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GETTING ZAPPED AND GETTING P!$$ED OFF!!!

TonyV225

TonyV225

W9WDX Amateur Radio Club Member
Apr 18, 2005
5,824
323
143
Wisconsin
Ok heres the deal, I am constantly getting zapped when I unscrew coax from an amplifier, tuner, radio, ETC. Especially when my forearm rests on the equipment or if I touch the Coax ends,, it is hammering me!!

Im not talking about your typical rub the feet in socks across the floor and tick, I'm talkin BZZZZZZ,,,, It's really starting to p!$$ me off royally! Can anyone enlighten me of why the hell this is happening??

Is it static build up? is my power in the outlets messed up? or is the circuit breaker panel box haywire in the house? Has anyone else ever experienced this? Anyone that can help?!! I cant handle this anymore, I was just hit 4 times in 5 minutes and Ive had enough LMAO!!
 

what sort of powersupply are you using some switchmode psu's can have quite a high ac voltage on their cases does it do it if you run it off a battery?
 
It sounds like you have one of three choices. The static electricity in your area is really, really high. You have a problem with your equipment either not being designed correctly, safely. Your wiring in the house is not done correctly or safely.
If this has been an intermittent thing, I would suspect the first. If it came on sort of suddenly, and is NOT intermittent, I would suspect number two (did you snap off that third pin on a power plug?). If this sort of thing happens with other appliances, I'd suspect number three.
Something to try is to measure voltages between the equipment cases and a known ground (use the AC setting on that VOM). If you get almost any reading at all, then you have a grounding/third-wire problem. Definitely fix it, it's your neck in danger. Do the same sort of thing for other appliances in your house. Any reading at all? If so, it's the house wiring. Nuther one'a them 'your neck' thingys and find/fix the problem.
All kinds of possible possibilities there...
- 'Doc


Make sure your insurance is paid up.
 
I mainly run a yaesu ft-990 has a built in supply and so does my 11 meter radio my ham hf coax and my 11 meter coax that runs to my Gizmotchy beam does it. Its weird almost like when you get zapped from an electrical outlet.

Im thinking major static build up in coax all I know is I have to get this straightened out ITS DRIVING ME CRAZY!!!:headbang:headbang
 
tony,
i once went to look at a ham friends yaesu receiver, he was having problems with the vhf converter, when i unscrewed the coax it sparked and i got a belt, not painfull but it makes you jump because your first though is that f_cker is live,
i measured betwen the coax shield and the so239 and had over 60volts, it felt like more as it twitched my wrist resting on the receiver case,
after quizzing him it turns out he only ran cheap two core cable to the shack and had no earth,
since he was helping an electrician at the time and should have known better i was not at all happy with his wiring antics and he knew it,
he ran new 3 core cable and the problem was eliminated,
i dont know how your gear is wired but its worth checking into.



​
 
Go to Home Depot or Wally World and buy a circuit tester for usually under $5. It plugs into the socket and lets you know right off the bat if it is wired correctly and if the ground is present. You can measure the AC from the coax connector shield to the case of the radio to find out how much voltage is present..........that might help you trace it down. One other thing is check for any non-polarized plugs on any equipment that you have. Sometimes just turning the plug over can cure some strange problems. I had a Maco 200 one time that would bite you exactly the same way you described. It finally got real bad and chattered my teeth. I checked and there was 425 vac to ground. Transformer secondary was shorted but the amp worked well...it did have a slight hum in it. Replaced the transformer and all was well.
 
TonyV225 said:
I have testers but Im leaning towards static buildup in the coax line or lines but Im looking into it
Click to expand...
I thought the same thing but after running a ground buss bar and attaching all my gear to it the issue went away, I'm in an older house which still has a 2 wire setup and that's the best thing going until I upgrade my wiring.
 
common for boobs updating old house wiring is to think they can jump the neutral to the ground and get a 3-wire outlet. I'd think it a ground problem anyway...
 
C2 said:
common for boobs updating old house wiring is to think they can jump the neutral to the ground and get a 3-wire outlet. I'd think it a ground problem anyway...
Click to expand...
Surely you're not calling me a boob, when I update my wiring it will be done by a competent electrician although I can do it my self I'm far too lazy.

A smart boob would tie the negative side of his service to a water line.:LOL:
 
This is also a older house so Ill maybe try what you did its weird thats forsure. I would like to go from a 100 amp to a 200 amp service and ad some 220 lones so I may have my work cutout for me this spring and its also gonna be costly Im sure.
 
mackmobile43 said:
I thought the same thing but after running a ground buss bar and attaching all my gear to it the issue went away, I'm in an older house which still has a 2 wire setup and that's the best thing going until I upgrade my wiring.
Click to expand...


Mack's got the answer. It is 100% NOT static. You have what is called a hot chassis.It is common for people to think that it does not matter how the two wires in an AC circuit are wired but it does matter bacause one side,the neutral, is tied to ground in the main panel. In a two wire cord if the wires are reversed it is possible to float the 120 volts on the chassis. NOT GOOD. Ground EVERYTHING one at a time to find the offending piece of gear. Maybe the problem is not faulty wiring but in a lot of cases it is and in about 99.999% of the time grounding the vcases of the gear will solve the problem. In the other 0.001% of the time things go BOOM! and you will still find out which piece of gear is,or was, the problem. :laugh:
 

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