My boat shocks me while on the charger!!!

[Rost]

I noticed a tiny electrical pulse while leaning up against my boat while it was charging last night. Last week I broke the ground prong off of my onboard charger and have not had time to replace it yet. Can I assume this is the problem?

[pulsar_nx]

That is the first thing that came to my mind when reading your post title. And I bet the ground your talking about is AC gnd.

I've had the same thing happen to me at work when an extention coard was twisted enough that it was damaged. I eventually found it by measuring from electrical gnd to earth gnd and found about 20v AC.

[tunrevir]

I would think that might be the case but I would double check your batteries and make sure that none of the posts are touching the metal inside the boat. Had a battery get loose and was touching some metal trim on the inside of the battery well and caused some arcing. My 2 cents.

Tunrevir~

[musky hunter]

You should never get a shock when charging. It's not the battery posts touching the boat. 15 volts dc just can't do that to you. It's 115 vac leakage current that you are feeling. First check to make sure that the ground is indeed hooked up and installed per code at the wall outlet. Then the common wiring error is getting the hot and nuetral reversed. When these two are ruled out, then it's time to look at the charger, and maybe send it back to the factory. Don't fool around with this problem, if you haven't got the skills to trouble shoot it yourself get someone who does, because you have a dangerous situation.

[BobT]

Excellent advise, musky hunter!!!! The defective plug on your cord should certainly be repaired. Even so, there should never be electric current flowing through the ground. If in fact there is, then I would be very concerned about the integrity of the charger. A ground fault in the charger is a dangerous situation and must be repaired.

As musky hunter pointed out, if you don't have the background to research this, seek professional help. Can't stress that enough.

Bob

[efgh]

Whats your life worth or one you love? Throw that charger away and go to Walmrt, G.M. or Cabels and get a new one, install a ground fault plug in in the receptical where you plug in the cord to do your charging.

[Rost]

I just talked to a marine mech and he said to simply replace the plug and it should solve the problem. Since the ground prong is missing, I was actually grounding the boat. It was back feeding. Sound right?

[waskawood]

No it does not sound correct. The ground is for safety only. There should be no current flow in the ground wire. The neural should be your return not your ground. If the ground prong was intact it may then blow a circuit breaker but there is still a leak of ac current into your boat from something and that is not right. If you have an ac voltmeter you can go from the boat to a ground or neutral on your outlet and see what the actual voltage is. You either have a bad charger or an inproperly wired outlet. My vote is an outlet that is wired improperly. This can be fatal as 120 volts is the most common voltage for electricution that there is.DO NOT fool around if you don't understand electricity. DO NOT let your kids touch the boat especially if they are bare footed. I think code in Minnesota is that all outdoor and garage outlets should be on a ground fault breaker also. Please hire a professional it could very well be the best money you ever spent.

[Rost]

Problem is, I was camping and I actually never saw the outlet (had a buddy run the cords to the cabin). In fact it took three ext cords to reach the 3 boats we had plugged in. (The last cord had 3 outlets on it.) So I have no idea what type of out let we plugged into at the cabin.

Never the less, I had a local electrician swing by tonight to take a look at it. We replaced plug, plugged it in and no shocks. He said that when it was stepped on, there was a possibilty the the plug was damaged.

Thanks for all of the advice guys. Keep it coming. It's nice to know my fellow FM's don't want to see me get buzzed

[Mike Walerak]

Maybe you being "buzzed" was the reason your were leaning against your boat in the first place !

mw

[waskawood]

Another reason to buy a fiberglass boat.

[CASTnBLAST]

I agree,if my fiberglass bass boat stops shocking me when I look at her it'll be time to trade for a new one

[MikeYager - Suzuki]

Scary stuff. Fix it fast.

[chris63]

Hello......12 volt marine bats. have MORE than enouph amps to be VERY dangerous!!!!!!!!!!(when being charged or not).dont get zapped......c63

[waskawood]

The resistance of a persons body is high enough that 12 volts cannot push enough current through your body to do any harm. It is simple ohms law!!

[Fishin4Life]

Yes a 12 volt should not hurt you too much, I wouldn't say very dangerous, maybe just slightly if at all. More annoying than dangerous.

[chris63]

Hello........guess i should have been more clear,if you arc or direct short across a 12v you could burn yourself (wearing rings/jewelry)have seen a guys finger burned down to the bone before..........ouch!!!!!!!!!c63

[waskawood]

Yes, very dangerous in that situation.

[Fishin4Life]

Who wears their ring, LOL

yes that may sting a bit

[Valv]

Quote:

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Who wears their ring, LOL

---

People out of college....

[Fishin4Life]

LOL good one Valv

[bigb56303]

first off for everyone it is not the voltage that kills people it is the current, therefore it doesnt matter what the voltage is if your current is high enough, it only takes aprox 1/10th of a amp i beleive to be fatal, if you have any kind of ac leakage from your boat that is not good, you should always have a properly grounded plug dont take a chance, also i wouldnt recommend using multiple extention cords to charge a battery, the voltage drop is to high and you can burn up your cord, charger and you have the chance of someone steping on or damageing the cord, also any outside outlet must be gfi protected. as far as body resistance goes, not everyones is the same some people have low resistance, and can be hurt much worse then soemone else. i am a electrician and have been shocked by alot of different voltages, 120 480 etc, it is not something to mess around with so be very care full it is not the voltage that kills its the current everyone be carefull and dont take chances

keith

[BobT]

bigb56303 is correct but just to be sure no one misunderstands - current is the result of applied voltage on a load. In other words, the amount of current that will flow through your body is dependent on the level of voltage potential and the resistance of your body between the two points of contact. If that current can flow through your chest and heart, it takes a very small amount to cause heart failure. Your body's resistance is not constant and can be affected by outside influences such as being wet, open sores, etc.

Anyone that thinks low voltage isn't dangerous should take a look at the output voltage of a welder. Some welders only use about 20vdc. It doesn't matter the voltage, if you have a direct short-circuit, current goes through the roof! We're lucky static charge doesn't have the capacity to maintain the current flow when you see that little spark.

I dropped a wrench across the terminals of a 12v car battery and in a blink of an eye it was welded to the battery posts. I'm lucky the battery didn't explode in my face.

Bob

[Guest]

I was disconnecting my battery in one of my vehicles to service the vehicle. It was a 1/2" bolt on the battery terminal. I accidently bumped the fender while disconnecting the positive terminal(wrench bumped). The wrench got red hot instantaniously and burned my hand as the sparks were flying. Within a 1 second my wrench melted into a 45 degree angle(craftsman wrench), the fender had a hole in it, and the wrench got thrown about a foot when it came off.

If that amount of current could somehow make it into our body.. yes, it could kill us.

[chris63]

Hello sparkys..............again burned flesh/bones and such..ouch!!!!!!!!!hope everyone has a safe and happy fourth!!!!!!!!!!!c63