Electric shock when charging?

[Zoya5]

Hi all, please see attached the mechanic's report. I don't understand all of it and would appreciate having it explained, and whether or not you think this is likely the cause of the fault? Tia!

 

[jaapv]

He confirms the fault. He has found a Diagnostic Trouble Code in the logs that determines the input voltage to be too high. He speculates that the charger may be the cause. As the charger output cannot be higher than 240 V I rather doubt that this is the root cause, but anything is possible.

 

[elm70]

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.

240v is lethal .. but since it is AC, the body has a fraction of time to gain control and disconnect from the electric source

A 240v DC will not give any survive

If the car cause shocks ... better use isolated gloves for operate the charging, and as well .. better don't use Chademo .. 300v DC used for fast charging is definitely lethal

PS: Strange to get a shock while charging the car , since there is no 240v involved in the start charging process (unless the charger is faulty) ... only possible shock is while unplug the car while the charger is still sending power to the car.

 

[jaapv]

A Taser is 1200 Volts...

 

[michael8554]

The current in a Taser is supposed to be limited to a few milliamps, below the lethal level.

 

[jaapv]

That is correct, and my point. We don't measure the lethal potential of electricity in Volts but in Amps. Actually a Taser produces 45.000 V but cannot deliver more than 1200V on the body of the victim.

 

[elm70]

The teaser doesn't kill only due to the protection in few milliAmps that can release ... so in practice it send a sequence of impulse of electricity

Already 120v DC can kill, since once a person get stuck in, it can't unstuck anymore, since a person can't control himself anymore

Using AC vs DC in domestic power lines, it is also for the safety advantage ...

 

[Craigy]

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)

Not necessarily, in a TNC-S system if the the phase and PEN are wired incorrectly then earth can indeed be at 240V and nothing will trip or have any way of knowing. The equipotential zone in the house wouldn’t necessarily be an issue.
The big lump of metal sat on insulators outside would become dangerous however. One of the reasons a separate earth is called for in an EVSE installation.

 

[Tdean]

How did you go resolving the problem?
I’ve just had a similar problem today from a brand new outlander phev. Got a big electric shock in the door sill while it was charging. Definitely not a static charge, I can verify from experience that it was 240v.

 

[jaapv]

Dealer?

 

[Tdean]

Dealer?

Just one of the local Mitsubishi dealers in Brisbane. They say they have never heard of the problem before. I was able to replicate the shock on my car but not on a another stock model

 

[jaapv]

There is always the possibility of an assembly error. I used to own a Morgen - when building it somebody had driven a couple of tacks through the wiring loom, making for interesting short-circuits.

 

[jordanb]

Dealer?

Just one of the local Mitsubishi dealers in Brisbane. They say they have never heard of the problem before. I was able to replicate the shock on my car but not on a another stock model

Hey Tdean, Which dealer in Brisbane? I have the same problem on my 2014 model and the Albion dealer was unable to replicate it at the service center. It happens all the time at my house though.

 

[jaapv]

Which suggests a problem with your charger - not the car.

 

[jordanb]

Which suggests a problem with your charger - not the car.

They had my charger too

 

[ThudnBlundr]

If it's a one-off (and the current doesn't continue to flow), an electric shock is normally caused by several thousand volts of static electricity building up on the car which is insulated from the ground by the rubber tyres. It is then earthed when you touch ground and the car. That is extremely unlikely to be anything to do with the car's electrics as it cannot supply that sort of static voltage.

If it's a problem with the car's electrics or charger, it will happen whenever you touch the car when the car's on or connected (or a fuse will blow). If it happens once and then doesn't happen again when you touch the car a second or two later, it is extremely unlikely that it's the charger. If there's a circuit from the charger via you to the ground, it won't disappear after one shock.