I intend to serialise two DC power supplies (12V/16A and 36V/1A) to achieve 48V.
Q1: how much current can I draw from such a combination? 1A, 16A, 17A...?
Q2: I understand that grounds must be isolated on the DC side, does this apply to the AC side of the PSUs? (Earth/ground or neutral?)
A1: 1A.
A2: No, regardless of what kind of AC input it has, earthed or not, the DC output on at least one supply must be floating/isolated from ground/earth.
But I would not recommend connecting these in series. If you exceed the 1A limit then the 1A supply might shut down. If one of the supplies is off, the other supply would apply voltage via load to the shut down supply. E.g. if you turn on the 36V supply first and have a high power load or short circuit, almost all of the 36V would be in parallel over the 12V supply, and it would most likely get damaged.
I intend to serialise two DC power supplies (12V/16A and 36V/1A) to achieve 48V.
That makes no sense - use only the 12 volt / 16 amp supply with a boost converter to produce 48 volts at a maximum current of maybe 3.5 amps. Forget about the 36 volt supply.
Q1: how much current can I draw from such a combination? 1A, 16A, 17A...?
If you put two power supplies in series, then the maximum current will be that of the weakest supply (in your case, 1A).
Q2: I understand that grounds must be isolated on the DC side, does this apply to the AC side of the PSUs? (Earth/ground or neutral?)
If both your power supplies have the negative terminal internally connected to Safety Earth, then you can't wire them in series because that would connect the negative terminals of both supplies together and cause a short circuit. So you should check with a multimeter if this is the case.
