Static Charge on trailer
Hi all. I put the low amp charger on the battery on the camper today and noticed after awhile that there was a charge on the trailer because anywhere there is metal I would get a small shock. Is this...
Forum Discussion
campigloo wrote:
Could you have a loose or frayed neutral wire? I would check connections in power panel and look for broken frayed or loose wires any where there is movement, like around slides.
With Alternate Current (AC) shorts in wiring are not required to pass leakage current. Leakage (or stray) current is allowed by capacitive and inductive coupling. If the resulting voltage (chassis to EARTH) were the result of a wiring short then the person involved might not live to talk about the experience. But because the leakage is via a "high impedance" capacitive coupling (be it from high tension wires and/or the battery charger) the AC current through the persons body is not enough to do physical harm nor is it enough to trip a GFCI (about 6 milliAmps, if one were present).
When the Battery Charger is on line and in circuit it would most likely introduce an new capacitance that exists from the DC OUTPUT to the 3 AC conductors (Hot, Neutral and Ground). It then becomes a tug of war between all the sources of stray AC currents which is just one of the less obvious reasons for having GFCIs and 3rd wire grounds in the first place.
