Is it dangerous to use equipment without grounded wires?

[Wohaaa]

I think my house doesn't have any actual ground connections because if I touch the lid of my gaming laptop while it's plugged in, it has a buzz kind of feeling to it, even though the wire has a ground pin. And also there's some noticeable static in my microphones unless I use a USB to 3.5mm adapter. Unfortunately other than these two scenarios I don't really have a way to test ground connections since other stuff in my house doesn't really use it. But the thing is I've been living in this house for over a decade and have been using computers since 2009. Nothing I've ever plugged in or used, ranging from an Intel Core 2 Duo Desktop to a GTX 1060 desktop to my now RTX 3070 laptop (Lenovo Legion 5 Pro 2021), has ever actually stopped or malfunctioned, in fact all of these machines are still fully functional.

 

The microphones work fine and the laptop has been fully functional and has had zero problems with thermals or power limits (I only got it 2 weeks ago). The GPU never gets above 82c and the CPU can occasionally hit 95c if it's an all core workload but I use Ryzen Controller to limit the temperatures in that case. They're both fully powered, so don't have any power limits. The GPU is able to use up the full 140 watts of the mobile GPU and the CPU has gone to 80 watts (despite being a 45 watt chip) but hasn't had trouble keeping it. So there's definitely no hit to performance or stability.

 

But this is the first time I've ever actually felt a slight buzz when touching anything which is why I'm a bit concerned. Is it fine to continue using equipment? Or do I need to get some work done to get a ground connection? This laptop was a purchase from 7 years of savings I really don't wanna take risks.

Of note:

If the laptop charger is plugged in, and my feet are on the ground, there is a little bit of buzzing.

If the laptop charger is plugged in, but my feet are off the ground, the buzzing is pretty much non existent.

If the laptop charger is plugged in, but the wall switch is not on, the buzzing is quite high, and can be felt even if feet are off the ground. (So maybe the grounding does work? I'm new to this stuff, sorry.)

If the laptop charger isn't plugged in from either/both ends (wall and laptop), there is almost if not no buzzing.

 

Sorry if it was too many words for a simple question, I just wanted to make sure the reader has as much info as possible.

[Wohaaa]

38 minutes ago, Caroline said:

Yeah that's how earthing works, your body is acting as a conductor when you're not wearing shoes or lift your feet off the floor.

Ah good to know. It's still confusing to me that it happens considering that the ground is made of marble and I wear shoes which are insulators....so how come electricity moves. Physics is confusing

40 minutes ago, Caroline said:

Sounds like UK wall sockets, you know because of the switch.

Except I'm not in the UK. What I'm referring to by the 'switch' is just the on off button next to the power outlet. These mechanisms you mention, the RCD? I've never previously heard of them and I don't think they're present in these outlets.

44 minutes ago, Caroline said:

Does the same happen if you plug a metal lamp (or fan, microwave, anything with a metal body/housing) on the same wall socket? If so have an electrician check it.

I don't immediately have something as such on hand however the inside of the kitchen microwave does have a metal cage on the inside of it which I've been shocked on occasion from, but that power plug I think only has two pins attached so if grounding does indeed work in the house then I wouldn't be able to test it from that.

 

Opening the outlets and checking the inside of the walls does reveal wiring for the ground pin, but if so I don't get why buzzing is there.

[RollyShed]

Yes, what you describe is dangerous.

In this country it would be illegal to have such a poorly wired house.

 

Wiki - a Residual-Current Device (RCD), Residual-Current Circuit Breaker (RCCB) or Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) is an electrical safety device that quickly breaks an electrical circuit when there is leakage current to ground.

 

Basically an RCD is a fuse with extra safety capabilities.

[An0maly_76]

Regardless of country, ungrounded electrical circuits are extremely dangerous. Full stop. Call an electrician and get it fixed.

