Isolating the whole choke is not an uncommon practise in >1kVdc supplies, although that form of supply normally has a raft of additional safety barriers and techniques applied by experienced people.
Caps are 'biased up' in voltage doubler power supplies, and supplies that use series connected caps for >450Vdc operation, although the cap in that situation often has a supplemental insulation covering, and the constructor typically adds a proper insulation barrier to any cap clamp, and should at least add a hazardous voltage label or similar way to alert future servicing.
Caps are 'biased up' in voltage doubler power supplies, and supplies that use series connected caps for >450Vdc operation, although the cap in that situation often has a supplemental insulation covering, and the constructor typically adds a proper insulation barrier to any cap clamp, and should at least add a hazardous voltage label or similar way to alert future servicing.
There is still a high voltage at start-up, until the caps' charge settles.
Since insulation breakdown is also time dependent, this means instead of blowing-up on the test bench it may break-down days or years later.
