Electrical

[jeffphilly]

Class A Georgetown 2002. When I plug into power, the entire RV has a current going though everywhere you touch. Not dagerous level but always there. There must be a ground issue or can this be the converter?
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thanks

 

[KyDan]

Class A Georgetown 2002. When I plug into power, the entire RV has a current going though everywhere you touch. Not dagerous level but always there. There must be a ground issue or can this be the converter?
\\
thanks

This is ABSOLUTELY DANGEROUS!!!
Just because you haven't died yet does not mean it
is not dangerous.

Your ground is apparently not grounded for one thing.
You need to find and correct the missing ground issue
first and then see what's up.

Could be a shorted water heater element for one thing.
If you are actually able to read voltage from the
coach/trailer body to a known ground with a meter, then
you can try shutting off circuit breakers one at a time
to see which one stops the voltage bleed.
If none of them do that-- ie, you've shut off every
circuit breaker in the place and still have that voltage
then the circuit box itself needs to be checked by a
qualified electrician.

Don't mess around with this.
One rainy day you or a loved one could die from a
"floating" ground.

Anytime you get a "tingle" from an electrical device that
device should be taken out of service until it is corrected.
That includes small appliances or large motor homes!!

I'm not kidding.
37 years of industrial electrical maintenance speaking here....

Be very careful out there!

 

[turbopuppy]

Set up the multimeter to measure the voltage like where you get shocked. See if voltage is higher in different spots. Then turn off one breaker at a time. If you still see voltage, the short is at the main RV plug or a DC short. Then shut off mains or disconnect AC. See if you still detect voltage on DC power. Now pull one fuse at a time. Again if you pulled all the fuses and AC power is isolated, then the short is between the battery and the power center and/or other bits wired to battery. Hopefully your meter will go to zero with one of these changes making it easier to narrow down the short location. It is pretty easy to chase down a short. Just trace the line from the breaker to each outlet or appliance. Sometimes you have to get into a cabinet and remove a little protective plywood panel. If you made any modifications recently or installed any shelves or something like this that required screws in walls, floors, or ceilings, I would look there too. It's not the voltage that kills you...

 

[GoinNorth]

I have a similar problem with my 2004 Surveyor but, only occasionaly, with aluminum pieces that are attached to the frame like the propane tank crank handle. I have no problems on the interior, just parts on the exterior and only when it is plugged in to AC power. I am not electrically inclined so I'm not sure where to start to look for the problem. I wasn't really too concerned about it until reading this. Any other advice for where to start? Bad cord, ground, etc?
Thanks!
Dave