Bronson++ MII 2000 Isolation Transformer Toroidal Core 2000 Watt - In: 110V / 230V - Out: 230

An isolation transformer is an essential piece of kit if you want to fault-find on switching power supplies or high-power audio gear; it allows you to shift the internal 0v common rail to the ground potential of your mains-powered test equipment and avoid blowing up your 'scope or yourself!Sadly the first unit was faulty, tripping out the breaker on even a lightly-loaded 32A ring main. Testing on a dedicated 32A feed with a current transformer/sensor showed an inrush of nearly 80A for 1 to 2 cycles - clearly the soft-start wasn't working. After turning it on and off a few times while testing there was a loud pop and an internal flash and the unit was dead. A quick call to Amazon 'product support' agreed I should return it and within a few hours it was dropped off at a local returns shop and the cost was credited to my gift card account (excellent service Amazon!).I like this unit; its neat & compact; with a UK type G socket on top it takes up little bench space and can be wall mounted if need-be. There's nothing else on Amazon that comes close on price. Despite the initial faulty one, I decided to order a second unit, on the grounds that two faulty units was unlikely. The second unit arrived next day and has proved to be fully functional. I'm not a great fan of the L & N screw terminals as I'm not convinced they meet regulations; even screwed down tight I think a child's finger could easily touch an exposed metal ring.

An important detail: Although the manual states that the isolated socket's earth pin is connected to the input earth pin (why would anyone go to the trouble of installing an isolation transformer only to then provide a low impedance path?), as shipped the device has the isolated socket's earth pin isolated as expected, and a safety sticker pointing this out.

The manual states the UK socket version has ground to chassis, on mine if definatley did not, there is absolutley no connection to the earth terminal on the socket. If your use case requires this I suggest you check. Otherwise seems like a reasonable piece of kit.

I lost a PSU unit due to high input voltage and it tripped my whole house. After using this transformer, I notice a drop of 5-7 VOLTAGE when using an electric toaster or any other electronic device eg; 1000W psu which require high number of Watts, which is very satisfying as I thought that this transformer will only provide isolation and nothing else. To double check, I use 2 different voltage monitoring devices, one was directly connected to the wall power socket and one connected with the transformer. So for example connecting a toaster with transformer would result a 5 v drop while nothing drops when I connect toaster with wall power socket directly. This shows that this transformer provide dual protection in form of (isolation & high input voltage spikes). I will monitor it further in the coming days to reassure.

Don't work on mains testing without this. Just remember that the socket is not earth isolated, though you can do this; the manual (download from their website as it does not come with the isolator) explains how to do it.