>Well, look at where that Triac is again;  It's to Return, so indeed the
>load goes between Hot In and "Hot Return", bad design IMHO <G>  Hey, the
>"Hot Return" terminology and the VERY unusual placement of the Triac,
>fooled me at first too.  MOST are done as you mention (to produce NO hot
>connection to the load when fully dimmed) - This one, isn't, both sides
>of the load are "hot" in that situation.


ALL triac controlled loads MUST be considered to be ALWAYS live regardless
of where the triac is placed.
An electronic device can never be relied on to provide
staying-alive-if-you-touch-it quality  isolation.

While there is a small apparent safety factor in having the triac on the
"live" side of the load, if you rely on this in real world practice it will
kill you sooner or later.




regards

        Russell McMahon