Safety Requirements for Switches

I'm trying to determine industry accepted practice for the use of switches in electronic equipment. I may wish to have my equipment UL certified eventually.

My question has to do with the voltage applied to the switch.

Switches are rated for the voltage that can be present across their leads. If I have a 12V switch attached so that one lead is at 110V and the other lead is at 120V, then the voltage across the switch is within the switches specs -- however, the potential of the switch above ground is quite high.

What I am trying to determine is what the acceptable voltage between the switch leads and ground (the user) is.

There are many switches that have a dielectric rating of 250V. Does this mean that I can use that switch in this manner?

Obviously the best solution would be to alter the design so that the mean voltage is near ground. But in this case, I'd rather not do that if I don't have to, since every penny counts, and I don't wish to add any components. (I already flipped the polarity of the entire circuit once to address a much more severe safety issue.)

Worst case, I can just leave the switch out, but I'd rather not do this.

I'm really looking for a response from someone who KNOWS the answer to this question, not just a bunch of guesses... so if you want to reply and give your oppinion, by all means do, but please say in your reply that you don't know for sure.

-Chiem

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CWM
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This post has been crossposted to sci.engr.electrical.compliance. It's more appropriate there. Please reply there.

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CWM

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