Is this normal (got choked)

HowTo

HowTo

Expert Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2006
Messages
4,372
Reaction score
622
Location
East Rand
Hi all

Look at picture
Found earth wire lose. (Load site)
Contacted installer to find out why. He said he slipped up.
I said ok I will tighten earth connection.
Remember earth wire I'm talking about.

Next I tried to push earth wire with one finger into connection terminal, touching with same hand and finger the inverter chassis.
At that moment I got choked. Hart flutters and that tingle feeling in your hand and body.

I measured between earth and inverter chassis. No voltage present or between Neutral and Earth and Chassis.
Next getting insulated pliers out push into earth terminal and tighten up, secured it.

The grid connection you cant see does not have a earth connection. I inquired with installer, his comment was earth terminal has a common point with other earth point on PCB. I cant verify this. But then again why have 3 separate earth connection on PCB.

Any comments on this matter.
 

Attachments

  • 1656404367813.jpg
    1656404367813.jpg
    213.6 KB · Views: 73
Last edited:
  • Wow
Reactions: Yuu
HowTo said:
When do you use Earth Bond
Click to expand...

Floating ground - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

"Floating grounds can be dangerous if they are caused by failure to properly ground equipment that was designed to require grounding, because the chassis can be at a very different potential from that of any nearby organisms, who then get an electric shock upon touching it. Live chassis TVs, where the set's ground is derived by rectifying live mains, were common until the 1990s."

you can die if your heart isnt up to scratch,
 
I also need to mention touching the inverter chassis feels ok. No hair rising experience at all.
 
If the chassis was left to float, it probably built up a capacitive charge relative to earth. When you touched it, you were the conductor for a pulse of current. Oof.

You should check if the earth you connected actually connects to earth. That may be difficult to test though depending on where it is
 
  • Like
Reactions: Yuu
HowTo said:
Hi all

Look at picture
Found earth wire lose. (Load site)
Contacted installer to find out why. He said he slipped up.
I said ok I will tighten earth connection.
Remember earth wire I'm talking about.

Next I tried to push earth wire with one finger into connection terminal, touching with same hand and finger the inverter chassis.
At that moment I got choked. Hart flutters and that tingle feeling in your hand and body.

I measured between earth and inverter chassis. No voltage present or between Neutral and Earth and Chassis.
Next getting insulated pliers out push into earth terminal and tighten up, secured it.

The grid connection you cant see does not have a earth connection. I inquired with installer, his comment was earth terminal has a common point with other earth point on PCB. I cant verify this. But then again why have 3 separate earth connection on PCB.

Any comments on this matter.
Click to expand...
Hey man, good to hear you're okay.

Recommend getting an electrician in to check that everything is the way it should be.

Not a nice experience.
 
Another possible cause could be that your main supply neutral conductor has a high resistance connection at the municipal junction. I had a similar experience a few years ago.

My son bought a vandalised house, that was abandoned for a few years. The municipal power was disconnected, allowing the contact surfaces to corrode. We re-wired the house brand new according to standard, with all loads connected through an Earth Leakage, and had the power connected. All was well for about 3 weeks, after which we had heavy rains, thoroughly soaking the ground with rainwater. We then got choked whenever touching a grounded water pipe or tap, without the Earth Leakage tripping.

After testing and analysing the situation, I came to the conclusion that this could be the only possibility. The neutral conductors of all 3 phases are grounded at the municipal substation. Electricity will always follow the path of the least resistance. With a high resistance neutral connection, current would rather flow via ground back to the substation.

The problem disappeared when we had the municipality disconnect, clean all contact surfaces, and reconnect the power supply.
 
TeMoeg said:
Another possible cause could be that your main supply neutral conductor has a high resistance connection at the municipal junction. I had a similar experience a few years ago.

My son bought a vandalised house, that was abandoned for a few years. The municipal power was disconnected, allowing the contact surfaces to corrode. We re-wired the house brand new according to standard, with all loads connected through an Earth Leakage, and had the power connected. All was well for about 3 weeks, after which we had heavy rains, thoroughly soaking the ground with rainwater. We then got choked whenever touching a grounded water pipe or tap, without the Earth Leakage tripping.

After testing and analysing the situation, I came to the conclusion that this could be the only possibility. The neutral conductors of all 3 phases are grounded at the municipal substation. Electricity will always follow the path of the least resistance. With a high resistance neutral connection, current would rather flow via ground back to the substation.

The problem disappeared when we had the municipality disconnect, clean all contact surfaces, and reconnect the power supply.
Click to expand...
I forgot to add, thanks for the easy to understand explanation.
 
Reminds me of the time I accidentally touched the tip of my screwdriver to the DBs bus bar. Lights, sounds, exploding screw drivers and loose sphincters... Good times
 
Harmonic said:
Reminds me of the time I accidentally touched the tip of my screwdriver to the DBs bus bar. Lights, sounds, exploding screw drivers and loose sphincters... Good times
Click to expand...
Sh** this is reminding me of a few late nights at the pub and some walks of shame too
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X