Electrical shock

oldelmer1

Well-known member
Hi guys,

I was putting my coroplast(underbelly material) back up and I touched the spring hanger and got a shock.

I ran en extension cord out to the spring hanger, and put the negative from my volt meter into the ground of the extension cord and put the positive onto the spring hanger and had 41 VAC.

Had DW turn each breaker off 1 at a time, and the voltage dropped with each breaker turned off.

Any thoughts??

Thanks.

Tom
 

MCTalley

Well-known member
Definite "hot skin" condition. I'd shut off main power until you can figure it out. If you are at a campground, it's possible the power outlet is to blame. Start checking there and work your way to the rig.
 

MCTalley

Well-known member
Im at home, plugged into a 30 amp plug with a 30 to 50 amp adapter.

Might probe the 50 amp end of the adapter and see what you are getting between each hot and the neutral. Then do the same between hot and ground. Something's leaking current somewhere.

Do you have a power management/surge suppressor device inline anywhere?
 

Gaffer

Well-known member
Check that your chassis ground on the coach is sound. Both ends, frame and circuit breaker panel. Also transfer switch if you have one.
 

oldelmer1

Well-known member
I went out and put my progressive ind EMS inline, and it read fine.

I put the adapter back in and had 41 VAC.

Turned the breaker on/off a couple of times, and replaced the adapter and now the volt meter reads 0.00.

Put the original adapter back and I had 41 VAC again.

Swapped the adapter out and 0.00.

I put the original adapter back in and now it shows 0.00.

Still using my ground from the extension cord, I put the 2 probes into the hot side of the extension cord and had 12VAC, just did this to test the volt meter.

SO, im confused........

Could turning the breaker on/off a bunch of times fixed the problem?

- - - Updated - - -

Check that your chassis ground on the coach is sound. Both ends, frame and circuit breaker panel. Also transfer switch if you have one.

I am generator ready, so I do have a transfer switch, but have never used it.
 

oldelmer1

Well-known member
I just went out and plugged my 30/15 amp adapter into the 30 amp outlet with my 3 wire receptacle tester into in and the ground was flashing.

Opened up the receptacle and found most of the wires were all green.

Replaced the ground wire and the black(hot) wire and put some dielectric grease on the connectors. Couldnt get the white wire screw loose.

Put everything back together and now the ground light is solid.
 

CCH

Member
If that white wire screw isn’t a major part of the problem just resolved it most likely will be the cause of the next one. 99% of the time a frozen screw terminal is caused by it actually being slightly loose - that causes the connection to overheat. It won’t get better. It may fester for a long while and eventually completely fail.

There is also a very good chance that the increased resistance of that connection created a situation where you touching your frame became a better path to ground. (That could have been caused by an improper bond of neutral to mechanical ground at some point)

I would strongly recommend taking a very close look at that frozen connection.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

oldelmer1

Well-known member
CCH, yes, I agree, the outlet has been there for a good 15 years.

I think I will just replace the entire outlet and upgrade to 50AMP.


Thanks everybody......
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Hot Skin is usually (not always) due to 2 problems occurring at the same time. Something in the coach is taking power on the hot lines but not returning all of it on the neutral. The ground connection is designed to carry the leaking current so it doesn't shock you. You obviously have current leaking, AND the ground is not carrying the leakage, so it's going through your body. If everything in the trailer was right, a defective ground wouldn't be noticeable (except maybe by the EMS).

Based on your posts, I'd say the adapter is the likely culprit for the ground problem. But you still need to find where the current is leaking.

You could have a loose wire inside the transfer switch. Or at the back of the main circuit breaker panel inside the coach. Or where your shore power cord connects to the trailer. If you have a power cord reel, it could be a loose wire there.

You need to get to the bottom of this. If you fix the ground only, you could still have a problem that at some point in the future could lead to tragic results.
 

oldelmer1

Well-known member
Hi Dan,

Thanks for your reply.

I really think it was the 30 amp outlet cause it was all corroded, I replaced it today, getting ready to go out and meter the frame again.

The only time I got shocked was when I was sitting on the ground, I guess I became the ground at that point. Didnt happen when I was standing up.

Since I had the DW turn each breaker off 1 at a time, and the voltage on the frame kept dropping with each breaker turned off, do you think the problem could be from the breaker panel back out to the outside 30amp outlet?

I will check the breaker panel and the auto transfer switch too.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Could be anywhere from the back side of the breaker panel all the way back to the power source.

If your 30 amp outlet had a problem with both ground and neutral, maybe that would account for it. But you need to be pretty certain. You don't want to go down the road with a hidden problem, plug into a pedestal that has a ground problem, and get electrocuted. A little wet ground near your entry would be the 3rd element needed to lead to a tragedy.
 

oldelmer1

Well-known member
Dan,

No more voltage on the frame after replacing the 30amp outlet using the volt meter and myself.

I did open up all the junction boxes underneath the slides and found 1 ground not connected.

Also found that they used the big red wire nuts on 2 wire connections and a lot of them were loose, a little tug and the wire nuts came off.

None of the wires were twisted together with pliers first.

Also, there are a lot of solid wire to stranded wire connections under there. ???

I did open up the breaker panel and tightened every screw that help a wire, all were pretty tight.

Started looking for the auto transfer switch, but it started raining.



With the old outlet, I could not get the screw off for the neutral wire, it was that corroded.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Where you have stranded wire connecting to solid, you might replace the wire nuts with Wago Lever Nuts from Amazon. They come in configurations for joining 2, 3, 4 or 5 wires. Mixing wire types or sizes is a 'don't care' to the Wago.
 

oldelmer1

Well-known member
I took the walls down in the basement and crawled up in there looking for the auto transfer switch. I saw the converter and the EMS.

Could not find the auto transfer switch though.

Any ideas where to look in a 2016 Landmark Orlando?

I did find a junction box full of wires, tightened all the wire nuts up on them too.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
If you have a Surge Guard Plus 41260, it's a combination EMS/Transfer Switch.

The transfer switch has 2 sets of electrical cables on one end, and a single set on the other end.
 

oldelmer1

Well-known member
If you have a Surge Guard Plus 41260, it's a combination EMS/Transfer Switch.

The transfer switch has 2 sets of electrical cables on one end, and a single set on the other end.

Thanks Dan, but I dont think I want to open up that thing.....
 

mlpeloquin

Well-known member
If you have a power reel, you need to open it up and check the wire connections. Mine worked their way loose and I found it before any damage could be done. Others have not been so fortunate and have had burned wiring.
 

Fox

Well-known member
If I understand the sales literature then my using a Progressive Industries (on board) EMS would eliminate this problem. Of course that'd mean I have NO power, but that is still a safer alternative.
 

wdk450

Well-known member
If I understand the sales literature then my using a Progressive Industries (on board) EMS would eliminate this problem. Of course that'd mean I have NO power, but that is still a safer alternative.

Check the literature and be sure the EMS tests for an open ground. I have the built in 50 amp Progressive EMS and I still got a shock at a park in Oregon from a missing ground on the shorepower outlet. The only recommendation I have seen posted here is using a NON-CONTACT AC VOLTAGE DETECTOR to test for a HOT SKIN (any exposed metal that should be grounded) BEFORE touching your rig IMMEDIATELY AFTER PLUGGING IT IN TO SHOREPOWER - EVERY TIME! You can get these detector tools at most any home improvement store.
 
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