[Wohaaa]

19 minutes ago, Caroline said:

Rubber soles? I wear shoes and can go and grab a live wire and nothing happens (don't try this at home)

Yeah, rubber. That was the confusing part. Even more confusing was how it was still very slightly felt when my feet were completely off the ground, in the situation that it was plugged in but the switch was off. And my chair has plastic feet.

21 minutes ago, Caroline said:

The British influence is everywhere. Having sockets with little switches that turn them on/off is related to them, it's a pretty neat feature too. The RCD isn't in the outlets or their box but far in a breaker box. Here's how relatively new ones look:

Older ones might be metallic, bigger and have a big red button (sometimes) with a tiny neon light inside. If the neon lights up and the button pops out it means there's a current leak, though this is 1980's stuff that should've been replaced by now.

  Reveal hidden contents

Here's how they look. Ironic the image shows an ungrounded plug.

 

Ok we definitely have something related to that. It's called a Circuit Breaker and my father tells me they cut off the electric supply when they detect too high of a current passing through them. So if they're rated for 10A and suddenly detects 11A it'll turn itself off.

 

But it's for large currents, and humans if they even have 1A going through them it's lethal, so...whatever we have is not being triggered by me touching the lid of my laptop.

 

I don't really even get why that thing is buzzing to be honest.

[Wohaaa]

4 hours ago, An0maly_76 said:

Regardless of country, ungrounded electrical circuits are extremely dangerous. Full stop. Call an electrician and get it fixed.

Alright I'll do that just to be safe. I'm not actually fully sure that there's no grounding, I'm just saying this is what happens with my laptop and I don't really have a way to fully confirm whether this is grounded or not.

 

The buzzing is super light, it's not one of those 'touch and immediately feel shock' situations. It's kind of ticklish and I can keep my finger there (though I don't think I should).

 

4 hours ago, RollyShed said:

Yes, what you describe is dangerous.

In this country it would be illegal to have such a poorly wired house.

 

Wiki - a Residual-Current Device (RCD), Residual-Current Circuit Breaker (RCCB) or Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) is an electrical safety device that quickly breaks an electrical circuit when there is leakage current to ground.

 

Basically an RCD is a fuse with extra safety capabilities.

Ok we do have a Circuit Breaker, though I don't know the specifics about a 'Residual-Current' kind. It shuts itself off when there's too much of a current draw, but does no such thing for me touching my laptop. So maybe it's older or just not as advanced as to account for grounding stuff?

 

I don't know, I don't understand this stuff a lot. But I'll call someone to be safe.

[Guest]

35 minutes ago, Wohaaa said:

Alright I'll do that just to be safe. I'm not actually fully sure that there's no grounding, I'm just saying this is what happens with my laptop and I don't really have a way to fully confirm whether this is grounded or not.

 

The buzzing is super light, it's not one of those 'touch and immediately feel shock' situations. It's kind of ticklish and I can keep my finger there (though I don't think I should).

 

Ok we do have a Circuit Breaker, though I don't know the specifics about a 'Residual-Current' kind. It shuts itself off when there's too much of a current draw, but does no such thing for me touching my laptop. So maybe it's older or just not as advanced as to account for grounding stuff?

 

I don't know, I don't understand this stuff a lot. But I'll call someone to be safe.

Too much current draw is when a circuit shorts to ground. That's what the breaker is for. But is not gcfi which is an outlet breaker thats designed to pop below human death amperage. That number is 0.005A.

 

Now if you have a PSU that gives you a "buzz", it's obviously leaking way too much. Replace the A/C power supply and see if that resolves the issue. 

 

BTW, you can't feel a "buzz" on low voltage like 12v. You can grab the posts of a car battery, even with 1000 cranking amps and you'll feel nothing. The body has too much resistance from one hand to another. Same thing with computer electronics, except the amp is much lower in pc components.

[RollyShed]

The RCD has two jobs, trip if too much current is drawn i.e. too high a current, too big a load and trip if there is leakage such that the current going through the phase and neutral are not the same. They are not the same amount of current to trip it.

