Hot skin issue please help

CA Traveler wrote:

buck2 wrote:
Glad to report everything is fixed it was a bad adapter plug I bought a new one and it took care of it ....thanks everyone for the help

The second apparent problem is a ground fault as indicated by the hot chassis. The new adapter with a good ground can mask a ground fault. Plug the rig into a known good GFI plug and turn various equipment on and off. If the GFI trips then you need to find the ground fault.

I'm Mike Sokol... the author of the NoShockZone.org articles. Please know that just about any appliance plugged into a 120-volt circuit leaks just a little current to its chassis. Most of the time this is a high-impedance fault with fault currents in the sub-milliamp range and not terribly dangerous. However, it can easily turn into a low-impedance fault which is VERY dangerous. A GFCI will trip around 6 mA (milliamperes) of current, so if your appliances are leaking less than that amount of current, then it will drain the hot-skin voltage to ground without tripping. However, any currents over 6 mA will cause a ground-fault trip, exactly what it's SUPPOSED to do. One thing that most people aren't aware of is that a common Surge Protector strip will often leak 2 or 3 mA to ground all by itself due to how MOV's work. So plugging in a pair of "surge strips" can be the cause of GFCI tripping of the 20-amp outlet on the pedestal.

So the real lesson is that you should NEVER have any more than a volt or two on your RV skin or chassis in reference to earth ground. Any more than that indicates a failed safety ground path, typically caused by a broken connection in an extension cord, outlet or adapter. NEVER accept feeling a shock from your RV as that's a sign that your ground has failed and your RV's skin voltage can be elevated to 120 volts by an insulation failure in something as simple as your refrigerator or microwave.

Mike Sokol
mike@noshockzone.org
www.noshockzone.org

Have you checked with an RV repair facility, I had a simular issue in the 1980s with a fairly new trailer, it was a ground problem that the manufacturer was having it was a fairly simple fix but I can't remember exactly what it was..... but you would get shocked when standing on the ground & touched the trailer. It was before GFCIs... Closest I can recall was it was a loose ground...... Good Luck this can be a very dangerous situation........

buck2 wrote:
Glad to report everything is fixed it was a bad adapter plug I bought a new one and it took care of it ....thanks everyone for the help

The second apparent problem is a ground fault as indicated by the hot chassis. The new adapter with a good ground can mask a ground fault. Plug the rig into a known good GFI plug and turn various equipment on and off. If the GFI trips then you need to find the ground fault.

Glad to report everything is fixed it was a bad adapter plug I bought a new one and it took care of it ....thanks everyone for the help

I actually emailed the guy that wrote the noshockzone web site and he agrees its a grounding issue with shore power.. I have a properly grounded extension cord coming from the gfci on the house it plugs into an adapter that then plugs into my camper 30 amp cord. Everything works perfect on the camper and never trips a breaker the, I noticed this problem last camping trip last year. I'm going to check everything this afternoon with my fluke volt meter along with buying a good dog bone adapter. Hopefully this fixes my issue any other thought are welcome I'll.report back later when I check all this out. Thanks everyone

I very much doubt it is an open ground. Most likely it is a case of reversed polarity. Read this;
http://www.noshockzone.org/rv-electrical-safety-part-iv-%E2%80%93-hot-skin/

Then also read this;
http://www.noshockzone.org/category/rv-safety/

With the issue being common to all branches, I'd be looking really close at the breaker box. Remove the shore power and start checking for continuity to the ground bus where you should not have continuity.

If the camper skin has voltage as you say, then either the camper main or house breaker should be tripping as soon as you plug it up. You will need to figure out why you have lost ground continuity. Verify your house plug is ground by checking for 120 VAC with one meter lead in the "Line" slot (shorter of the two) and the other in the ground hole. Absence of voltage on the meter will mean you don't have your ground reference and would explain why the breaker is not tripping. You can do the same thing in the camper as well.

BTW, you're not parked right next to a high voltage power line are you?

When did the problem start?
On a trip or just since you plugged it in at home.
Have you attached anything new to the camper. I had a buddy once attached a bracket to the outside of his trailer. The screws he used tapped into one of lines going to a wall socket. You would wet your shorts when you grabbed the door handle. :B

The converter is only tied to one AC breaker and turning off that breaker would kill the problem if it was a shorted converter. The problem is progressive (spread across multiple breakers.)
Bad ground and/or common connections.

Unplug the 120v AC, loosen and retighten all connections to make sure they are tight. I say loosen then tighten since if there is some corrosion at the contacts it will clear this issue.

Is it possible the problem is with his converter/inverter? A short or open circuit there would do the same thing would it not?

All three conductors have to be used coming from the house 120VAC receptacle. This is the only place the trailer is grounded to earth ground.

If you are receiving a slight "shock" then the green wire is probably not connected all the way to the trailer. Sometimes the ground prong has been cut off of the adapter with only two wires hooked up. Another possibility is the 120VAC receptacle in the garage you are plugged into. The GREEN WIRE may not be connected on it.

What works for me and the only safe thing to use when hooking up to the house 15A/20A receptacle is a good HD 10-gauge (10-3) extension cord. A 12-gauge may also work but the 10-gauge would be the best choice. Then on the end of this 50-foot extension cord you would use a good quality RV30A-15A "DOGBONE" 18-inch long adapter (WALAMRT)


I will not use any of the small black molded RV30A-15A adapters as they always get hot on me after being used just a short time.


I would use one of these circuit testers (LOWES) and if the two YELLOW LIGHTS come "on" on the bottom then the 120VAC circuit is good to use. First I would plug the tester into the receptacle in the house. Then I would connect the 50-foot extension in that receptacle if it tested good and then use the tester in the other end of the extension cord. If that tested good then you can plug the RV30A-15A "DOGBONE" adapter into the end of the extension cord. Then you can plug your 30A three prong RV shore power plug into the adapter.



You have an UNSAFE situation on your hands if you are being slightly shocked when touching your trailer standing on the ground. I would UNPLUG IT and get it FIXED right away. Remember its not just you being shocked - your kids and your animals will get shocked as well.

Roy Ken