Metal camper step shocked my dog!

enblethen wrote:
Reverse polarity should not energize the skin.

X2

Wow, this is a lot of information, and a lot of conflicting opinions. I appreciate all the advice. I will switch out the extension cord running into the house. I have a volt-meter that I will use to check the skin. I'll check out the articles that have been posted.

Thanks to all. I'll post after I check this all out. I am concerned about going to an electrician ($$$), so I would like to see if I can iron it out myself before I pour money into it.

Thanks again.

~Thomas

Missing ground or reversed wires at the pedestal, some do it yourself campgrounds are scary, I always chech before hooking up, found a few that I had to refuse the site and get a different site.

navegator

You need to get an electrical person.
You have a serious fault there.

It would be neat to know how you are plugged into shore power. I think you are getting your power from a garage or house is this correct???

How are you hooked up using your your 30A Shore power plug.

You have to use a RV30A-15A Long Adapter (WALMART) to adapt your 30A MAle Plug to get down to the 15A/20A 120VAC house Receptacle...

Looks like this


I never had any luck using one of these small adapters like this. They always got hot on me...


Your problem could simply be the 120VAC receptacle you are plugged into has no ground connect to it.

If this is what you are doing you should use the LONG dog bone type adapter and if you have to run an extension cord to get to your truck trailer then it should be 12-GAUGE or even better 10-Gauge size wiring. The red-orange type extension cords from WALMART won't hack it...

Like said above all three wires must be used all the way from the house receptacle to the trailer.

Give us some more info on how you are hooked up...

I do this all the time at my house with NO problems on getting shocked...

There is a neat tester you can pick up from WALMART or LOWES... Looks like this...


Plug this into the house 120VAC receptacle first and it will tell you the receptacle is OK or not... Then plug your HD extension cord in it.

Then test again at the end of the extension cord to see if the extension cord is ok. Then you can plug your RV30A-15A long dog bone adapter into this extension cord. Then you can plug your 30A Trailer shore power plug into the ADAPTER.

It hard to figure things out and not be there if you know what I mean...

Roy Ken

So, I tested the tow-bar, and using the 200ACV setting, I got readings of upwards of 50. So that's a thousand volts? It's the only setting, besides the 750V, that gave me any sort of reading. Obviously, I don't know anything about electricity. Just the bare minimum. I know how to test my battery and fuses.

I tested the doorway, too. I tested the step that shocked Audie, and got no reading, but I have applied a rubber mat, so apparently, that stopped the flow. ??? I'm practically clueless. Anyway... on to the videos...

thomaskemper wrote:
So, I tested the tow-bar, and using the 200ACV setting, I got readings of upwards of 50. So that's a thousand volts? It's the only setting, besides the 750V, that gave me any sort of reading. Obviously, I don't know anything about electricity. Just the bare minimum. I know how to test my battery and fuses.

I tested the doorway, too. I tested the step that shocked Audie, and got no reading, but I have applied a rubber mat, so apparently, that stopped the flow. ??? I'm practically clueless. Anyway... on to the videos...

You are not reading the meter correctly. 50 is 50.
You really need to get a qualified person before you get hurt.

Jerry Parr

Mandalay Parr wrote:

thomaskemper wrote:
So, I tested the tow-bar, and using the 200ACV setting, I got readings of upwards of 50. So that's a thousand volts? It's the only setting, besides the 750V, that gave me any sort of reading. Obviously, I don't know anything about electricity. Just the bare minimum. I know how to test my battery and fuses.

I tested the doorway, too. I tested the step that shocked Audie, and got no reading, but I have applied a rubber mat, so apparently, that stopped the flow. ??? I'm practically clueless. Anyway... on to the videos...

You are not reading the meter correctly. 50 is 50.
You really need to get a qualified person before you get hurt.

Jerry Parr

Thanks for your concern, Jerry.

As mentioned, check your shore plug for a ground wire connection.

When incoming AC is 120v, it would be near the realm of impossibility for a reading of 1000 volts anywhere. If it were you may not be here to talk about it. Voltmeters don't read in percent.

Using that same voltage setting on your meter, stick a piece of metal in the ground, positive (+) phase meter lead to unpainted part of step and negative (-) phase lead to that metal piece. What does it measure?

With a meter you can also check continuity from any place in your camping rig that has a ground to the ground in the receptacle powering your camper. It should show continuity, 0 ohms (or close). Usually, it's a faulty extension or shore power cord as folks yank on them to disconnect, breaking the ground prong on the cord.