My campo is 'ALIVE'

[Gunna Do]

Ketsi, after your comment on the small spark when plugging the lead in, I think the line up with wet goannas has grown much longer.

I thought I would put up a few pics to try and help people understand what you are talking about with the electrical set up on the Camp-o-matic.  Please PM me if this doesn't accurately depict your set up.


Inlet and Outlet for 240 power supply.


Circuit Breaker for 240 power (You call it a RCD) and double power point (You call it a GPO)
The lead you can see plugged into my power point is for my Smart Charger as I do not have a second power point under my bed base.


BEP 12 volt power Monitor (circuit breakers on right for all types of charging)(circuit breakers on left for each 12 volt power use on camper, with the top one being a DC Master switch)

Hope this helps.

[Pipeliner]

If you see a spark at the socket when plugging in a live (naughty boy!) extension lead, that is quite normal.  It merely means that some item of 240v gear inside the trailer is switched on so that there is a complete circuit for the current to flow round, and the spark is the current jumping across the small gap between the plug and socket.  The current in both sides of the supply ("live" and "neutral") is the same which is why the Earth Leakage Breaker (ELB, ECB, RCD, whatever you want to call it) didn't trip, as these devices are designed to trip on an imbalance between the live and neutral lines.

You will ALWAYS generate a spark when closing an electrical circuit, but the spark should be generated inside the switch which is designed to cope with it.

[Ketsi]

Thanks for posting the pics GD. That is exactly as per my explanation except as you point out I have a power point (GPO) mirrored on the underside of the bed which allows for the 3 stage charger to be permanently mounted under the bed and plugged into that power point.

If you see a spark at the socket when plugging in a live (naughty boy!) extension lead, that is quite normal.  It merely means that some item of 240v gear inside the trailer is switched on so that there is a complete circuit for the current to flow round, and the spark is the current jumping across the small gap between the plug and socket.  The current in both sides of the supply ("live" and "neutral") is the same which is why the Earth Leakage Breaker (ELB, ECB, RCD, whatever you want to call it) didn't trip, as these devices are designed to trip on an imbalance between the live and neutral lines.

You will ALWAYS generate a spark when closing an electrical circuit, but the spark should be generated inside the switch which is designed to cope with it.

Whew... that gets GD out of the wet goanna slapping line but perhaps others now lining up for the 'live' plugging of an extension lead....  This only happens occasionally when the sequence happens that I'm at the house socket first and many minutes are saved by plugging in, turning on, and then wandering literally metres to the camper and plugging in the lead.....    Several sips of beer can occur in the time saved.....  Seriously though, the spark occurs inside the plug socket and can be seen as the lead has a clear plastic plug end on it....

Keep popping my head up this often I am sure to get it whacked sooner or later.... 

Cheers, 
Ketsi

[Pauly]

Im no electrician but I do have  a fairly dumb suggestion, see an electrician. If somebody was getting electric shocks in your house would you try diagnosing it over the net?
People forget their Caravans, Campers and Gennies are just as deadly as a house, 240v kills.

The spark is only an annoyance at the moment, what happens when it gets hot.

[Ketsi]

Don't get me wrong Pauly as I'm not taking it completely lightly here.... I fully intend to have it looked at by an expert, however, I am also one who enjoys learning along the way where I can. It may help with troubleshooting etc when in remote travel or mid trip one day and if half a clue can mean isolating the problem until the next opportunity to have a professional look at it then I want to gain that knowledge for that reason. I also envisage the DIY additions with lights, solar etc down the track so getting a better understanding of my setup whilst trying a few troubleshooting tips is all helping feed my understanding of the electrics involved in my camper setup.

The safety net here is that to date it hasn't been more than a static electricity type zap so I'm inclined to think we aren't dealing with a full 240 supply fault. In the case of similar in the house there is no doubt we would be dealing with a more serious amount of power let loose and for sure I wouldn't be asking how to play with that sort of issue via the net....

In addition there may be others with a bit more knowledge than me in this area that may also gain from the discussions... the genereal benefits of these forum type discussions.

I think the advice on here so far from the experienced leccy's has shown good caution and advice that ensures I'm not going in over my head, yet trying to narrow down the issue and fault find ready to hand over to an experienced person to look further and fix.

