Electrical Problems

**chowpappy** · 06-07-2003, 12:15 AM

Someone with electrical experience help me figure this one out. I know as much about electricity as your average 8 year old who's just stuck a bobbi pin into an outlet.
I touched the back of the computer I just put together and got an electric tingle. I figured I had really messed up on the internal wiring and pinched a wire or the power supply was shorting out; something along those lines.
I killed all the power and put it up on the workbench. I then started hooking up the phone line to my second comp. to hit the forums for advice. I didn't even have the power cord hooked to it yet and got a tingle from the second comp. when I touched the back! The only attachments to it were the lans, the modem and the monitor. The monitor was plugged in at the time.
Now where could the juice be coming from? Through the lans? Phone line somehow crossed up with an electric circuit in the house? No grounding on the outlet?
The lans and the monitor are both hooked up to a battery backup. The second comp. is too but was sitting there unplugged when it gave me a tingle.
Any ideas what to investigate?

**Jeff7477** · 06-07-2003, 12:46 AM

is it a constant tingle?

**chowpappy** · 06-07-2003, 12:52 AM

Okay, revisions, process of elimination and wacky theories. I'll work this out if I have to talk myself through it on this thread.
Unplugged the modem so its not something weird happening with the phone lines. ditto on the lans...so that leaves me getting shocked by two different comps sitting side by side. The wall outlet and the circuit its on is a likely suspect. The refrigerator is plugged in on the opposite side of the wall. It looks like the old man I bought this place from did some of his own wiring in the basement so maybe he has 220 hooked up to a 110 outlet?
What on earth could cause getting a shock from the back of a comp. thats not even plugged in?
Yes I've considered hallucination and I'm sure you're thinking it too.

**chowpappy** · 06-07-2003, 12:53 AM

Yes, a constant tingle...

**LordOPain** · 06-07-2003, 01:08 AM

what you have is a poor "bonding" system in your house/apt., room etc..

when you touch the case, the energy from the filtering caps(that would normally shunt to earth ground) is using you as a better conductor..

the path of voltage is likely coming from your monitor(since you never said you'd unplugged it) through the shielded vga cable to your CPU case, then through you to earth or something thats better grounded..
which with that being said, id guess that your monitor is electrically leaky... moreso than usual..

**chowpappy** · 06-07-2003, 01:16 AM

Don't leave me hanging. Does 'a constant tingle' suggest anything to you? I tend to obscess on things like this until I figure them out.
Can power come down the video output cord to the comp if the outlet was overloaded or hooked up as 220? What happens when you plug a 110 into a 220? fireworks? tingles? I can see the previous owner turning a 110 plug into a 220 to run something and not changing the connector or marking it as such; but I don't know enough about electronics to tell.

**chowpappy** · 06-07-2003, 01:24 AM

Thanks LordofPain for the insight. Poor bonding would mean the outlet/fusebox isn't grounded properly? I can't really blame a leaky monitor since it happened on the second comp. with a different monitor.

**Lord Vetinari** · 06-07-2003, 02:47 AM

Sounds like your power outlet is not grounded properly if at all. I assume this what the other Lord meant about Bonding.

**PriMaTe** · 06-07-2003, 03:09 AM

Hey, try calling an electrician and asking them or have them come and take a look or something cause from what the other posters are saying it seems like its your electrical wiring. If the outlet isn't grounded properly it should be an easy fix shouldn't it? Unless there isn't a ground wire there that you can connect to a better ground. I'm no electrician though, good luck.

**OS-Wiz** · 06-07-2003, 06:11 AM

Originally posted by PriMaTe
Hey, try calling an electrician and asking them or have them come and take a look or something cause from what the other posters are saying it seems like its your electrical wiring. If the outlet isn't grounded properly it should be an easy fix shouldn't it? Unless there isn't a ground wire there that you can connect to a better ground. I'm no electrician though, good luck.

Yup, you're dealing with a potentially dangerous situation there and I'd definately seek the help of an Electrician.

**chowpappy** · 06-07-2003, 08:50 AM

Thanks for the responses guys. Unfortunately paying an electrician the price my computer costs to come out to the boonies and fix one wall outlet, is a last resort. If the outlet just needs grounded better I might can manage that myself. I pulled it off once before in an older home when a guitar amp was buzzing.
Whats got me so confused is the second comp not even being plugged in. I'm also suspicious of the battery backup everything is plugged into. I'm also suspecting it might be 220 instead of 110? I'm not sure what would happen in such a situation.

**russ_watters** · 06-07-2003, 11:48 AM

Originally posted by Lord Vetinari
Sounds like your power outlet is not grounded properly if at all. I assume this what the other Lord meant about Bonding.

When my dad wired his basement he accidentally switched the netral with the ground. So instead of having a ground attached to your case, you may have a wire with a little current flowing through it. Get yourself a voltmeter ($10 at radio shack) and test your wiring. Then get your landlord to have it fixed. I wouldn't run a computer from wiring thats that bad.

. I'm also suspecting it might be 220 instead of 110? I'm not sure what would happen in such a situation.

In such a situation you'd quickly fry your computer and get no shock from your case. Also, 220 has to be wired differently from your circuit breaker (the ones with two switches connected together are 220).

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