Voltage in Frame

[67stang]

I have a 2011 Slingshot 29BH. Plugged into shore power, I was installing a hitch for a back rack and felt a little tingle come through while I was sitting on the ground. A buddy of mine and I put a volt meter on it and got less than 1 volt, but did have some voltage. Took it to a dealer they could not repeat the issue (imagine that). Cyled all the breakers in the trailer the only one that was on when I felt the voltage was the inverter. Any ideas?

[jeb]

It sounds like the problem might be in the power source you were plugged into. Perhaps the box has a short to neutral. You might want to speak to the owner of the "power source". They should probably have an electrician check out their hookup.

[bigdave442]

If you are getting voltage to ground, you have a bad neutralat your inverter or back to yourA/Cpower source.

You need a good neutral back to the power co. transformer.Edited by: bigdave442

[CygnusSailor]

First of all...you can't possibly feel 1 volt of electricity. You can't even feel 12 volts if you were well grounded in a puddle of water. Possibly you had some static electricity built up in the frame and it discharged to ground through you. I'd keep an eye on it and check it each time it is connected to shore power, but unless you measure a lot more than 1 volt I wouldn't worry about it.

[Hamops]

If you felt an electrical tingle for your trailer when it was connected to shore power, then it's very likely that the polarity of the shore power is reversed. This would mean the your trailer chassis would become energised because of the polarity reversal. This a very dangerous thing because the trailer is energised to 120 volts to ground. Touching the trailerwillgive you a tingle. To ensure that you don't have a problem with your shore power go to any hardware store and get a AC polarity checker. Before you connect to the shore power, plug in the polarity checker using a 30A to 15A adapter and check the supply for correct polarity. I keep one our 5vr all the time.

[67stang]

Jed & Hamops Wins.
Found out the 30 amp shore power was not properly grounded. Mystery solved. Thank you all for you input, it was a great help.

[r2millers]

Cygnus Sailor,

It's not the voltage that determines if you can feel any current, it's the amperage. I would be careful about standing in water with 12 volts where you have pretty good amperage in the circuit.

You might reconsider challenging the forum to try it out after getting a jolt!

[CygnusSailor]

Bob:

It is indeed current that kills. However it is voltage that determines how much current can be pushed through a given amount of resistance. If this isn't true, then my degree in electronics is useless. The human body has varying amounts of resistance depending on several factors, but almost anyone has well over 100,000 ohms of resistance. Voltage = amperage x resistance, conventionally shown as E=IR. Solve the equation for current and you get I=E/R. 12/100000=0.12 milliamps. You could NEVER feel it!!! 1Volt/100000=.01 milliamps. Now a 9Volt battery across your tongue, which has very low resistance because of the saline saliva is another story!!!

[r2millers]

Gary,

Just reflecting on my old physics 101/201 classes. Surely not the one with an electronics degree here.

I appreciate the reference to Ohm's Law to clarify.

As you indicate that with even a 9 volt battery, feeling the low voltage current is very possible and felt compelled to respondthat it could happen with a 12v source under certain conditions. I stand corrected unless putting the leads in your mouth.

I agree that the tingling must have come from another source, probably the 120v source to be felt.

Thanks for the electronics refresher.