UpTone-branded 7.5V/4.8A/36W SMPS (with internal ground-shunt)
$ 17.00
This is the new custom 36 watt SMPS that is supplied with every UltraCap LPS-1.2. You can order it for use with the original UltraCap LPS-1 model.
[Note that this unit is not supplied with any AC cord; Please provide your own standard IEC320/C14 computer/audio AC cord. The DC output cable is a heavy 16awg coaxial cable, 1 meter long, with 5.5mm x 2.1mm DC barrel plug. Compatible with mains voltages worldwide, 100~240V, 50/60Hz.]
Aside from having the higher amperage/wattage capability required for "energizing"/charging the new generation LPS-1.2 (with its expanded output voltage range), this unit internally connects the AC mains ground pin to its DC output zero-volt "ground." Doing so shunts to ground a unique form of AC leakage that we refer to as "high-impedance leakage." This is not the same as common--and much larger problem--low-impedance AC leakage "touch currents." Both the original LPS-1 and the new LPS-1.2 completely block the path of low-impedance leakage. But because we use transistors instead of mechanically noisy relays to accomplish the alternating between banks of ultracapacitors, the sum of the few picoFarads of capacitance that each transistor has is enough to allow passage of high-impedance leakage though the our UltraCap units.
The solution is extremely simple: Don't allow high-impedance leakage into the LPS-1/LPS-1.2 in the first place. And all that requires is that the DC output "ground" of--whatever is used as a charger--is shunted to AC mains ground. John Swenson explained the technical details of the discovery of high-impedance leakage and shared an easy method for shunting it away--in this post at the CA forum. And Alex Crespi shared some comparison graphs and information related to the Mean Well SMPS that came with the original LPS-1 in this post.
Ultimately this is not nearly as big a deal as the graphs would imply or as the fuss that was made over this at the time. Yet preventing the entry of any high-impedance leakage into our supplies is a good thing (remember, we already 100% block the much worse low-impedance leakage, the real evil of an SMPS). Use of this new--already internally ground-shunted--unit with the original UltraCap LPS-1 will take care of the issue, in the same way as John's less-neat external wire grounding method linked to above.
