You are reading a single comment by @Airhead and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
Airhead
This is why I suggested a USB plug with a plastic ground pin first - it's a consumer unit which is only expected to be used with low voltage stuff rather than an extension cord which you might forget about.
The combined PE + N system in the UK is a real problem when you're designing stuff with high loads for outside use. If you have a broken PEN line somewhere it means that your PE line effectively becomes an extension of your neutral return. If you've got a metal casing (think heavy duty catering equipment in a gazebo) which will be grounded internally to the PE - you've now got a fridge in a gazebo carrying mains current through its easily graspable metal handle.
If only our grid hadn't been built on the cheap and they just ran a standalone PE.