Electric shock when charging?

[Zoya5]

Hi all,

Has anyone had an electric shock from their vehicle when it was charging? Or heard of this fault? Feel free to dm me.
TiA

 

[jaapv]

As the current is only switched on after the plug is fully pressed home, that is quite impossible.

 

[Sumpy]

Hi Zoya5,
The quick answer is no, never experienced or heard of it happening.
I sometimes used to get static electric shocks from my previous car (Diesel X-Trail), getting in or out and touching the metal frame on the door, but I have never had any since getting my Outlander, 3 years ago (Happy days ).
I have never had any problems with charging the car, even in heavy rain. The only time I don't plug in is during thunderstorms (although the car will have some form of cut-out protection if it was hit directly, but I don't, so I err on the side of caution).

 

[Zoya5]

I can verify that once the plug was all the way in and the car was charging, I definitely received an electric, not static shock from touching the metal boot clasp ring in the vehicle. My husband replicated the shock at a later stage....so very much possible! Anyone know how this might have happened?

 

[Steel188]

May I ask where in the world you are located and how old is your car? Also, what do you mean by ‘metal boot clasp ring’?

Regardless of this information, I think an urgent visit to your dealer is required to get this rectified, you should not be getting electric shocks off the vehicle.

 

[greendwarf]

Might be from the 12v battery :idea:

 

[jaapv]

I can verify that once the plug was all the way in and the car was charging, I definitely received an electric, not static shock from touching the metal boot clasp ring in the vehicle. My husband replicated the shock at a later stage....so very much possible! Anyone know how this might have happened?

That is definitely not normal. Even if the car is charging, the Mennekes type 2 plug is splash-watertight and will not be the cause of an electric shock. I suspect that there is a fault in the wiring of the car and you should have it checked out ASAP. Maybe a 300V lead has the isolation wearing through against a metal part, which could lead to a life-threatening situation. Until then wear rubber gloves when touching one of the suspect parts. And dry rubber-soled shoes.

 

[jaapv]

May I ask where in the world you are located and how old is your car? Also, what do you mean by ‘metal boot clasp ring’?

Regardless of this information, I think an urgent visit to your dealer is required to get this rectified, you should not be getting electric shocks off the vehicle.

I suspect it is the metal loop in the rear sill of the boot that is the female part of the lock.
That is bolted to the body of the car, and is a solid mass contact.

 

[VillageIdiotDan]

Anyone able to comment on IF this shock is coming from the drive battery whether the OP would be alive to be commenting about it on this forum?

Maybe a wiire from the 12V starter battery is exposed, touching the frame and causing the shock?...not sure if you can tell but my username isnt VillageElectricianDan!

post-note: ah green dwaft already volunteered the 12V battery.

 

[jaapv]

I have had plenty of 240V shocks in my life, and I am still alive and commenting on the forum :lol:
Actually I know a guy who had a live 50.000 V wire fall on his head. Cost him a hefty burn, a skin graft and some hair loss, but he survived.

 

[michael8554]

You won't feel a shock from the 12V system, you need upwards of 50V to feel a shock.

If it's only static then touching the same point soon afterwards should be shock free.

You could buy a basic volt meter for a fiver from a hardware store and measure the DC and AC volts from your shock point to an earth point.

240v AC will indicate a fault with the 240v mains charging system.

300 to 400V DC is an ev battery or drive system problem.

 

[Craigy]

I would also test voltage to a temporary earth rod as mentioned above, if it’s 230V AC it could also be a fault with the EVSE wiring, so take it to another evse and do the same again.

 

[Zoya5]

Amazing information here guys, thank you. We have a 2015 phev. We reported the information to a local Mitsubishi dealer here in Sydney australia and they are trying to say the problem is simply in wear and tear from the charger cable. It doesn't make sense to me though that the car shouldn't insulate electricity from the cable though, unless there's an internal insulation issue. My shock wasn't from touching the cable. They are asking to have my car for 3 days to run tests, but I'm thinking I should get it independantley assessed and word myself up in the technology before handing it over. A guy said this issue had been reported before, thus my post here.
To me it figures that if I got a shock from the latch in the bottom of the boot, the internals of the car are faulty, not the cable. So if I got a shock whilst it was charging, could I also get a shock whilst it was running, and not plugged in?
Also, I'm still alive but my hand tingled for a good 15 minutes after.. Thanks for checking!

 

[jaapv]

Well, it has not been reported before in this forum.
It is very hard to see how an insulation fault in the charger cable (which would be obvious by visual inspection anyway) could in any way produce an electric shock from the car. I guess that they are trying to tell you in a gentle way that they are clueless.
I personally would refuse to drive the car until the fault was found and repaired.

 

[Steel188]

Agree completely with jaapv, there is no way you should get any kind of shock of this car, or any other car for that matter. It needs tracing and fixing immediately.

 

[Tipper]

I suggest you get an electrician in to check the earthing arrangements for the charger and for your house!

When I renovated my house a while back I discovered that there was no house main earth!
There is now. :lol:

 

[Kesto]

5 years of 2 Mitsubishis' latest 2019, plugged in heavy rain, never had a problem

 

[AndyInOz]

I suggest you get an electrician in to check the earthing arrangements for the charger and for your house!

When I renovated my house a while back I discovered that there was no house main earth!
There is now. :lol:

I'd like to second this one.

Same story, when I bought my house, the first thing I did was check the earth on all the power points.

One side of the house had no Earth connection.

It is possible that your car is revealing a fault in your home electrics.

(However, this should have been discovered when your charging point was being installed.)

 

[jaapv]

If the car gives an electric shock because of a faulty home circuit, it will almost certainly trip the ground circuit breaker on properly installed electrics. This happening on the car side of the charging unit can hardly be because of a fault on the home circuit side. It would mean that there would be current on the ground wire into the car. It probably wouldn't even switch on the charger.
I think it is most likely that moisture is producing an earth leak in the charging wiring in the car. Possibly the home ground circuit breaker in the house is malfunctioning (although not necessarily, the car is isolated from the ground by the tyres)

 

[michael8554]

Thanks jaapv, I was struggling to think of a situation where there is a short on the car that wouldn't blow the fuse, and leakage due to moisture would be one.

I would imagine that a cheap voltage meter would detect volts to a metal rod in wet earth.