Budgeting a Wallwart

Electroenthusiast said:

I support For The Popcorn 's views here. I have felt the same. The output voltage (of the faulty wall wart) was mains voltage, and i was also able to feel the tingle when i touched the pinout. To be frank, this also meant that there was an issue with the china made cheap wall wart.

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No one disagrees with his point - it's perfectly normal to feel a slight 'tingle' with Class II devices, this is due to the safety components which are there to provide static discharge.

However, this doesn't mean it's outputting mains voltage - and in no way means that there was an issue with the device - it's perfectly normal, and a design 'feature' not a fault (it's to prevent the possiblity of a high static voltage building up on the isolated secondary of the transformer, and discharges this back to the mains/ground).

If you've still got the device you should find it, and check it properly, or throw it away (after taking it to pieces and posting the pictures) - assuming there is a problem with it?.

What I have said is that ~½ line voltage at extremely low current is a common characteristic of SMPSs. It doesn't indicate a fault nor is it dangerous.

A cheap SMPS could fail in a way that does put hazardous voltage/current levels on the output, typically because of shorts in a poorly made transformer, but this would feel like more than a tingle.

What arrangements are used for surge protection, and line voltage leaks through the wallwart?

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