 

Load current can be 10 amps or 15 amps etc. depending on the type/specifications of the breaker and the leakage trip current should be a maximum of 30 mA from phase to earth.

 

You are feeling current going from phase to earth but not quite enough to trip the RCD.

 

There are two pin earthed plugs in some countries. They have side contacts for the earth and if you don't look carefully you will miss seeing the earthing. They are equivalent to, work the same way as three pin plugs.

 

Basically you have a potentially dangerous situation and are in a country that doesn't take electrical wiring seriously.

[Wohaaa]

1 hour ago, Guest 5150 said:

Too much current draw is when a circuit shorts to ground. That's what the breaker is for. But is not gcfi which is an outlet breaker thats designed to pop below human death amperage. That number is 0.005A.

 

Now if you have a PSU that gives you a "buzz", it's obviously leaking way too much. Replace the A/C power supply and see if that resolves the issue. 

 

BTW, you can't feel a "buzz" on low voltage like 12v. You can grab the posts of a car battery, even with 1000 cranking amps and you'll feel nothing. The body has too much resistance from one hand to another. Same thing with computer electronics, except the amp is much lower in pc components.

It's a laptop not a PSU and the buzzing isn't a sound it's me touching the back of the screen and it feeling like it vibrates a bit.

 

52 minutes ago, RollyShed said:

Basically you have a potentially dangerous situation and are in a country that doesn't take electrical wiring seriously.

I can't even begin to describe how true that last part is but unfortunately that's just the way it is. It's taken for granted way too much because two pins are enough and "haven't shocked anyone yet and any shocks have just been minor and not lethal". Things are just stuck into a plastic enclosure, given two pins, and it's called a day. Heck I opened extensions with 3 pin plugs in them and the third pin is just for physical compatibility but doesn't even have any wiring in it.

 

Unfortunately I'm not skilled enough to actually manage house wiring, and don't know anyone that skilled either. It's a mess.

 

I'll be cautious, since I've been using computers and electronics for 13 years now without any problems as of yet but, it still only takes once.

[Guest]

Just now, Wohaaa said:

It's a laptop not a PSU and the buzzing isn't a sound it's me touching the back of the screen and it feeling like it vibrates a bit.

 

I can't even begin to describe how true that last part is but unfortunately that's just the way it is. It's taken for granted way too much because two pins are enough and "haven't shocked anyone yet and any shocks have just been minor and not lethal". Things are just stuck into a plastic enclosure, given two pins, and it's called a day. Heck I opened extensions with 3 pin plugs in them and the third pin is just for physical compatibility but doesn't even have any wiring in it.

 

Unfortunately I'm not skilled enough to actually manage house wiring, and don't know anyone that skilled either. It's a mess.

 

I'll be cautious, since I've been using computers and electronics for 13 years now without any problems as of yet but, it still only takes once.

The lappy has a power supply that plugs into a wall that has an converter for A/C to D/C and that's how it charges the battery. 

 

You would only be able to get an A/C current from that power brick, wall charger, Battery charger, power supply..... w/e you want to call it. The Lap top doesn't have any high voltage for you to "feel". 

 

The ground pin, if you had ground, might take that leakage so you don't feel it, but unless the power adapter brick wall adapter power supply is designed to leak voltage (A/C around 0.035mA you can "feel" it), which it's not, the device is going bad and that A/C current is going onto your case or w/e you touch to "Feel" current.

 

If you "feel" current when it's unplugged from the wall, then the texture deceives you. It's not electrically charged. Cause if it was, you could measure it with a multimeter. But will you measure it? You need a ground to do so. So no. You probably won't measure it.

 

 

 

 

[Wohaaa]

2 minutes ago, Guest 5150 said:

The lappy has a power supply that plugs into a wall that has an converter for A/C to D/C and that's how it charges the battery. 

 

You would only be able to get an A/C current from that power brick, wall charger, Battery charger, power supply..... w/e you want to call it. The Lap top doesn't have any high voltage for you to "feel". 

