35V to the ground

[64osby]

Today I was cleaning, washing and prepping our 2008 26BH for an up coming trip.

After washing the outside if I touched bare metal I would get a zap. Wet ground, wet shoes. Pulled out the multi meter and discovered I have 35 volts going from the camper to the ground.

Testing revealed 35volts AC, 0 DC volts.

If I unplug from the house feed voltage drops to 0.

All breakers off and plugged in gets 10V AC.

Turning on the Main still at 10V AC.

Turning on Microwave, Water Heater, AC and GFCI-Reefer ceiling fan breakers adds 2V per breaker. Now at 18v AC.

Turning on the Utility Converter voltage jumps it to 35V AC.

If I only switch on the Utility Converter breaker, all others off, it jumps to 35V.

Pulling all the fuses does not change any voltage readings.

Common sense tells me this should not be.

Any one here have ideas.

[64osby]

Pictures

[Dbunke]

I believe that is what is called "Hot Skin" when the hot, neutral and or ground wires are wired wrong in the shore power. I am no electrician but have read a thing or two about it. Google it and I am sure you will get some info.

[Cavie]

Hot skin. unplug NOW before somebody gets hurt. You can kill someone with a pace maker very easily or yourself. unplug until fixed. Call an electrician.

[64osby]

Thank you, will do some testing to see if it is the circuit, the outlet or the cord.

[JimD]

I once was repairing an electronic security system where people would walk through it by pushing a metal gate arm. People would get a shock when they touched the arm. My equipment was fed 24 volts AC for power so it seemed strange that you could get a shock.

Troubleshooting the problem I discovered the power outlet ground was sitting about 30 - 50 volts above earth ground. Have no idea why but I did unplug our machine and told the customer to get the ground fixed.

So, I recommend starting at the source which is the power outlet. Compare this outlet with others. Start at the source before worrying about the rig internals. If the outlet is good then you can start measuring your internals.

[Grumpy]

Originally Posted by 64osby

Thank you, will do some testing to see if it is the circuit, the outlet or the cord.

Are you using an adapter? If so and it's one of the round solid rubber ones, start there. They have been known to fail internally due to overheating.

[ALJO]

Clean your NEUTRAL and Ground connections to the chassis and reassemble with die-electric grease and test again. Be sure to check those connection from the electric panel to the chassis (usual under the electric panel - you may have to remove or cut a hole in chloroplast).

[Route 66 Traveler]

Originally Posted by JimD

I recommend starting at the source which is the power outlet. Compare this outlet with others. Start at the source before worrying about the rig internals. If the outlet is good then you can start measuring your internals.

I second that opinion...start with the house wiring. See if you find stray voltage between your refrigerator and stove or dishwasher in the house. See if there is any voltage measured between the neutral and ground in a house outlet. Are you connecting to a 30amp RV socket wired to the house or using an adapter? You are dealing with a very unsafe condition and suggest getting a licensed electrician to track down the problem.

[boyks]

I will be watching this thread to see if you find a solution as this has happened to me twice in the past 2 years. Unfortunately I don't have a solution for you.

Here are my cases incase it helps you at all:

I have a 2008 28 BHS

First time: we went to a provincial park (I'm from Ontario, Canada) Was setting up, had the trailer plugged in and was kneeling on the ground doing the stabilizers when I felt a tingle of voltage. Measured from the trailer to ground and had 30 volts AC. As this was a quick weekend trip, I just unplugged the trailer, we used it for sleeping only and was going to look at it when I got home. Problem was I couldn't duplicate the problem at home, That year I went to a second provincial park, went boondocking with a generator, and had the unit in my yard plugged in, and never had the issue again.

Until last year, scenario 2:Got a seasonal site at the second park I mentioned above, all was well until one day I was doing something and felt the tingle again. Unplugged trailer, plugged back in, trying different extension cords, problem persisted. Asked neighbour, that was plugged into same post as me, if I could switch outlets. When we did this, the issue moved to his camper. We switched back, now mine was fine and his still had the issue.

