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[SOLVED] Want to isolate test equipment

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Zak28

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Is this a safe way to isolate test equipment

I decided its best to purchase an inverter and a few 48v bricks (without ground pin) to power bench dmm & scope with inverter I will likely stick a copper pipe a few feet long into the ground and fill it with water for grounding. Inverters are the most economical option and no need for diff probes or heavy transformers. Inverter can be really small (less than 150W) because scope & meters use about ~30W each. I have power supply and it wont be isolated, but I won't use its ground. Is there a dangerous flaw to this isolation method?
 
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What are you going to do with your copper pipe-you didn't explain what you're actually going to connect to that. And what is the water for, cooling? It sure ain't gonna conduct much.
 
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barry said:
What are you going to do with your copper pipe-you didn't explain what you're actually going to connect to that. And what is the water for, cooling? It sure ain't gonna conduct much.
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Pipe is for inverter ground and it will be driven into ground (soil) and I will pour some water into it to improve conduction, water doesn't matter.
 
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It's really not clear what you've got in mind here- a sketch would help a lot. You're using an un-isolated supply but 'not using its ground'. What's the isolation between the output and chassis of the power supply? How much isolation do you need? You need to think this through clearly- you could damage your equipment or yourself. I once blew up an oscilloscope because I tried to isolate it but my test circuit wasn't isolated and I inadvertently ended up with a very large voltage across the scope input.
 
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Its best to simply use a transformer since inverter will make LOTS of switching noise.
 

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