 

The ground pin, if you had ground, might take that leakage so you don't feel it, but unless the power adapter brick wall adapter power supply is designed to leak voltage (A/C around 0.035mA you can "feel" it), which it's not, the device is going bad and that A/C current is going onto your case or w/e you touch to "Feel" current.

 

If you "feel" current when it's unplugged from the wall, then the texture deceives you. It's not electrically charged. Cause if it was, you could measure it with a multimeter. But will you measure it? You need a ground to do so. So no. You probably won't measure it.

I feel it when it's plugged in but the switch is off, and I feel it very little when it's plugged in and the switch is on. When the charger is unplugged there's none at all so it's not the texture.

So you're saying that the power brick is leaking AC voltage into the case?

That sounds.....pretty bad. I think I do have a multimeter lying around but I've never used it and have no clue how to use it in this situation to figure things out.

[wanderingfool2]

At least before the USB chargers, a lot of laptops didn't even have a grounding pin.  (They just used a barrel plug, so no grounding)...mainly because it's 19V typically of DC current, which wouldn't be overly dangerous.

 

Actually, I'm curious what you mean when you say feel a buzzing.  Things are pretty much running on DC current within the laptop so there shouldn't be interference that causes a buzz...that I could think of.  Like if it were the power brick, I would say coil whine, but on a laptop a buzzing?  So when you say buzzing, do you mean you get a buzz from your mic?  or do you feel a tingling in your fingers, or something physically buzzing?

[Wohaaa]

19 minutes ago, wanderingfool2 said:

At least before the USB chargers, a lot of laptops didn't even have a grounding pin.  (They just used a barrel plug, so no grounding)...mainly because it's 19V typically of DC current, which wouldn't be overly dangerous.

 

Actually, I'm curious what you mean when you say feel a buzzing.  Things are pretty much running on DC current within the laptop so there shouldn't be interference that causes a buzz...that I could think of.  Like if it were the power brick, I would say coil whine, but on a laptop a buzzing?  So when you say buzzing, do you mean you get a buzz from your mic?  or do you feel a tingling in your fingers, or something physically buzzing?

A tingling on my fingers

[Needfuldoer]

re: GFCI/RCD outlets and breakers:

 

They basically monitor the difference in current between the hot and neutral sides of an AC circuit. If that balance gets out of whack, it disconnects power (hopefully before something too bad happens). Regular circuit breakers don't do this, they only trip if the circuit draws too much current for too long.

 

 

[Wohaaa]

42 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

re: GFCI/RCD outlets and breakers:

 

They basically monitor the difference in current between the hot and neutral sides of an AC circuit. If that balance gets out of whack, it disconnects power (hopefully before something too bad happens). Regular circuit breakers don't do this, they only trip if the circuit draws too much current for too long.

 

 

Ok immediately from the thumbnail, we don't have those things. All we have is this, and a panel at the back of the house with a bunch of circuit breakers. I didn't realize other countries had such measures.

[Rusty Proto]

I'm actually in the same boat, and I've had a case where the cable technician has gotten zinged through my cable box while working on my cable TV. It used to be code to be able to use GFCI plugs (or RCDs for you Brits) in lieu of grounding, though I'm not sure if that is still the case. Supposedly they cut the power before you as an operator gets injured in the event of a "ground fault," (or when electricity leaves the intended current loop and goes through you, for example.) and while I had my cable box on one of these, they still allow enough fault current to smart if you get into it. ...and yes, it can destroy equipment, though all that can be replaced long before the operator can, which would be the more likely problem. About the only true fix for that is to have an electrician go through and rewire your residence.

[mr moose]

5 hours ago, Wohaaa said:

 

So you're saying that the power brick is leaking AC voltage into the case?

 

 

I don't know what the other poster is saying, but this can definitely happen, wither from a fault or from poor design.     It's also possible that your wall plug is wired incorrectly.  If a switch is wired on the neutral rather than the active then you end up with all the power still going into your device and the only thing preventing it from having issues is how well it is designed/running. 

