Electricity issue

[Kaerali]

Hello LTT.

 

This is my first post on this forum, so don't be that hard on me.

 

Edit: I live in Romania

 

I have experienced issues with a PSU. I have been getting shocks through the metallic parts of my keyboard. I tried changing wall sockets, extension chords, places in my room, I even changed the room I sit at my desk in. I just bought a new PSU, thinking it was a PSU issue. But the shocks are still coming through. I am unsure what to do at this point. A few days ago, I unplugged everything from the extension cord and plugged everything back one by one, until I realized it was my monitor interfering with the currents, I then turned on the PSU only for the issue to come back. I haven't touched my PC since I discovered it was dangerous.

 

 

Thank you in advance!

[Jurrunio]

Motherboard standoffs not installed properly?

[Kaerali]

Can you elaborate?

 

Thank you!

[Kaerali]

7 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

Motherboard standoffs not installed properly?

I am using all of the standoffs and there are no holes in my motherboard, if that's what you're asking.

[Valkyrie Lenneth]

ground ur pc case to ur radiator, should fix static electricity coming through ect, tho make sure its a masked wire n all dont go touching the wire, as most of the cases nothing will happen touching it, if its extreme u can get zapped touching the exposed wire

[Kaerali]

1 minute ago, Valkyrie Lenneth said:

ground ur pc case to ur radiator, should fix static electricity coming through ect, tho make sure its a masked wire n all dont go touching the wire, as most of the cases nothing will happen touching it, if its extreme u can get zapped touching the exposed wire

Forgive me, but can you explain how to ground my PC case to my Radiator? And which radiator are we talking about?

[Valkyrie Lenneth]

2 minutes ago, Kaerali said:

Forgive me, but can you explain how to ground my PC case to my Radiator? And which radiator are we talking about?

some cases have a little place to put a cable on the bottom of the case or so, if not ul have to find a exposed part ( or make it ) on the case where it can have direct contact with the metal, just get any cable u dont need, strip it on the ends and just make contact with case + exposed part of radiator, it wont work on paint

 

just dont forget ur having a grounded cable then, so dont touch the exposed metal parts after ( or wire ) which is why its recommended not to have it as a exposed wire

[Kaerali]

3 minutes ago, Valkyrie Lenneth said:

some cases have a little place to put a cable on the bottom of the case or so, if not ul have to find a exposed part ( or make it ) on the case where it can have direct contact with the metal, just get any cable u dont need, strip it on the ends and just make contact with case + exposed part of radiator, it wont work on paint

 

just dont forget ur having a grounded cable then, so dont touch the exposed metal parts after ( or wire ) which is why its recommended not to have it as a exposed wire

I'm not quite sure I get it. Which radiator? 

[Valkyrie Lenneth]

2 minutes ago, Kaerali said:

I'm not quite sure I get it. Which radiator? 

in ur house that warms it

[Kaerali]

2 minutes ago, Valkyrie Lenneth said:

in ur house that warms it

Problem is, I don't have any of those. Must it be a radiator?

[Valkyrie Lenneth]

1 minute ago, Kaerali said:

Problem is, I don't have any of those. Must it be a radiator?

well there are many ways but for some of em i recommend if u are unexperienced to get an electrician to do it for u

 

https://www.wikihow.com/Ground-an-Outlet

 

u probably have ungrounded sockets in ur house and have a unstable power supply ( from house not psu )

 

thus grounding might solve ur probs , can be done to the entire house aswell, just google, how to ground electrical equipment ect

[Kaerali]

Just now, Valkyrie Lenneth said:

well there are many ways but for some of em i recommend if u are unexperienced to get an electrician to do it for u

 

https://www.wikihow.com/Ground-an-Outlet

 

u probably have ungrounded sockets in ur house and have a unstable power supply ( from house not psu )

 

thus grounding might solve ur probs , can be done to the entire house aswell, just google, how to ground electrical equipment ect

I have a Seasonic 80+ Gold Focus. I'm pretty sure everything is grounded too.

 

Thank you!

[Valkyrie Lenneth]

1 minute ago, Kaerali said:

I have a Seasonic 80+ Gold Focus. I'm pretty sure everything is grounded too.

 

Thank you!

but the problem u name sounds like a grounding problem to me, in either the house or the case not properly grounded

 

if u know what a grounded electrical socket is, plug ur pc in that instead of a ungrounded socket

[Kaerali]

The case is more likely to be improperly grounded. I'll have to see how to ground it properly.

[Valkyrie Lenneth]

4 minutes ago, Kaerali said:

The case is more likely to be improperly grounded. I'll have to see how to ground it properly.

this is a grounded socket

 

and this one isnt btw

 

 

just examples so u get the idea :v make sure using a grounded socket aswell as having the case properly grounded

[Kaerali]

10 minutes ago, Valkyrie Lenneth said:

this is a grounded socket

 

and this one isnt btw

 

 

just examples so u get the idea :v make sure using a grounded socket aswell as having the case properly grounded

The PSU cable seems to match the position of the grounding thingy. It still does it, though.

[Valkyrie Lenneth]

Just now, Kaerali said:

The PSU cable seems to match the position of the grounding thingy. It still does it, though.

if it is in a grounded socket the psu im 99% sure its a case grounding issue or motherboard standoffs

[Kaerali]

1 minute ago, Valkyrie Lenneth said:

if it is in a grounded socket the psu im 99% sure its a case grounding issue or motherboard standoffs

My motherboard standoffs match the position of the motherboard. So then it's the case. Which it would explain because it's made out of metal.

[Kaerali]

9 minutes ago, Valkyrie Lenneth said:

if it is in a grounded socket the psu im 99% sure its a case grounding issue or motherboard standoffs

Okay so what I did was, I plugged the PSU into the wall, with the PSU turned off and touched the metal screws on the PSU, it seems to have grounded it, and the screwdriver didn't light up anymore but when I turned it on, the current detector screwdriver I have blipped on again.

