Getting shocked.

[mudbud255]

Ok we just bought this camper 3 weeks ago. 2008 Explorer made by frontier rv. The dealer had it set up when we did the walk through, everything was fine. Set it up at home everything fine. We set it up today to pack it and get it ready for our first trip, had it plugged in and the stabilizers down, the AC on and my wife and I were inside and my teenage son tried to open the door from the outside and got shocked pretty good. I went out side and grabbed the door and nothing happened until he grabbed me, then we both got shocked real good. Now he is barefoot when this happens, he gets shocked real bad when he steps on the steps also. We had our daughter try it barefoot also and as long as they are standing barefoot on the ground when they touch the metal on the trailer they get shocked. And it's not just a little trickle is a good jolt. I might add also that we are plugged in from an adapter from the camper 30 amp plug to a standard 110 extension cord to the outlet on the house. Is it something I'm doing or what? Need help please.

[Ed_Gee]

Gdetrailer wrote:

darsben wrote:

3oaks wrote:

darsben wrote:
First thing I would check is polarity on the outlet at the house.

House current is AC (alternating current). Impossible to be wired polarity specific.

black or hot to brass
white or neutral to silver.
Try reversing them and see what happens

UMM.. NO.

What part of the OPs last post don't you UNDERSTAND.

THEIR EXTENSION CORD IS FAULTY..

THE EXTENSION CORD HAS A FAULT, THEREFORE NO REASON FOR THE OP TO SWITCH OR CHANGE ANY OF THE HOUSE WIRING.

OP IS NOW USING A DIFFERENT EXTENSION CORD AND NO ONE IS GETTING SHOCKED..

PLEASE DO NOT TELL PEOPLE TO RANDOMLY SWITCH WIRES AROUND ON OUTLETS.

THE PROPER WAY TO DIAGNOSE FOR MISWIRED OUTLETS IS TO USE AN OUTLET TESTER..

Gdetrailer - He wasn't telling the original poster to 'randomly' switch wires. He was responding to the guy who said AC has no "polarity". Semantically that is correct, but not in reality. AC wiring has a HOT and a Neutral. Neutral must be bonded to ground at the source. Hot wire by code is Black, Neutral is White. The AC outlet must have the hot wired to the Brass colored (small) slot connector and Neutral to the silver connector. This is what people should look for to determine if their outlets are wired properly. Fortunately, the original poster had a bad extension cord so apparently he need not look further, but personally I'd have also checked the outlet anyway.

Someone who voluntarily uses his children for electrical Guinea pigs under these circumstances needs to have head examined, in my opinion. The situation could well have been fatal.

[Gdetrailer]

Harvard wrote:

smkettner wrote:
I assume the corrected ground may now be masking the ground fault issue.
Try plugging into a GFCI protected outlet.

And no mention of using an outlet tester... so polarity could still be an issue.

When an RV Ground/Chassis is allowed to float (ie: open ground), the capacitance between HOT to GROUND and GROUND to NEUTRAL will cause the floating Chassis to assume a voltage level < 120/2 = 60 VAC above Earth. The resulting current leak, which is normal, may or may not be enough to trip a GFCI.

YUP.

Not to mention the trailer its' self HAS GFCIs through out..

GFCIs CAN operate WITH OR WITHOUT a "ground" since they are measuring the HOT and NEUTRAL current. A GFCI will only interrupt if it detects MORE current flowing on the HOT than on the NEUTRAL (IE HOT AND NEUTRAL current MUST be the same)..

The problem the OP had was most likely a bad ground connection within the extension cord. This could be a broken ground wire anywhere within the cord or at one of the ends or possibly a bad ground connection at the female socket end (worn out ground socket which is common with heavily used extension cords)..

Basically they had the HOT SKIN syndrome.

[Harvard]

smkettner wrote:
I assume the corrected ground may now be masking the ground fault issue.
Try plugging into a GFCI protected outlet.

And no mention of using an outlet tester... so polarity could still be an issue.

When an RV Ground/Chassis is allowed to float (ie: open ground), the capacitance between HOT to GROUND and GROUND to NEUTRAL will cause the floating Chassis to assume a voltage level < 120/2 = 60 VAC above Earth. The resulting current leak, which is normal, may or may not be enough to trip a GFCI.

[time2roll]

I assume the corrected ground may now be masking the ground fault issue.
Try plugging into a GFCI protected outlet.

And no mention of using an outlet tester... so polarity could still be an issue.

[Gdetrailer]

darsben wrote:

3oaks wrote:

darsben wrote:
First thing I would check is polarity on the outlet at the house.

House current is AC (alternating current). Impossible to be wired polarity specific.

black or hot to brass
white or neutral to silver.
Try reversing them and see what happens

UMM.. NO.

What part of the OPs last post don't you UNDERSTAND.

THEIR EXTENSION CORD IS FAULTY..

THE EXTENSION CORD HAS A FAULT, THEREFORE NO REASON FOR THE OP TO SWITCH OR CHANGE ANY OF THE HOUSE WIRING.

OP IS NOW USING A DIFFERENT EXTENSION CORD AND NO ONE IS GETTING SHOCKED..

PLEASE DO NOT TELL PEOPLE TO RANDOMLY SWITCH WIRES AROUND ON OUTLETS.