 

Try a different outlet in the house.  If you can borrow someone else's power brick then try that too. 

[RollyShed]

2 hours ago, Wohaaa said:

I didn't realize other countries had such measures.

 

Some countries, Australia and New Zealand have very strict laws and very good wiring. The RCDs will be at the switchboard, not on the wall sockets as shown in the video in America.

 

It appears Wohaaa's wiring requirements are very lax.

There is a very wide range of plug types and wiring in the world. Also the voltages and frequencies are different too. Commonly 240v AC 50Hz or 110 v AC 60 Hz are two types. Also whether 2 or 3 phase is available.

230 v AC will have 440 v AC across phases which means running big powerful equipment is easy. It also means you'd better wire things correctly too.

 

Wohaaa hasn't said which country he is in but I'd better remember to be careful if I ever go there.

[Wohaaa]

2 hours ago, mr moose said:

Try a different outlet in the house. 

Ok I was absolutely not expecting this to work since I expected all the outlets to be wired the same. I definitely should have tested this sooner I guess but it was a hassle to try, but all the concerns raised made it clear that it was not something to take for granted. Anyways, same room, different outlet, same experiments as on the first post. But there's zero buzzing, no matter if the switch is on or off. Putting it back in the original outlet brought the buzzing back and it was the same pattern as on the first post.

 

2 hours ago, mr moose said:

If you can borrow someone else's power brick then try that too. 

No other power brick supports this machine.

 

1 hour ago, RollyShed said:

Some countries, Australia and New Zealand have very strict laws and very good wiring. The RCDs will be at the switchboard, not on the wall sockets as shown in the video in America.

 

It appears Wohaaa's wiring requirements are very lax.

There is a very wide range of plug types and wiring in the world. Also the voltages and frequencies are different too. Commonly 240v AC 50Hz or 110 v AC 60 Hz are two types. Also whether 2 or 3 phase is available.

230 v AC will have 440 v AC across phases which means running big powerful equipment is easy. It also means you'd better wire things correctly too.

Just say Woha, I did 3 a's because it was taken lmao. Anyways yeah the wiring requirements are indeed quite relaxed. Or well maybe they're strict but just not followed or reinforced by people who are in charge. It's 230v AC 50hz, and the monthly bill does mention two things to measure from, one 3-P listing (So I assume, 3 phase?) and one regular listing.

 

The thing is the house was built from scratch on a purchased plot of land from my dad, but man the stories he'd tell of the difficulties he had with the people he was working with. Apparently the contractor couldn't even read or write in English and yet was making millions off this business. Some of the house's wiring is incomplete because my dad was just so infuriated with them that he immediately cut ties with them because they did half assed jobs of everything, and today I guess I discovered that as the other outlet I just tested doesn't have buzzing, so I think that one's grounded but the one I've been using my laptop with is not.

1 hour ago, RollyShed said:

Wohaaa hasn't said which country he is in but I'd better remember to be careful if I ever go there.

We have a full working dam for electricity production yet at the same time most of the electricians that exist here don't have a degree and are just self trained people. Most of the time it gets the job done but they're not the kind of people to go that extra mile for safety or following the manual. Or know English that well even. That's a third world country for you, and political international matters are the reason I'm not very comfortable with revealing it because I'm just not proud of the things my country has done and I'm embarrassed to say I'm a part of it, but that's another matter.

 

For now, it'll ruin my setup and stuff I spent hours to establish but I think I'll go around testing different outlets to see if I get buzzing, to know how many of them are grounded or not, and not just with wiring. Because the one that does give the buzzing does have the wiring inside of it for grounding, and yet it still gave me buzzing.

