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Ever since I got a phone with a metal chassis I get this issue : if my phone is plugged to a train electric outlet and I simultaneously touch my phone and any metallic part of the train (such as an ventilation grid) I get a small, but painful jolt.

Now, as I understand it, insulation between the phone chassis and the train should be provided by

  • the train electric supply system
  • the charger's transformer
  • the separation between the phone's battery and chassis

So why do I get those shocks ?

Evpok
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evpok
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  • Measure it with an AC voltmeter. I expect you'll see perhaps a dozen volts RMS, maybe more. A capacitor is a likely culprit, bridging primary to secondary. Look for it by tearing down your charger. See: https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/216959/what-does-the-y-capacitor-in-a-smps-do – jonk Aug 31 '17 at 05:27
  • Y-caps! There are several questions about this already. – winny Aug 31 '17 at 12:47
  • See https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/216959/what-does-the-y-capacitor-in-a-smps-do/216967. – winny Aug 31 '17 at 12:48

2 Answers2

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It can be more than just capacitive coupling between the windings of the transformer. Some designs couple high frequency output noise (due to the switching action of the controller) back to the nearest thing to ground that is available and that generally means the high voltage DC supply line after the AC power rectifier. Coupling is done with a capacitor like this: -

enter image description here

So, it trades better EMC performance for a slight tingle when you touch the DC output wires or you touch the metal parts of the device it is charging.

Andy aka
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  • That's a nice and clean and practical SMPS design, BTW :-) Complete with silicon part models and values of all the passives. Thank you. – frr Sep 01 '17 at 13:09
  • @frr if it pleaseth you then your upvote would pleaseth me. – Andy aka Sep 01 '17 at 13:35
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That's simple. It's an inherent downside of switch-mode power supplies. I'd assume yours doesn't have an earth (PE) terminal into the wall.

This is what it would look like without countermeasures: SMPS without RF EMI suppression

This is where you are now, probably: SMPS with an RF short between primary and secondary

This can be done, but it would take a PE terminal on your PSU: SMPS with an RF short between primary and secondary and a secondary - earthed (And it has residual side-effects still: can contribute to a ground loop, can help trip a "Residual Current Circuit Breaker" etc.)

frr
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