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Re:Why Three Prongs? (1996) by nateguchi on Monday July 08, 2019 @09:17AM (#20382442)
In fact, you can buy transformers that are ungrounded to isolate the supply and make it safe to touch either wire. When combined with an RCD, this makes a very safe system
Re:Why Three Prongs? (1996) by isostatic on Monday July 08, 2019 @09:34AM (#20382547)
In the UK, isolated transformers are how we allow shaver sockets in bathrooms. You touch one of the wires and (via wet feet a pipes) you create the path to ground, which is bad. But because the wire is only live when there's a complete circuit, it's safe. You'd have to grasp both sides of the circuit with different hands to cause major problems
Re:Why Three Prongs? (1996) by flyinghamster on Monday July 08, 2019 @09:52AM (#20382689)
A bonus for the shaver socket is that it is often switchable, so a 120V shaver can be plugged in. This is less of an issue now, with newer shavers having circuitry to allow them to run on anything from 100-240V.
Re:Why Three Prongs? (1996) by jakobegger on Monday July 08, 2019 @10:09AM (#20382822)
But the ungrounded transformer prevents the fault currents that the RCD would detect, so unless I am mistaken there is no scenario where a RCD would provide additional protection beyond an ungrounded transformer.
Re:Why Three Prongs? (1996) by nateguchi on Monday July 08, 2019 @12:56PM (#20384363)
You can feasibly combine an RCD and an isolated transformer, not sure I've seen this done before though or if it gives any real benefit.