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Raven Luni

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So I'm having a quick glance at the knowledge base section and I see a circuit schematic and the problem its intended to solve and by brain goes into overdrive with ideas - this is the kind of stuff that excites me (and a big part of how I know its the right career change)
I'd be interested to see what real electricians think of my thinking.  Lets take the earth fault detection example here:
It mentions the issue of leakage and a slightly disadvantageous way of reducing it.
 



What if instead of a transformer or a set of (relatively) high power lights, you used something like a set of capacitive droppers which each switched a transistor / optoisolator at very low current (microamps if you use a darlington), which could be used to light some LEDs on a separate DC supply?
 

 
Actually why stop at LEDs - you could latch an alarm signal and / or trigger relays to kill the main power

 
What if instead of a transformer or a set of (relatively) high power lights, you used something like a set of capacitive droppers which each switched a transistor / optoisolator at very low current (microamps if you use a darlington), which could be used to light some LEDs on a separate DC supply?
 


Just guessing, but it might have something to do with reliability, the less components and the more reliable robust the component the better when it comes to safety systems. 

 
There are numerous proprietary relays available, mainly American due to their love of weird and wonderful supply systems. Earth free systems are frowned on in the UK, they certainly can not be used for LV distribution.

We used them for single phase induction furnaces because the current was so high the conductors were hollow and so water could be pumped through them. It took me about three months to find an intermittent earth fault.

https://talk.electricianforum.co.uk/knowledgebase/transformers/strange/low-frequency-induction-furnace-r75/

 
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