Patent ID: 7852090

Claim:
A ground current detection apparatus comprising: a first input in signal communication with an earth ground connection, wherein the first input comprises a coaxial input; a second input in signal communication with a ground line of a power source; and a detection circuit communicatively coupled to the first input and the second input, which receives a ground signal from the second input, and determines whether a value of a current of the ground signal is above a threshold value, based on the earth ground connection, and provides an indication to a user responsive to determining that the value of the current of the ground signal is above the threshold value, wherein the detection circuit further comprises: a transformer including: first primary windings communicatively coupled to the first input; second primary windings communicatively coupled to the second input; and secondary windings electrically coupled to the first primary windings and the second primary windings and configured to translate the current of the ground signal from the second primary windings into a translated signal; and a comparison module communicatively coupled to the secondary windings to receive the translated signal as input, and to determine whether the value of the current of the ground signal exceeds a threshold value based on the translated signal.