Newsgroups: sci.engr.electrical.compliance
Subject: Safety regulations on light equipments

I am just wondering what is the current which is allowed to leak
from the live wire to safety ground wire in typical mains
powered lighting equipment. I mena an equipment which complies
to european regulations. 

The question raises on one small 20W disco stroboscope 
(CD-marked) which has the following construction in the
mains input filter:

 Live -------+------------------   To rest of circuitry
             |
            === 100 nF
             |
Ground ------+
             |
            === 100 nF
             |
Neutral -----+-----------------  To rest of circuitry


This circuit is powered form 230V AC and has a grounded power
connector it it. The ground is only connected to the center
of those 100 nF capacitors, it is not connected to
the rest of the circuitry or the plastic case. 

This kind of construction causes that there are over 6 mA
of current leaking from the live to the safety ground.
I am just wojdering if this is OK for this kind of equipment ?
(for example for computer equipments and such the allowed leakage 
current seems to be much lower).
What is the sense of making this kinf of input filter to this
kind of equipment ? For me it seems that the connection to
the mains safety ground in this fiter does not make much good,
a single capcitor between live and neutral woudl have
don the filtering well (as in one larger 50W stroboscope).


-- 
Tomi Engdahl (http://www.iki.fi/then/)