He later told me he was working on the 30 amp connection on his unit, rechecked his work and had a loose ground wire. He fixed it and both of us never had the issue again.

I am back at that park again this year, all good so far, sharing a post with a different neighbour and will see how it goes.

To summarize:

I was never able to trace it to one breaker like you did with your converter. I changed my converter this spring so have a new variable. At this time I checked all wiring, everything was tight, not coroded, and connected properly.

The only suspect connection I found was on the old converter It was mounted on the back of the power distribution centre (where your fuses and breakers are). The DC negative from the converter had a short wire that connected to a bus bar that was actually mounted to the outside frame of the converter. All DC negative wires ran to here and as it is mounted to the case , effectively the AC ground connects to the point as well as a wire from the frame of the camper is tied to the outside case of the converter. Anyway, the wire was so short it barely reached the bus bar it was connected to and it wasn't very tight.

As mentioned I changed out the converter this spring. Followed instructions I found online on the IOTA site, and they connected the grounds a little different, but they are still all tied together.

This condition has NEVER occurred while plugged into my house, or plugged into 2 different generators over the period I had the issue.

Both times it happened to me, I was sharing a electrical post with another camper. The second time the camper I was sharing with had a ground issue. BTW I talked to an electrician about this and he immediately said "bad ground".

By the time of the second incident, I had a Progressive Industries EMS installed, it detected no issues with the incoming power.

In this time period, I camped at a third provincial park with no issues.

So maybe it is your source outlet or adapter. Mine has been so random I haven't found a solution Im comfortable with. The 30 volts is throwing me too, if it was the full 120 volts probably would be easier to troubleshoot. On the Hot Skin site they mention you might see a small amount of leakage voltage from AC appliances, but 30 volts was too high for that scenario.

[Vicr]

Your converter is not properly bonded to the frame of the RV causing the hot skin effect. See ALJO's post #8. I would play it safe though and hire qualified electrician to trouble shoot it. You may also have a defective appliance that is leaking voltage to ground rather than creating a short circuit event which would open a breaker.
It is most likely to have nothing to do with your house or the supply cord to your RV.
Vicr
IBEW Local 46
Seattle, WA

[poohbear]

Look at the 2 bus bars in RV breaker box . The " neutral " ( whites ) should all be on one bus and all the bare " grounds " should be on the other . I found the white neutral to my GFCI tied down on the ground bus, swapped & cured my nuisance tripping. . I know it's a different problem but grounding problems can be so simple of a problem it's easily overlooked. We tend to look for something really ugly & complicated or super expensive.

[64osby]

Update,

Went camping for a week with no shocking issues while plugged into the camp supply at two different sites.

Switched to a different extension cord at home and now have no issues. The cord I was using to feed the trailer has a bad ground wire.

Thanks for all the input.

Next project is to replace the pullout cord with a plug in.

[Johnynorthland]

Similar situation with my grandfathers house, ( god rest his Soul, nicest person on earth!), I was playing hide and go seek with my kids many years ago and peeked around the corner of the house while I touched the fence post and the aluminum siding and got a jolt! Ran home got my meter, 120 V AC live on the houses aluminum! My kids could of got killed! I Looked in depth in the garage where he use to tinker and found an extension cord in the garage going to a lamp that he had hanging off nails, I guess he added a few extra nails and put one right through the cord!

Unfortunately I don’t think yours will be as easy to find unless you trace the last electrical work you or someone else did. Unless you have a faulty component that can cause this. Good luck be careful!

[Wally22j]

Our 2018 Redhawk 22J came with that “feature” new. Found it the first time we washed it while plugged in at the house. I did not measure the voltage but did get a tingle everytime I touched something metal. I checked my outlet and cord, both were fine. Took it back to dealer who immediately repaired it. Dealer said there was a “ground problem” from the factory. Now I have no good excuse to not wash it. In retrospect, I should have left the factory “anti-theft device” intact.