THE PROPER WAY TO DIAGNOSE FOR MISWIRED OUTLETS IS TO USE AN OUTLET TESTER..

[Mr__Camper]

It's a good thing you had another kid (daughter) to use in your little electrical experiment.

[darsben]

3oaks wrote:

darsben wrote:
First thing I would check is polarity on the outlet at the house.

House current is AC (alternating current). Impossible to be wired polarity specific.

black or hot to brass
white or neutral to silver.
Try reversing them and see what happens

[Gdetrailer]

DutchmenSport wrote:
I did not read all the post, but the problem is, the camper is not grounded. Simple, that's your problem. Make sure the power source is actually grounded. Plug in the next item and make sure it's still grounded, then all the way to the camper.

Does your standard 110 extension cord have the 3rd pin for grounding?

I had this problem only once, and that was several years ago with our previous camper. I was using an extension cord with the ground pin broken off, and when baefoot touching the trailer door, I'd get zapped.

OP found the problem..

It was their heavy duty 10 ga extension cord.

[ken56]

Now there you go, bad extension cord, most likely a broken ground in the cord. Anybody ever plug the tester into the end of your extension cords to see if its bad? Good idea to do it I think now.

[3oaks]

darsben wrote:
First thing I would check is polarity on the outlet at the house.

House current is AC (alternating current). Impossible to be wired polarity specific.

[DutchmenSport]

I did not read all the post, but the problem is, the camper is not grounded. Simple, that's your problem. Make sure the power source is actually grounded. Plug in the next item and make sure it's still grounded, then all the way to the camper.

Does your standard 110 extension cord have the 3rd pin for grounding?

I had this problem only once, and that was several years ago with our previous camper. I was using an extension cord with the ground pin broken off, and when baefoot touching the trailer door, I'd get zapped.

[gbopp]

mudbud255 wrote:
Ok thanks everyone. I found culprit. The heavy duty extension cord I was using must be bad. I had another one and we swapped it, now no-one is getting shocked. Thank you for all the suggestions. We are all packed and ready to go. We leave Thursday for a 5 day trip to the springs. It will be our maiden voyage, I'm super excited. Again thanks everyone.

I'm glad you found the problem and, it was an easy fix. Enjoy your trip.

[rockhillmanor]

RoyB wrote:
The only way your trailer sees the frame grounding is through the three wire connection you make to your house...

You really have to respect this as what may just be a tingle shock to you might have real bad results to someone else or a small animal etc... UNPLUG your cables until you figure out what is wrong...

Two things to check... You have to be sure your are using all three conductors. Sometime folks cut off the GROUND PIN on the extension cords for some reason.

Then you need to check to see if the receptacle is wired properly... I use one of those CIRCUIT TESTERS from LOWES plugged into the 120VAC Receptacle in the house side... It will tell you the ground is not connected properly.


I also always use a 10 gauge (10-3) HD contractor grade extension cord... However a 12 GAUGE will work also. The smaller gauges red/orange 16-gauge cables from the WALMART is too small and will get hot on you especially if you are using your air conditioner.

I also always use the RV30A-15A LONG DOGBONE type RV adapters that looks like this..


Using the small round adapters would always get hot for me and eventually will burn up your good cords...

Roy Ken

X10!
I have this same tester. It 'clearly' tells you what is wrong so you know what to look for. I actually LEAVE this tester plugged in, 'inside' my RV so if anything changes I know right away. It's plugged in above the sink.

Sounds like you have an 'open ground' where YOU become the ground.

As a side note I too most certainly would NOT allow your children to be messing with what could be a dangerous electrical problem.

[mudbud255]

Ok thanks everyone. I found culprit. The heavy duty extension cord I was using must be bad. I had another one and we swapped it, now no-one is getting shocked. Thank you for all the suggestions. We are all packed and ready to go. We leave Thursday for a 5 day trip to the springs. It will be our maiden voyage, I'm super excited. Again thanks everyone.

[rockhillmanor]

RoyB wrote:
The only way your trailer sees the frame grounding is through the three wire connection you make to your house...

You really have to respect this as what may just be a tingle shock to you might have real bad results to someone else or a small animal etc... UNPLUG your cables until you figure out what is wrong...

Two things to check... You have to be sure your are using all three conductors. Sometime folks cut off the GROUND PIN on the extension cords for some reason.

Then you need to check to see if the receptacle is wired properly... I use one of those CIRCUIT TESTERS from LOWES plugged into the 120VAC Receptacle in the house side... It will tell you the ground is not connected properly.


I also always use a 10 gauge (10-3) HD contractor grade extension cord... However a 12 GAUGE will work also. The smaller gauges red/orange 16-gauge cables from the WALMART is too small and will get hot on you especially if you are using your air conditioner.

I also always use the RV30A-15A LONG DOGBONE type RV adapters that looks like this..


Using the small round adapters would always get hot for me and eventually will burn up your good cords...

Roy Ken

X10!
I have this same tester. IMHO the best thing you can buy for your RV.


It 'clearly' tells you what is wrong so you know what to look for. I actually LEAVE this tester plugged in, 'inside' my RV so if anything changes I know right away. It's plugged in above the sink.

Sounds like you have an 'open ground' where YOU become the ground.

As a side note I too most certainly would NOT allow your children to be messing with what could be a dangerous electrical problem.