Electrical gurus please help. Do I still have a problem?My rv is plugged into a 15 amp source on my rental spot in a storage lot. Sitting on a curb and touched a metal part of a hatch door catch. I got a pretty good shock. I took my Simpson 260 and measured between the catch and a 3 “ nail pushed into the ground and got about 75 vac differential. This power source, although it should have a ground fault receptacle, does not.I started looking for a failure in my ground circuit. I found a 15 to 50 amp adapter had an opening in the ground circuit. After replacing the adapter the problem went away. I did disconnect the cable from the source and then ran my generator to see if, under this condition, there was any leak to the frame. There was none.I still have worries that something else is not as it should be to allow voltage to spill over to the coach frame. Have I treated the symptoms without solving the problem or is this something I can ignore?

No, the problem with the adapter could easily cause your problem all by itself and since your repair fixed the issue, your good. There's no reason at this point to think anything else is wrong.

You have fixed your problem for now!I do not care for the hockey puck style adapters. Suggest dog bone style but may have to use two.

First: Let me explain that RV's have many many feet of ROMEX type cable. I will get technical later in this post but ROMEX can act as a voltage dividerSplitting line voltage (Generally) but the split can be less than even.IF the safety ground is open (As it was on your adapter) then. YOu get hot skinFixing the ground, fixed. BUT this does not mean there can not be an additional problem (I would have expected about 70 volts PEAK, not RMS on the skin.. But let me get technical now)In electronics we have a device called a Capacitor.. It consists of two metal plates with a dielectric (insulator) seperating, may be air, rubber, plastic, anything that does not CONDUCT electricity. In addition you may have multiple plates in a "Dagwood Sandwich" configuration. The symbol is --||-- (The dashed lines are the leads, the uprights represent the two separated plates) Well in an AC circuit they act a lot like Resistors (There are also major differences but.. Romex cable .. Electronically,, Thus becomes---||---||---With the 3 dashes in the center being the safety ground (The left and right are HOT and Neutral) This 'Divides' the 120 volts into 60 volts rather nicely.SO that's the bad news.. Now the good news.Since the "plates" (parallel wires in this case) are rather small, and the distance between them rather large compared to a real capicator.. The total capatience is actually fairly low.. This means the Reactance (Expressed in Ohms, just like Resistance, AC equivlent in this circuit) is very low so only a tiny amount of current can flow.Still. can bite a bit. For a much more detailed explanation.. Take AC Circuit theory at any college.. This is as far as I'm going to type.

Get a three light outlet tester asap. First use it on the 15 amp source, then check in the RV.Less than $10 at any hardware store.

You found the issue.........bad ground in an adapterNow you are good.

Do I still have an electrical issue or am I okay?

mikestock
Explorer
Mar 27, 2017
It does run through the inverter. Every time I have checked it is drawing 96 watts. I'm sure it exceeds this when starting the compressor.
enblethen
Nomad
Mar 27, 2017
The wiring in the adapter could be getting warm!
What is draw of your residential fridge and is it running through an inverter while on shore power?
mikestock
Explorer
Mar 27, 2017
My 15 to 50 adapter is only supplying my converter and my residential refrigerator, with the ice maker turned off. The converter is in the maintainer mode since there is little demand for 12 vdc. The cable between the 15 and 50 amp connections is cool to touch. I don't think it is overloaded.
Harvard
Explorer
Mar 27, 2017
mikestock wrote:
I'm a little lost with the hockey puck and dog bone adapters. If I understand what I think I understand, I had a 15 to 30 dog bone and a 30 to 50 dog bone. The problem was in the former. I replaced them both with a 15 to 50 dog bone, unless I'm completely lost in this conversation.

As detailed above, you had an open ground, the resulting H-G-N capacitive coupling causing leakage from chassis to Earth was normal. I would guess the male ground pin of one of the connectors was not mating with its corresponding female.
enblethen
Nomad
Mar 27, 2017
Items such as refer with 120 volt element, or water heater with 120 volt element could be culprit.
Next item to check is for loose connections in the 120 volt distribution panel.
Another is a failing GFCI receptacle.
DryCreek
Explorer
Mar 27, 2017
AllegroD wrote:
enblethen wrote:
You have fixed your problem for now!
I do not care for the hockey puck style adapters. Suggest dog bone style but may have to use two.

x2 Hockey puck adapters generate too much heat in a small area.

Yup. I am working on isolating a voltage leakage source on our coach. When I was working on the suspension this week I would get a tingle with my back on the concrete RV pad and my sweaty arms touching the leaf springs.

We had a real "zapper" on our fifth wheel. I was to the point of installing a wired grounding clip to the metal RV cover and hooking it onto the springs or frame when parked.
Tinstar
Explorer
Mar 26, 2017

Hockey Puck
RoyB
Explorer II
Mar 26, 2017
Just keep in mind this is only way your trailer frame gets a GROUND connection going through the shore power three wire connection. Something you should watch very closely. Folks are all different and what may just be tingle to you could be very dangerous to someone else.

Little kids and your small animals are also very prone to get shocked as well...

Sounds like you have found the problem. Like others have said however I would pick the long dogbone type adapters. WALMART carries them back in the RV Section. These are all molded and will have less chance getting a loose connection...

Google image

I am just showing the 15A to 30A adapter. I didn't know there was a 15A to 50A adapter. I don't have a 50A setup but hear some folks they have to use two adapters to get from the 50A down to the 15A source.

NOTE: I just looked on-line and see that CAMCO carries one...

Roy Ken
enblethen
Nomad
Mar 26, 2017
Mike:
It sounded like you had one adapter going from 15-50. Many of this cofiguration are the small circular style called hockey pucks. They have vey small wires between the contacts.
This is true in some of the 15-50 dog bone style as well the small wire over heats and goes open.
If you read on some of the dog bone style, it shows the wire size. Best is the ones with #10 wire.
Look at your new dog bone for wire size.
mikestock
Explorer
Mar 26, 2017
I'm a little lost with the hockey puck and dog bone adapters. If I understand what I think I understand, I had a 15 to 30 dog bone and a 30 to 50 dog bone. The problem was in the former. I replaced them both with a 15 to 50 dog bone, unless I'm completely lost in this conversation.

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