Prana Ferox
Addicted to Fun and Learning
I am constantly terrified by what laypeople do with power electronics. Don't try to defeat safety features!
They are technically correct, at least for common household use. One phase of the power line hot goes into a step down transformer that develops +hot, -hot and neutral. Neutral is then bonded to ground at your service box, not the line. (In the US) you use + and - to power 240VAC equipment like a dryer, and either + or - for the 120VAC L-N for your other circuits.
So this device does in fact isolate you from the 'power line' - but so does the SDT that's probably up a pole by the street. Your neutral and ground don't come from the line, they come from your residential construction / grounding grid (often just your water pipes). It of course doesn't isolate safety ground because no company the size of Tripp-Lite would sell such a product. The transformer's inductance also acts as a low-pass filter just as measured results show.
I understand what you're getting at but I'd be confident Tripp-Lite / Eaton care not a whit for reviews in this context. Amazon sales to audio forum weirdos aren't even a rounding error and they're not really a B2C company in the first place.
Product deserves criticism since it heavily advertises isolation when in reality it doesn't provide anything like that with respect to safety ground. This misstatement causes so many people to go and buy them for audio use. Search for isolation transformer and the very Amazon listing that I used to buy it shows up half way down the page:
You see "100% isolation from AC power line." Combined with 130 reviews of 4.4 rating, folks buy them.
This is why I addressed this problem first and foremost in my review.
I actually gave them 100% benefit of doubt that it does what it is designed to do (not advertised to do). So not sure how I could be any more fair than I was.
They are technically correct, at least for common household use. One phase of the power line hot goes into a step down transformer that develops +hot, -hot and neutral. Neutral is then bonded to ground at your service box, not the line. (In the US) you use + and - to power 240VAC equipment like a dryer, and either + or - for the 120VAC L-N for your other circuits.
So this device does in fact isolate you from the 'power line' - but so does the SDT that's probably up a pole by the street. Your neutral and ground don't come from the line, they come from your residential construction / grounding grid (often just your water pipes). It of course doesn't isolate safety ground because no company the size of Tripp-Lite would sell such a product. The transformer's inductance also acts as a low-pass filter just as measured results show.
Bottom line is the TrippLite is not being marketed as such. What deluded people do with products is hardly the responsibility of an individual to 'expose' or protect them from, is it? It is not up to Amir to 'save' a bunch of misguided audiophools from their own ignorance or misguided stupidity, is it? What ever happened to critical thinking?
Company reputations are being damaged (and may incure financial losses) by incorrect testing methodology, incorrect assumptions and/or blatant ignorance as to the functionality of the devices being tested.
I understand what you're getting at but I'd be confident Tripp-Lite / Eaton care not a whit for reviews in this context. Amazon sales to audio forum weirdos aren't even a rounding error and they're not really a B2C company in the first place.