electric shock

[scrnt]

I have 322qbs with the slide out on the back bumper for bikes or coolers. I was packing up today and slide the hitch in and was securing the pins. I had 1 knee on the ground shoulder on the bottom of camper and thumbs on pin. I was getting a tingle on my thumb. Took my knee off the ground and no tingle. Cut battery disconnect on and still when my knee went to ground I got the tingle. I know my knee was completing a ground through my body to ground. I don't think this should be happening could there be anything dangerous here we are leaving fri for a 3 day trip.

[SteveC7010]

Originally Posted by scrnt

I have 322qbs with the slide out on the back bumper for bikes or coolers. I was packing up today and slide the hitch in and was securing the pins. I had 1 knee on the ground shoulder on the bottom of camper and thumbs on pin. I was getting a tingle on my thumb. Took my knee off the ground and no tingle. Cut battery disconnect on and still when my knee went to ground I got the tingle. I know my knee was completing a ground through my body to ground. I don't think this should be happening could there be anything dangerous here we are leaving fri for a 3 day trip.

Cutting off the battery won't help because the shock is almost certainly 110vac, not 12vdc.

That kind of shock usually indicates that something in the 110/220 vac side of the wiring is messed up. If you are not comfortable troubleshooting residential style wiring (which is all our RV's are), then either an electrician needs to look at it, or take to an RV service facility. This is not something to take lightly.

[hankpage]

#1 Are you connected to shore power???

#2 The battery disconnect does not live up to it's name ... usually some items are connected before it and still function.

#3 As you suspected you became the ground and are most likely very sensitive to electric current to feel 12v dc even if only as a tingle.

As long as you were not connected to shore power I would not be concerned and go and enjoy your trip. Travel safely, JM2¢, Hank

[scrnt]

Ok went out side reading about 2v ac. Only reading this on the pin that holds the bumper from sliding out. I took reading with meter (and thumb) and only getting readings at the pin not off of the frame. Only spot is the pin that holds bumper slide in. Is this because the frame is painted? The shore power is plugged in battery off unplug shore power and the 2 volts goes away. What do I need to check next. Using an analog simpson meter. Not an electrician but know enough to be a good assistant if told what to do or what to look for. Thanks for your help. Don

[camper 2010]

If you were connectded to shore power, your shore power does not have a good ground. If you can, connect to another outlet on another circut to see if it still happen.

[scrnt]

Ok I am using cheap drop cord for now to hook up to 110 in my shop so we can run the fridge and lights for now till we leave. I don't think the drop cord has a 3rd wire prong on it. Just the neutral and hot. I am supposed to get a 30 amp outlet installed to hook up to just haven't done it yet.

[CUFFS054]

Scrnt,
I would bet you have found your problem in the cord. But this really could be dangerous at some point. When you get the new hook-up I would repeat test. If positive I'd be going in for service. Not only for the potential 'big' tingle you might get, but any spark around propane tanks.

[Terrydactile]

Originally Posted by scrnt

Ok I am using cheap drop cord for now to hook up to 110 in my shop so we can run the fridge and lights for now till we leave. I don't think the drop cord has a 3rd wire prong on it. Just the neutral and hot. I am supposed to get a 30 amp outlet installed to hook up to just haven't done it yet.

Using a cord without the ground pin is the problem.

[Paddler]

X2, your problem is the drop cord. Your body was supplying the missing ground conductor. Just be thankfully there wasn't a larger potential difference between neutral and ground.

[SteveC7010]

The two plug-in testers on the left in this pic should probably be in everyone's RV tool kit.



If memory serves, the yellow one is for testing regular 110vac outlets. The red one is for 110vac GFCI's. They can be found in the electrical tools aisle of most home improvement centers. Total cost should be $15 or so.

Using these testers will help avoid and/or detect these problems early on. I test the power post at every campground before plugging the trailer shore into it.

[geo]

Scrnt -

Terrydactile, Paddler, and Steve are correct, but I would like add another thought. I'm old enough to remember when house wiring was all two wire - there was no ground wire. I also remember when our electric water heater (element) malfunctioned. With no ground wire, the common practice was to attach a ground wire to the cold water pipe. Sometimes that didn't work very well. Like when, one Thanksgiving, when my dad was holding the turkey under running water to rinse the body cavity. He was providing the ground - and yelling for my mother to turn the water off!

Somewhere you have a short, under a load, in your electrical. Hot water heater? AC? Converter? Sounds like you are getting a voltage drop from the load, so it's not 120V. But since your extension cord is missing ground, you are providing ground. This is dangerous! You really need to get it checked and fixed. Try this - measure the pin to ground voltage. Turn one circuit breaker off. Measure again. Repeat. When there is no voltage between pin and ground, you found the bad circuit. If your circuit breakers are properly labelled, you can probably figure out what is bad.

But, please have it checked and find the short.

Ron

[scrnt]

Thanks to all will give it a shot shortly. Just got in from work. I do appreciate all of your help. This what makes this site so great. The willingness to help one another.