Electric Shock ?

Not enough current to kill? Must be a design defect.

Mark Z.

Could be a wiring fault in the outlet, neutral and hot reversed. Try plugging it in another room.

It's common these days - usually RFI suppression.

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*Eat well, stay fit, die anyway

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.

A DVD player that shocks normal? Categorically: not normal.

It is possible that some power line filter cap is leaking enough to the chassis to cause something like that, but I find it hard to believe Philips would allow that in a consumer item. They'd change the design. That sort of thing is bad for business.

Reverse the plug in the socket and see if it goes away.

Don't ignore it. Make sure it is the DVD player and not the TV or HI FI that's plugged into it that is causing the problem.

If it is the DVD player, or other component, you really can't just hope it won't get worse - there may be some failing insulation and it is just possible that some circumstance (high temperature, wet floor, humidity, a different outlet, time, etc.) will make it lethal.

BTW you don't say what your line voltage is. If it is 220 and you get ~125 that lends some credence to it being a power line filter.

Treat it like it is lethal until you know how to fix it. If all else fails, ground the sucker to a good ground. If you just bought it take it back and get one that doesn't shock, or get a different brand.

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Is this a single shock that you no longer feel as a tingle once you have your hand on the unit? If yes, then it is common static build up, probably on your body that is discharging to the path through the metal case.

If it is a continuous tingle, then there may be some leakage current in the device.

Simply disconnect the dvd player from all other devices (tv, audio, etc), plus it in, and measure the voltage between the metal case and ground with a 1K ohm resistor across the meter leads. If you still measure a significant voltage across the 1K ohm resistor, then there is a problem in the dvd player. Then reconnect it to everything else, if you now measure a significant voltage across the 1K ohm resistor, then you have a problem with another device that is connected to the DVD player.

It's normal for most equipment with switching power supplies to have some relatively studly capacitors across the AC line, center tap to chassis. This is supposed to be to keep any RFI generated inside the box from leaking back out through the power cord, and vice-versa.

Older equipment tended to have much smaller capacitors, on the order of

0.005uF, which could still give you a very mild tingle, but nothing like what you get from todays capacitors-- I've seen up to 0.1uf to ground, 0.47uF across the line.

How did you determine the leakage current? Is it on the same outlet that you experienced the shock?

Leonard

What you are describing is not right. Check if the AC outlet is wired correctly. If so, then have the appliance's power supply checked for ground faults.

Jerry G.

its going to have a earth fault as it does not have one?? I would disconnect all cables apart from the mains and then measure it as it could be the tv or video ETC

Thanks members for the early responed, and my further finding for member's questions is: (1) The DVD player's input voltage is 240 V AC. (2)When reverse the plug in the socket will reduce to 60 volts AC leakage (3) When I measure a cross with 1 K resistor the leakage voltage become zero volt. (4)When measure between the earth and the metal panel is 0.04 in ma range but 137 in ua range. unknow why resultant is different. ? (5) When measure between the earth and the power input ( two pin ) there isn't any ohm. (6) It is not a Single shock Regards

That would bother me the RFI caps on switching supplies should divide the voltage equally since they tend to be identical to the "ground" chassis connection.

That's good.

That's not what I'd expect, but this isn't a hard connection. You seem to be measuring the voltage through a capacitor and/or resistor in the RFI filter.

Shouldn't be, but the type of tester you should be using is called a hi pot or high potential tester and that would tell you if it is safe or insulation breaks down with high applied voltage - the typical ohm meter may not be the best tool to check ohms or safety.

I'm guessing you have an IEC power cord? Thingee that is designed for three wires? And you've gone and cut the ground off?

You are probably "safe," at the moment at least. It may be safe indefinitely. Safety devices are to protect you when things go wrong.

If it were me I'd ground it and wouldn't be using it without a ground. If I couldn't ground it (in an apartment with no access to a ground, for instance) I'd take care that the parts I touched were insulated.

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Describe the plug end and machine end. Are the pins in the plug round or flat? Is there any other thing (like small piece of metal on the plug with a hole in it) on the plug end?

Does the machine end have an IEC connector? Machine end would be a recessed, keyed (only goes in one way) male on the machine female on the cord.

What has me baffled is that the whole purpose of a filter with caps or resistors in it (the part causing the shocks) is to filter noise to ground. Most filter line-to-line and each line-to-ground.

Now without providing a ground . . . how's the noise supposed to drain to ground? Presumably they could count on the TV or Stereo to do it but that's not in any safety specification I've seen.

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Hi morning., thanks for your reply. It just a two hollow pins inlet at the back of the dvd player, as most of our members belive may cause by filter circuit, I will open the dvd layer look for the filter. I would like to said big thank you for members who responed in this topic & happy valentime day. Regards

in the UK we have two pin figure of 8 connectors like this

its a two core cable no earth and not keyed so you can plug it in both ways and quite happily plug live to neutral and visa versa

From your link:

"Description Generic Main lead - UK to Figure 8 Mains lead with UK style 3 pin plug, terminated with Figure 8 style moulded connector."

Says three pin plug.

We (US) had some plugs shipped over here that were supposed to be for the UK at a place I worked. They were large round molded bodies with two smooth polished round pins and the pins had insulating sleeves near the plug body. They had three wires blue, brown, green/yellow and an IEC connector at one end.

There was a third flat metal piece on the plug that had a round hole that went through the plug body. It was connected to ground and its purpose seemed to be to add a pin or perhaps a screw to keep the plug in place? Just speculating . . .

I was on line looking for UK electrical requirements. They seem to be the same as here in the states. Three wires with a hot neutral and ground . . . only difference I saw was in the wiring of electrical light switches they don't show the ground going to the switch - perhaps that was an oversimplification.

We have some two wire appliances with GFI protection built into the plugs and "wall wart" switching supplies with only two wires. Computers are three wire. The area I live at has adapted an electrical code that requires four wires on 240 volt electric stoves.

There's still a lot of two wire appliances - many of those have all-plastic bodies. Houses and new construction here require GFI protection on outlets outside the house, in most garages, all bathrooms and kitchens, on hot tubs etc..

Workplace safety hasn't caught up - I tried to promote GFI's in a laboratory where I worked - we had large volumes of water (and electrolytes) and lots of electrical equipment. It wasn't required, so they wouldn't do it, but they put one on my workbench because I worked on the equipment - and I didn't ask for it, had no water nearby, etc..

I inadvertently got connected to a leaky coffee maker - the GFI tripped and I could feel the current. Just now put a 12K resistor across the hot to ground and tripped the GFI - instantly.

UL rules here: GFI required to trip at

6 milliamps within 5.6 seconds 50 ma in 270 milliseconds 100 ma in 100 milliseconds 250 ma in 27 milliseconds

In practice, 6 milliamps will cause a trip in 50 milliseconds or less.

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correct all our outlet plugs have three pins but not all are used as all our cables are not three core?? we have two and 3 core cable there are two pin plugs that look like an 8 hence the term "figure of 8 style" that plug into the equipment that have no earth requirement or are double insulated

Yehbut figure of 8 is two. For domestic use all UK plugs are three pin, but if the device conforms to the appropriate regs the cord may well be just two.

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    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Line neutral and earth in the UK. And neutral and earth are connected together at some point - but not at the actual appliance. Either the nearest substation or where the supply comes into the house - in some cases. So only the line is 'hot' although in practice there may be a small potential between neutral and earth in some installations.

With lighting, the neutral doesn't usually go to the switch enclosure, but the earth does.

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    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.