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lpc511

Georgia

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Posted: 11/01/09 11:26pm Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

When I use the up or down button to raise/lower the front legs on our 5th wheel, and touch any metal, I feel a very slight tingle of a shock.
Is that anything to worry about?


Lou & Patti
2010 242FWRLSSR Keystone Sprindale 5th Wheel
2005 Dodge Quad Cab 5.7 ltr HEMI 1500
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cougar88nw

Prescott Valley, AZ

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Posted: 11/01/09 11:37pm Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

Check all of your wiring for loose grounds. I used to get a little shock when I touched any metal on our TT (only when it was parked at the house) and I found the ground @ the receptacle was broken....so the trailer wasn't grounded. Plugged my circuit tester into the house and it showed a ground fault. Easy to repair, just installed a new receptacle. If yours zaps you when operating the jack......I would check that circuit first.


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lpc511

Georgia

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Posted: 11/02/09 01:42am Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

As Homer Simpson would say: DOOWWWGH

I am at home using an extention cord that I cut off the ground point from the male end plug.

Thanks for the wake up call.

Lou

john&bet

North Vernon,in.

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Posted: 11/02/09 07:06am Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

Now that you have fixed your extension cord go and find the real problem. There should be no voltage (tingle or more) on the metal to earth for you to feel. The landing gear works on dc from batteries,and shore power recharges batteries. Mine was pinched cable in wiring from back of trailer to distribution panel. Frame always hot. Fixed under warrenty by dealer with a little coaching from me. Thats another story.

Hurricaner

Hurricane Utah

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Posted: 11/02/09 08:22am Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

john&bet wrote:

Now that you have fixed your extension cord go and find the real problem. There should be no voltage (tingle or more) on the metal to earth for you to feel. The landing gear works on dc from batteries,and shore power recharges batteries. Mine was pinched cable in wiring from back of trailer to distribution panel. Frame always hot. Fixed under warrenty by dealer with a little coaching from me. Thats another story.
Almost all RVs will leak enough current to give you a tingle or small shock if plugged in without a ground. Plug the RV into a gfi protected outlet, if it does not trip your electrical is probably fine. It is just the nature of the beast, when you surround electrical devices with a large conductive frame, it better be grounded.

Sam


Sam & Kari
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YC 1

Yuba City Calif.

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Posted: 11/02/09 09:41am Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

Do youself a favor and cut that extension cord in half and buy a heavy duty one. The extra power needed when you push the button causes an IR (voltage drop) that you found is not being returned back to the house wiring because the ground wire is not functioning. Fortunately the neutral wire was doing its job or you might not be writing this. Ground fault outlets in homes probably have saved a lot of lives.


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Harvard

51.37N 114.42W

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Posted: 11/02/09 08:06pm Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

When you have 3 parallel conductors they will have a capacitance to each other. When one of these wires is at 120VAC to EARTH, the second wire at 0 VAC to EARTH and the third floating, the third floating wire will be at 60VAC to EARTH or less. The less depends on metal chassis paths to EARTH such as jacks etc....

The problem is, as others have stated, an OPEN GROUND, the leakage is normal. You would not be getting just a tingle if the HOT was pinched to chassis/frame with an open ground, you would be knocked flat on your a..!

john&bet

North Vernon,in.

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Posted: 11/03/09 06:01pm Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

Hurricaner, Please explain your position of 'always a small leak'.
My electrical training tells me no leak allowed. If so the ground is designed to drain off and trip some protective device. The campgrounds I have been to don't have 30amp. or 50amp. gfi's. Besides gfi.s are to trip on unbalance of hot verses neteral currents peroid. Leakage to ground will unbalance that flow. Are you saying the frame becomes entergized due to magnetic field induction? Just asking for clarification of your position, not a war. Kind reguardes.

Harvard

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Posted: 11/03/09 07:26pm Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

Typically, the capacitance leakage current between conductors is too little to trip GFIs but it is enough to give you the "tingles".

Wayne Dohnal

Banks, OR.

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Posted: 11/03/09 08:33pm Link  |  Quote  |  Print  |  Notify Moderator

As noted in the previous post, the coupling in the wires will energize an ungrounded RV frame with a small current. As a science experiment, if you take a roll of Romex and hook the black and white wires up to the AC line, the unconnected ground wire will measure about 60 volts from either the black or white wire with a high impedance meter. It floats at exactly half the difference of the two energized conductors. In practice, an even bigger culprit is the typical power converter. They generally leak a few milliamps to the safety ground, and if it's not earth grounded, it becomes hot enough to cause a tingle type shock. It's all perfectly normal.


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