I think we must have different ideas as to what consitutes 'the general public'.
I think we must have different ideas as to what consitutes 'the general public'.
Kind Regards, John
Unearthed adapters
- Thread starter ccam108
- Start date
Kind Regards, John
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I think one of us is looking for yet another pointlessly long 'discussion', and it's not me.
The power brick for my HP laptop certainly doesn't have the "double insulated" marking on it. I don't have any other such devices handy right now.
Fundamentally RFI suppression on a switched mode power supply involves capacitors between the input side and the output side to provide a path for high freqency currents so they don't turn into radio emmissions. The trouble is those capacitors can pass some current at 50Hz too.
On an unearthed power supply these capacitors have to be connected directly between input and output. In order for this to pass muster with the safety regulators the capacitors must have an appropriately small value and must be of a special safety rated type that are designed such that it is extremely unlikely they will have a short circuit failure. Even so the leakage of such power supplies can cause small shocks and damage to equipment. I believe this is why most laptop vendors have moved to earthed power supplies.
On an earthed power supply the suppression capacitors are connected between the input and earth and then between the output and earth rather than directly from input to output. This provides a path for the high frequency currents while directing any mains frequency leakage towards earth. This means the capacitors can be much larger and thus allow more mains freqency current through.
When you buy an earthed power supply you have no idea if the leakage will be low enough to meet requirements for unearthed operation. Nor will you have any idea if the capacitors are the special safety types.
Nor me, but I would say that it's you who are at risk of stringing this out by not giving a yes/no answer to what is really a very simple question.
I'm sure that you know what is generally meant by something 'being allowed to be sold to the general public' - so what is your personal view as regards the adapter shown in the OP of this thread - yes, or no? (without qualifications about the knowledge of the buyers, what instructions/warnings it comes with, what sort of outlet they buy it from, or anything else you might think of!). A 'yes' or 'no' will preclude the need for any further discussion.
Kind Regards, John.
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It's not that simple. If you want it that simple, then yes. People will just have to take responsibility for their own actions. A very foreign concept these days.
I'm familiar with RFI suppression circuits.
The laptop PSUs I've opened in the past with an earth connection are designed to operate without one in a safe manner, and there is no way to touch the earth pin with these adapters.
In which case please do not try to imply that I am the one who is "looking for yet another pointless long 'discussion' ". My answer is 'no'. If you wish to 'discuss' further, you're obviously free to do so.
Kind Regards, John.
You are the one who is determined to question every single statement for hours on end for the sake of it.
You're turning into the second coming of BAS, in no way beneficial to this forum.
For once, it is not I who is the 'hours on end' person in this discussion! It is surely apparent that the adapters in question have to be either 'allowed' or 'not allowed' (without qualification), but it took five rounds of exchanges between us before I got an answer from you to my effectively yes/no question. However, at least we now know that, if one has to make a simple 'allowed'/'not allowed' decision (which one does), you answer is that you are happy for them to be 'allowed'. Thanks for clarifying that.
Kind Regards, John
For sure, but im talking about having a foot length of 2.5 arctic straight into the massively reduced socket.
Ah - I must confess that I thought you meant the other way around - trying to run something with a 32A or 64A plug (hence maybe a 32A or 64A load) off a 16A circuit (c.f. one of those 'travel adapters which allow one to plug a 13A BS 1363 plug into a lampholder on a 5/6A lighting circuit)!
Kind Regards, John
Indeed, lets face it we don't "usually" need earthing at all - it's not "usual" for there to be a fault.
I cannot think of a way that these can be made "safe" for the general public.
For "Mr Average" there is no appropriate warning as (as has been pointed out) "Mr Average" won't have a clue beyond "yes it fits in the hole".
And given that anything not physically attached will most likely be discarded unread, anything not physically part of the device might as well not be there.
So who's going to make a complaint to Trading Standards then ?
Ive a fair lot of gastly 'well its only temporary' things done in even a very short spell doing some lighting and rigging work.
Daniel
As awful as that is, a case can be made for needing travel adapters.
The only reason for a C5/C8 adapter as shown to exist is sheer bl**dy laziness.
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