Cheers, 
Ketsi

[Gunna Do]

Ketsi keep asking the questions, I for one am enjoying this lesson in camper 240 power supply.

One more question. Is your charger one of these, or differant?  This is the type fitted to my camper only the 20 amp model.

[Chris-Vi]

I will be interested in the answer to this as well.

[Symon]

Ketsi old boy, I have to point out one thing rather urgently -

No more testing by using body parts!

It might be a tickle now, but if the fault worsens it can be fatal - so get that multimeter sooner than later.

What is making me worry is you said the spark occurs on the vertical pin - the earth - that shouldn't happen at all, and indicates something is seriously wrong.  Once you get that multimeter give me a call (PM me if you don't have the number anymore) and I'll talk you through it.  I'm home most of this weekend.

[stulux]

hey champ flick your rcd off and see if it still has the tingle!!! then you know where it is! if it were me i'd start with a new lead. than pull the input plug on ya ct and see if it has any bear wires  at all. than work your way back to the rcd. than i'd recon that there is a place somewhere the wire has come i contact with metel and rubed through! if you don't want it to happen again put all wires in conjute. if you don't like mucking around with elecrticty like me get some one to look at it and ask if you can watch how they fix it so you know where things are!

[baldheadedgit]

Hey Ketsi,,, silly question, but does the shock happen to anyone else, or is it just you that cops it,,??? Been there before,, other people have got a "Static" shock and i tried  doing the same but got nothing, Maybe your just a very "conductive" type of guy..??

[seqfisho]

Mark,

Stop plugging in the 240V lead and definately stop using the human sacrifice as a means of testing the frame voltage

Help is on the way

[darren]

Years ago i was renting a house, it had a pool. The seal went in the motor and my wife got a shock using the scoop. So i rang the landlord who i didn't really like and he came up and i explained the problem. While we were in the pool area he asked how big the shock was, I said a shock is a shock, then he proceded to place one hand on the gal fence and plunge the other in the water. Now i could see what was about to happen but had little intrest in preventing it. Once he put his hand in he bounced for a second and then was blown onto his back. It was then i waked over to him and asked "so how big was the shock"
 Now apart form being a funny story it reinforces the need to address the problem asap.
 Then again its just a funny story
Darren

[seqfisho]

Years ago i was renting a house, it had a pool. The seal went in the motor and my wife got a shock using the scoop. So i rang the landlord who i didn't really like and he came up and i explained the problem. While we were in the pool area he asked how big the shock was, I said a shock is a shock, then he proceded to place one hand on the gal fence and plunge the other in the water. Now i could see what was about to happen but had little intrest in preventing it. Once he put his hand in he bounced for a second and then was blown onto his back. It was then i waked over to him and asked "so how big was the shock"
 Now apart form being a funny story it reinforces the need to address the problem asap.
 Then again its just a funny story
Darren

Now thats piss funny, I bet he fixed it pretty quick

[stulux]

thats funny!!!! we had an eletric fence to keep the dog in the yard and the day me and the old man put it up and turned it on i grab it and had shoes on and told him it wasnt working, so the old man grabed it and said the same as me. so i told him to grab the gal fence as well and the dumb ass did and it booted him! i think i pissed my pants laughing that day!!!

[Ketsi]

Ketsi keep asking the questions, I for one am enjoying this lesson in camper 240 power supply.

One more question. Is your charger one of these, or differant?  This is the type fitted to my camper only the 20 amp model.

Gary,

I have never actually accessed my battery charger where it is mounted in the camper as it is a relatively inaccessible area under the bed and above the wheel arch (see pics below). Going through my paperwork from original purchase though as well as the pics below (the blue box in the pic is part of the charger) I am pretty sure I don't have similar to what you have. Paperwork for mine says 'Blue Power' and from memory discussions included mine being a 15 amp version. I found some info via google but not quite up to speed with attaching pdf docs to this forum so you can have a look or I can email you the doc I found on what type I reckon I have. Otherwise the next time I'm ripping into this area chasing some wiring or something I will have to remember to look at the charger and note what it is.



Cheers, 
Ketsi