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Kaerali said:

The case is more likely to be improperly grounded. I'll have to see how to ground it properly.

The case is grounded when the PSU is screwed into it.  The PSU is grounded when plugged into a grounded outlet.

 

[Valkyrie Lenneth]

20 minutes ago, jonnyGURU said:

The case is grounded when the PSU is screwed into it.  The PSU is grounded when plugged into a grounded outlet.

 

not always there can be problems with grounding on the case through the mobo ( static electricity through the case ect )

[Valkyrie Lenneth]

5 hours ago, Kaerali said:

Okay so what I did was, I plugged the PSU into the wall, with the PSU turned off and touched the metal screws on the PSU, it seems to have grounded it, and the screwdriver didn't light up anymore but when I turned it on, the current detector screwdriver I have blipped on again. 

that means there is a grounding issue, because when u touch it YOU become the ground,  the static electricity has to go somwhere,  and without ground itl just buzz around,  once again as said before,   i used to solve this problem by putting a wire from case to my radiator (  u can use a psu screw for that aswell, put a wire under it ) , just anything that can carry electricity and goes into the ground can be used as a grounding point,  example a pipeline, a radiator, a radiator tube

 

coz u dont know wht a radiator is, i used to mount my cable from case to

 

what i did, i cut a usb cable i dont use, stripped the ends, taped 1 end to the radiator, 1 to the case ( on exposed metal parts )

 

im pretty sure one way that this problem occur is due to the power sockets in the house not beeing grounded, it can have a grounded socket but there has to be a wire to be connected to the grounding part aswell inside the socket, i used to live in a house where there aint no grounding at all and the sockets that did have it werent connected on the inside,  so i had no choice but to use radiator

[Guest]

59 minutes ago, Valkyrie Lenneth said:

not always there can be problems with grounding on the case through the mobo ( static electricity through the case ect )

He's not talking about static electricity.  He's talking about components being energized. 

 

If you touch a case and get "zapped" by static, that's because YOU are energized and the case is grounded.

 

But I doubt it's a short because if there was DC output shorting to the case, motherboard, etc., the SCP of the PSU would trip and the PC would shut down.  SCP should work with an output impedance of < .01 Ohm which is far below something anyone is going to "feel" as a tingle, etc.

 

When I worked at Razer and developed the power brick for the Blade, I didn't have a ground pin on the brick because Min wanted a very small, very slim adapter.  I ended up using a C7/C8 power connector interface.

 

Problem is, the Blade has a metal chassis.  So when the user wasn't grounded (i.e. sweaty bare feet) they would feel a tingle through the B-panel of the laptop while using it.  The only solution was an Earth ground, so the adapter's ID had to be changed to accommodate the C5/C6, i.e. "Mickey Mouse" power interface.

 

99.9% of the time, if the metal parts of a PC are "energized" it's due to lack of Earth ground.  Sometimes it can be something as simple as "too much paint" where the PSU screws into the case.  But typically it's a matter of the outlet not being grounded.

 

Even if your house is outfitted with a Shuko outlet with a ground pin, that doesn't mean that pin is actually grounded.  I've lived in houses where there's a ground pin, but only two wires going back to the breaker box.  Simply grounding your plug to a metal gang box isn't enough.

 

OP should pick up something like this:  https://www.amazon.de/TONWON-Verkabelungs-Erweiterte-Automatische-Elektrische/dp/B07KVQLYHH/

 

That will help determine if the outlet is grounded.

 

If you have a DMM you can test to see if you have a ground circuit from your chassis to the PSU's Earth ground pin.  Just set your DMM to continuity/resistance.  Put one probe on a metal part of your case and the other probe on the ground pin of your PSU's power inlet.  You should have a complete circuit.

 

[greenhorn]

6 minutes ago, jonnyGURU said:

[...] But typically it's a matter of the outlet not being grounded.

 

Even if your house is outfitted with a Shuko outlet with a ground pin, that doesn't mean that pin is actually grounded.  I've lived in houses where there's a ground pin, but only two wires going back to the breaker box.  Simply grounding your plug to a metal gang box isn't enough.
[...]

I agree with your assessment. The case is in contact with the PSU's grounding connector which is in contact with the wall socket's grounding contact.

Since you are feeling the tingling, your case is not grounded which means that the wall socket and/or the rest of your house's wiring is/are the culprit(s).

If you are lucky, the problems you observed are simply caused by some amount of paint that sticks to the wall socket's grounding connectors. This happens when the wall is being painted and the person painting is too lazy to either remove the socket or cover it with tape beforehand. If that is the case, simply scratch that paint off with a screwdriver and you should be fine.

If that is not the case, then there is something wrong with your electrical installation, which means you should call an electrician to find out what the problem is. It might be that this socket simply has no ground wire connected or that the ground wire, while being connected to the socket, is not connected to ground at the other end (I have seen that several times). In some older buildings some decades ago, grounding wires were connected to the heating system or the water pipes because those were grounded and it was a very easy thing to do. This type of grounding is not allowed in many countries nowadays.

Again, please keep in mind that in many countries any changes to your electrical system can only be carried out by qualified and certified electricians,so be careful.

[Valkyrie Lenneth]

i already said those things but extremely simplified, and which is why i recommend grounding on the radiator

 

[...] But typically it's a matter of the outlet not being grounded.

 

Even if your house is outfitted with a Shuko outlet with a ground pin, that doesn't mean that pin is actually grounded.  I've lived in houses where there's a ground pin, but only two wires going back to the breaker box.  Simply grounding your plug to a metal gang box isn't enough.
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