21T20:12:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![pvouzis](https://community.openweedlocator.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/50afbb/32.png) [@pvouzis](https://community.openweedlocator.org/u/pvouzis)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 8:12pm UTC](https://community.openweedlocator.org/t/ground-board-to-enclosure-or-not/70/1 "2026-06-21T20:12:09Z")

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Do you follow a specific approach when it comes to grounding the board to the enclosure and consequently to the rest of the equipment? Specifically, I noticed that the RPi5 under the ethernet port has a metallic tab marked TP73 which is connected to the ground of the board and it looks like it’s there on purpose to ground the board to a metallic enclosure potentially.

I am not sure if you have dealt with this issue or if you have a specific recommendation: ground or avoid grounding the board to the enclosure/equipment?

You are probably not using RPi5 going forward, but the same thing might come up with any electronics carried on farming equipment? I am not sure if any electric surges would affect any electronics if grounded.

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**Author:** ![geezacoleman](https://community.openweedlocator.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/c6cbf5/32.png) [@geezacoleman](https://community.openweedlocator.org/u/geezacoleman)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2026, 7:02am UTC](https://community.openweedlocator.org/t/ground-board-to-enclosure-or-not/70/2 "2026-06-23T07:02:03Z")

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Haven’t followed any specific grounding principles for the RPi5 versions to date. They seem to have performed fine, though I have not noticed/heard about the TP73 tab. The risk with connecting the tab to a metal enclosure and the enclosure to the equipment is creating a ground loop, so I would be a little hesitant there.

The CM5 versions we have had tested in accredited labs to automotive standards for surges, induced noise/surges in all cables, ESD and radio immunity and it passed all. Surge testing was pretty harsh as well - dropping to -75V then going back to 12V repeated 5000 times. Tested up to +125V as well. Radio immunity testing showed that the enclosure + PCB was effective at handling radio noise across a large part of the MHz and GHz frequencies. So I am quite confident in the performance of the new design. Would 100% recommend using S/FTP high quality ethernet cables though. The shielding makes a huge difference.

Here’s the post on the CE testing, we’ll release all the test reports as well so everyone can check them out  
[CE Testing Starts on OWL3.0](https://community.openweedlocator.org/t/ce-testing-starts-on-owl3-0/52)