Galvanic isolator —— who? whT

[allanc]

Following up on the latest YM's recommendation to install a Galvanic isolator, I have just bought one. it is the one that YM featured, the in-line one as pictured, the model Gi120/P/SA. I bought it through eBay, unused the vendor said, and tried to get an instruction leaflet from the manufacturer.
On entering the company website address as shown on the product www.galvanicisolator.co.uk it took me to a company called Safe Shore Marine.
I tried several times but the same result each time. So I called Safe Shore Marine and spoke to a very knowledgable chap who was as puzzled as I am about this. Yes, he is a competitor, he knows the other company well and cannot explain the apparent mis-direction.
Then, when googling the above product number, up comes the company required, which when tapped upon, comes up with a warning about it not being a safe conection and that someone may be impersonating the company to steal my details etc.
This happens frequently on a 'galvanic isolator' search for the company that 'the connection is not private' and etc.
Try it yourself.
But, the question is two-fold - what's going on? and - how did YM get involved?
Mmmmm.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Look on the product label again, are you sure it doesn't say Welcome to the Galvanic Isolator Company!! - Galvanic Isolators

Note the hyphen.

Firefox comes up with security messages, Chrome and Edge do not, i wouldn't worry about it, looks like a certificate might be out of date.

 

[allanc]

Thank you for your suggestion but the product label is as I stated.

 

[Skipper_Christoph]

The certificate of the website had been revoked. That's why you get the warning about non private connection. Why it was revoked I don't know

 

[Sandy]

The certificate of the website had been revoked. That's why you get the warning about non private connection. Why it was revoked I don't know

They are time limited.

 

[allanc]

Just to play fair with the manufacture, having found him on eBay I emailed him and received the required instructions leaflet immediately with his apologies, good service. No doubt he will resolve the website problem as well.
So this time it's my turn to apologise, to recognise that there is usually a simple answer and to hold off before complaining.

 

[galvanicisolator]

Hi! Just to answer your point...

We are galvanic-isolator.co.uk, which is, of course, different to galvanicisolator.co.uk The hyphen makes all the difference!

As for the site cert, this is a glitch with our webhost, and they are already on the case. Our site cert is, in fact valid, as evidenced by the padlock that (normally) shows at the left hand end of the address bar. Don't worry, we won't steal your details, money, soul, or anything else for that matter

Cheers... Ed

 

[galvanicisolator]

Just to play fair with the manufacture, having found him on eBay I emailed him and received the required instructions leaflet immediately with his apologies, good service. No doubt he will resolve the website problem as well.
So this time it's my turn to apologise, to recognise that there is usually a simple answer and to hold off before complaining.

Absolutely no apology necessary. With all the scammers, fraudsters and general baddies that are out there, it pays to be cautious!

 

[PaulRainbow]

Hi! Just to answer your point...

We are galvanic-isolator.co.uk, which is, of course, different to galvanicisolator.co.uk The hyphen makes all the difference!

As for the site cert, this is a glitch with our webhost, and they are already on the case. Our site cert is, in fact valid, as evidenced by the padlock that (normally) shows at the left hand end of the address bar. Don't worry, we won't steal your details, money, soul, or anything else for that matter

Cheers... Ed

I did point out the hyphen in post #2, so your product labels include the hyphen, despite post #3 ??

 

[galvanicisolator]

I did point out the hyphen in post #2, so your product labels include the hyphen, despite post #3 ??

They do Paul - might be a bit tricky to see from the photo though.

 

[allanc]

the product label address does not have a hyphen

 

[allanc]

Ed,
attached - I hope!

 

[galvanicisolator]

Ed,
attached - I hope!

Breaks my heart to admit.... you're right!!

 

[wonkywinch]

I've just bought one of these and fitted it next to the consumer unit in series with the shore power earth.

I was curious how much tech is in it so undid the four screws but the box is glued shut. It reminds me of companies that potted stuff to protect their design but since the basic principle is two (or more) diodes in reverse parallel to allow AC continuity (preserving the protective earth whilst blocking any galvanic action with the forward voltage effect (typically 0.7v).

As I have plenty of room in the consumer unit (but not enough to fit the packaged isolator), I want to just put a couple of diodes in there. Since the diodes won't be conducting anything other than in a protective earth situation, under which situation they must not fail until other protective measures have kicked in (ELCB). In pure terms, a >30mA diode will do but I was thinking of 30A devices to allow for worst case scenario. Perhaps a small heat sink so they hold up until a fuse blew?

Any techie thoughts appreciated.

 

[Alex_Blackwood]

I've just bought one of these and fitted it next to the consumer unit in series with the shore power earth.

I was curious how much tech is in it so undid the four screws but the box is glued shut. It reminds me of companies that potted stuff to protect their design but since the basic principle is two (or more) diodes in reverse parallel to allow AC continuity (preserving the protective earth whilst blocking any galvanic action with the forward voltage effect (typically 0.7v).

As I have plenty of room in the consumer unit (but not enough to fit the packaged isolator), I want to just put a couple of diodes in there. Since the diodes won't be conducting anything other than in a protective earth situation, under which situation they must not fail until other protective measures have kicked in (ELCB). In pure terms, a >30mA diode will do but I was thinking of 30A devices to allow for worst case scenario. Perhaps a small heat sink so they hold up until a fuse blew?

Any techie thoughts appreciated.

Stick to the proprietary device. Many reasons why a DIY device may not be suitable. What your insurance company would say is the least of them. The diodes fitted in manufactured devices, usually two in series and a reverse pair in parallel, are chosen to block up to approx. 1 volt. they may also have a fail save device incorporated. (Failure of the DIY device, or part thereof, could, possibly, result in failure of the RCD protection for your installation) GI's are not normally designed for the currents you are envisaging. They are designed to allow the operation of your protection devices (RCDs)
Simple answer. Don't do it.
The figures I have used are general, ball park, examples and should not be treated as gospel.

 

[lustyd]

Our site cert is, in fact valid, as evidenced by the padlock that (normally) shows at the left hand end of the address bar. Don't worry, we won't steal your details, money, soul, or anything else for that matter

If it was valid there wouldn’t be an error.

Do worry about this stuff, certificates exist for very good reason and any good business should ensure it’s properly maintained. Just because you won’t steal details doesn’t mean someone else won’t.

Never, ever, ever enter any details on a site with a certificate error. They may have been hacked or they might be incompetent. Either way identity theft is a pain to sort out, as is credit card fraud.

I’m also seeing no privacy statement, which is in breach of GDPR…

 

[ylop]

Breaks my heart to admit.... you're right!!

When you fix that you can fix the CE mark which doesn’t actually conform to the standard either (and should make anyone who knows suspicious about its legitimacy) - an official CE mark the E should be spaced from the C such that if the C was continued to be a complete O the E would be tangential to the E. and the middle leg of the E should be shorter. whoever authorised you to label the product as CE would/should have spelled this out.

 

[VicS]

When you fix that you can fix the CE mark which doesn’t actually conform to the standard either (and should make anyone who knows suspicious about its legitimacy) - an official CE mark the E should be spaced from the C such that if the C was continued to be a complete O the E would be tangential to the E. and the middle leg of the E should be shorter. whoever authorised you to label the product as CE would/should have spelled this out.

The Chinese use a mark which at first glance resembles our CE mark.

 

[wonkywinch]

The Chinese use a mark which at first glance resembles our CE mark.

I believe they print it to mean "Chinese Export".