[Daemon]

Hi Guys,

I was hoping someone could explain to me how isolation between outlets in a multi-outlet power distribution system works.

All they outlets are ultimately connected; all the actives, neutrals and earths are fed from the same wires, so my immediate impression is that no real isolation is possible without some sort of inductor on every wire.  Clearly this can't be true (as lots of things claim to be doing it without being full of coils), so what isolates them from each other and how does it work?

Thanks guys

[NealH]

Unless passive or active componentry is used, they are not isolated in the classic sense.   However, from an edison connection like that which exists at your service entrance you can run two different hot wires (though the neutral and, ground wires are the same circuit) though separate breakers to two different outlets.  So, between these two "hot" wires(or outlets), it could be argued that there is isolation.  This is stretching the theory of isolation a bit though since the neutral is not electrically separate.

[Daemon]

So what type of componentry can be used, apart from inductors, that results in isolation?  I've seen inside Shunyata distribution boards, which claim to be isolated, and they just have a capacitor between the active and neutral on each point, with all the actives, neutrals and earths just bus wired, not even star wired. They claim their outlets are isolated each from the other, but I fail to see how (though me failing to see how, is not the same as me saying that it can't be true).

[Dan Banquer]

Usually outputs are isolated with LC filters from each other. The isolation is typicaly HF only. It would be very rare, and very expensive to have a transformer to isolate each one. For more on the typical isolation filters used try www.corcom.com The single stage filter schematics shown in their catalog are very typical of the filters used.
Hope this helps;
             d.b.