The designer may or may not have tied the positive output to the chassis.  

You would have to galvanically isolate it and see if there is a voltage from 
negative to chassis.  

You might be OK or you might have to isolate it from the rack.  If you do 
isolate it, make sure to put a sign on it that it is hot so someone does not 
lay a tool on it or touch it with a metal ladder etc  that could ground it out 
and cause lots of sparks.  I personally don’t feel –48 unless I am hot and 
sweaty, so to me it is not much of a shock hazard but may be for others.  

If you do isolate it, remember that the input AC probably has a ground wire 
that will tie the chassis to earth ground.  If the +48 is tied to the chassis, 
you are going to have to disconnect the input ground too.  

And it is slightly possible, in an old and lousy design, that the AC neutral 
could also be tied to the chassis.  

From: Gino Villarini 
Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2015 4:12 AM
To: [email protected] 
Subject: [AFMUG] Isolating a -48 rectifier?

So, i was wondering if isolating a -48 dc rectifier from the rack/ground would 
turn it into a polarity agnostic device?

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