Electrical shock. Help needed.
My son got a shock (120 volt) when standing outside touching our ladder. His boots were very wet providing the ground. We were plugged into a 30 amp breaker at a state park. No breakers inside or out ...
Forum Discussion
The 120 V hot must be somehow connected to the ladder, perhaps directly or through a device in the RV AND the safety ground from the RV to ground via the cord and pedestal is not good. Think of the present situation as an opportunity to narrow the search for TWO problems. Use a meter on AC range over 120V to test for voltage between ladder and ground while you ...
- unplug the RV cord from the pedestal (if hot skin stops it indicates the voltage comes from the pedestal, not some weird device like a toy shock box gag in the RV)
- trip the main breaker on the RV (if hot skin stops, it means the hot connection to the ladder is in the RV past the breaker: if not, I would be checking the pedestal for voltage between the safety ground and a nail in the wet ground. Also the neutral. If neither, the problem is narrowed down to the cord and connections between cord and breaker)
- trip the RV breakers one at a time (if hot skin stops with one breaker tripped, it means a problem on that circuit in the RV: unplug everything one at a time, check the wiring at outlets)
Unplugged from power, I would use a multimeter ohms range to check the resistance between hot and safety ground on the RV cord not plugged in at the pedestal- it should be at least 100 k ohms. And no more than half a dozen ohms between safety ground on the cord plug to a safety ground on an outlet in the RV.
Also check the resistance between the ladder and the safety ground on the cord.
- unplug the RV cord from the pedestal (if hot skin stops it indicates the voltage comes from the pedestal, not some weird device like a toy shock box gag in the RV)
- trip the main breaker on the RV (if hot skin stops, it means the hot connection to the ladder is in the RV past the breaker: if not, I would be checking the pedestal for voltage between the safety ground and a nail in the wet ground. Also the neutral. If neither, the problem is narrowed down to the cord and connections between cord and breaker)
- trip the RV breakers one at a time (if hot skin stops with one breaker tripped, it means a problem on that circuit in the RV: unplug everything one at a time, check the wiring at outlets)
Unplugged from power, I would use a multimeter ohms range to check the resistance between hot and safety ground on the RV cord not plugged in at the pedestal- it should be at least 100 k ohms. And no more than half a dozen ohms between safety ground on the cord plug to a safety ground on an outlet in the RV.
Also check the resistance between the ladder and the safety ground on the cord.
