Calling all electrical gurus in here!!

[BoSalman]

Hello,

We have a puzzle here that's currently on-going (brain storming and analysis stage) between two vendors at the same time and myself!

I have two energy bars, one brand new dedicated for a lighting fixure, and one old one with 5 occupied outlets and one free outlet,

I bought a new light fixture, and the energy bar to control it. once i received everything and i plugged the first plug of the light fixture to check it out, i noticed that i got zapped anytime i touch anything connected to the light fixture (hangers, cables, screws..etc).

So i contacted the vendor and they told me that they tested the unit on a GFI without any issues prior to shipping and that i may have something else going on somewhere.

I tried to trouble shoot the issue myself while shooting an email to the power bar vendor in order to pin point the source of this problem. This is when i noticed that once i plug the unit into the wall socket directly, i do not have any stray voltage nor shocks anymore! and if i plug in a normal power strip to that energy bar, i do get stray voltage at the fixture again!

and once i plug any single plug from the fixture onto any port on my TWO energy bars, i do get shocked/stray voltage from the fixture. (i do testing using a bulb tester, i don't use my hand to check for sure!).

So i'm thinking that two energy bars, bought 1 years apart, cannot be both defective at the same time, so this comes down to:

- my BEST guess is that somewhere in that fixture, they interchanged an EARTH with a PHASE (not neutral), so whenever i plug this on my energy bar (not earthed due to power plug adapter) it creates that "stray". hence why when i plugged the fixture directly to an earthed outlet, it came out fine and did not trip my breaker/gfi (i believe this only trips if neutral is interchanged, because earth/phase interchange will not interrupt the current, right?) and that stray is completely gone!

- Second guess is that somewhere in the unit, a loose phase wire is touching earth, but wouldn't that just cause the breaker to trip as it would also influence neutral? am not sure.

- Third guess, everything is fine, i just need to earth my energy bars (schuko plug, so i need to get a proper schuko to UK adapter instead of only plugging N/P) and continue using fixture and energy bar completely fine.


What do you guys think? Where should i start looking out? i really don't want to open the fixture up unless the vendors agree my warranty won't be void. is there anyway to check for this using a multi-meter or something? (if E/P is interchanged, how do i know which plug is it?)

I also tried to check my energy bar on a multi-meter (earth and P) and i got zero readings so the sockets are fine in this case.

Sorry i had to explain in details since this is indeed a puzzle and if that condition is not safe (even though the stray went away now that i'm using a normal power strip, BUT i do want to use the energy bar to operate this unit on a timer instead of manually on/off or mechanical timers).

I'm confused at this point any feedback is extremely appreciated!

 

[reefwiser]

What type of light do you have? If you do not get shocked by the light when it is normally plugged into a wall socket. I would think there is an issue with the powerbars. What brand are they Since you are in Kuwait what voltage are we dealing with? You do not have a ground on your powerbar from the third guess I would do that first.

 

[BoSalman]

What type of light do you have? If you do not get shocked by the light when it is normally plugged into a wall socket. I would think there is an issue with the powerbars. What brand are they Since you are in Kuwait what voltage are we dealing with? You do not have a ground on your powerbar from the third guess I would do that first.

Thanks for your prompt reply, I'm indeed in Kuwait and we're using 2x power bars which are 240v, reason i didn't put names so far is that we're working with vendors to sort it out at this stage but both vendors (including myself) are scratching heads on what's happening.

I will try and connect the power bar using an appropriate adapter to get the earth connected with my wall socket's earth. But in that case, the question goes like this: even if earth is not connected on the power bar, that should just make the unit "non-earthed" just like any 2 pin appliance right? why is it electrifying anything touching it or near it?

 

[LiveWire]

With the exception of some smaller things most two pronged appliances are internally grounded so the ground prong is not needed in that case. Power bars are for sure not internally grounded as they are just outlets with relays that turn them off and on with a signal. I would make sure to earth ground anything that you are trying to connect especially with the threat of water possibly getting into the power bar. And with water I would make sure to have a240 volt breaker that is GFI rated.

 

[BoSalman]

With the exception of some smaller things most two pronged appliances are internally grounded so the ground prong is not needed in that case. Power bars are for sure not internally grounded as they are just outlets with relays that turn them off and on with a signal. I would make sure to earth ground anything that you are trying to connect especially with the threat of water possibly getting into the power bar. And with water I would make sure to have a240 volt breaker that is GFI rated.

Yes sir, that is exactly what i'm asking in here.. my DB's are all GFI equipped and any short circuit would immediately trip that particular outlet. I will plug the power bar into a three pin grounded adapter and i'm guessing it should run fine without stray voltage.

The question is, if it was indeed caused by me not using a proper adapter, how come it is making the fixture "electrified/charged" and our GFI is not detecting it?

 

[reefwiser]

Because you are not grounding and only using direct two conductor power. If a ground in not hooked up using the adapter the GFI will not work properly.
The manufacturer may not feel that it is wise to you an adapter to make a UK powerbar work with the power in your country. Even thou that is all you have to work with.

 

[BoSalman]

This 2$ peice fixed my problems on both of my power bars!

Turns out that the plug adapter i was using lacked the grounding metals on top/buttom side, thus disconnecting the ground (E) connectivity to my wall output.

3 days of total confusion between us.. and this fixed it

 

[reefwiser]

An that is the problem no ground [emoji3][emoji106]

 

[ZoWhat]

This is when i noticed that once i plug the unit into the wall socket directly, i do not have any stray voltage nor shocks anymore! and if i plug in a normal power strip to that energy bar, i do get stray voltage at the fixture again!

I believe you answered your own question above....

Take the powerstrip OUT OF PLAY..... its has a faulty ground

Im shocked (forgive the PUN) the EnergyBar didnt trip if there was any sort of voltage jumping over on the ground circuit.