[Imbadatnames]

On 7/21/2022 at 8:16 PM, Wohaaa said:

I think my house doesn't have any actual ground connections because if I touch the lid of my gaming laptop while it's plugged in, it has a buzz kind of feeling to it, even though the wire has a ground pin. And also there's some noticeable static in my microphones unless I use a USB to 3.5mm adapter. Unfortunately other than these two scenarios I don't really have a way to test ground connections since other stuff in my house doesn't really use it. But the thing is I've been living in this house for over a decade and have been using computers since 2009. Nothing I've ever plugged in or used, ranging from an Intel Core 2 Duo Desktop to a GTX 1060 desktop to my now RTX 3070 laptop (Lenovo Legion 5 Pro 2021), has ever actually stopped or malfunctioned, in fact all of these machines are still fully functional.

 

The microphones work fine and the laptop has been fully functional and has had zero problems with thermals or power limits (I only got it 2 weeks ago). The GPU never gets above 82c and the CPU can occasionally hit 95c if it's an all core workload but I use Ryzen Controller to limit the temperatures in that case. They're both fully powered, so don't have any power limits. The GPU is able to use up the full 140 watts of the mobile GPU and the CPU has gone to 80 watts (despite being a 45 watt chip) but hasn't had trouble keeping it. So there's definitely no hit to performance or stability.

 

But this is the first time I've ever actually felt a slight buzz when touching anything which is why I'm a bit concerned. Is it fine to continue using equipment? Or do I need to get some work done to get a ground connection? This laptop was a purchase from 7 years of savings I really don't wanna take risks.

Of note:

If the laptop charger is plugged in, and my feet are on the ground, there is a little bit of buzzing.

If the laptop charger is plugged in, but my feet are off the ground, the buzzing is pretty much non existent.

If the laptop charger is plugged in, but the wall switch is not on, the buzzing is quite high, and can be felt even if feet are off the ground. (So maybe the grounding does work? I'm new to this stuff, sorry.)

If the laptop charger isn't plugged in from either/both ends (wall and laptop), there is almost if not no buzzing.

 

Sorry if it was too many words for a simple question, I just wanted to make sure the reader has as much info as possible.

Where do fig live? In the UK you get that if the grounding pin isn’t real. You’re fine 

[Wohaaa]

1 hour ago, Caroline said:

Basically an universal socket, do all of them look like that? they're something I'd expect to find at some hotel not a house tbh

Yeah all of them are like this.

1 hour ago, Caroline said:

Wiring must go nowhere then, it's not connected to the rest of the circuit.

Again he basically fired the electrician halfway through his work so, I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.

1 hour ago, Caroline said:

Fellas must be terrible at training then, I don't have a degree -yet because I'm going for one- and know how to make things relatively safe considering the lack of regulations on electricity in general.

The higher class education is extremely expensive and people don't bother with it. It's a very big gap.

1 hour ago, Caroline said:

I bet it's Bangladesh, Burma or perhaps Sri Lanka, former EIC territories 

Yes it is a former EIC territory but, fine, if it helps to actually solve this issue,

 

Pakistan.

 

My dad does intend to have solar hooked up within the next couple of months because of extreme electricity costs and heat in the summer, and I'm assuming the people that work on those things are significantly more capable because a solar solution is quite expensive, so I could maybe ask them about the overall situation, or just hire someone else who's actually properly qualified and knows what they're doing without being difficult to work with. But again, they're rare to come across, or expensive, if not both.

 

So until now after back and forth discussion with everyone the conclusion has been:

Yes it can be dangerous, not necessarily for the device but for the user, and this kind of thing is not to be taken lightly, even if I've been using computers and all forms of electronics completely fine for over a decade,

And that there's flaws in the electricity running in my house because testing another socket had zero buzzing, while the one I use daily which my setup is on does give buzzing. Other sockets have yet to be tested whenever is convenient for me but the solution to all this is,

 

The grounding is (most probably) incomplete and someone (actually qualified) has to figure out the mess and finish the job.

[RollyShed]

1 hour ago, Wohaaa said:

The higher class education is extremely expensive and people don't bother with it. It's a very big gap.

 

 

I've been using computers and all forms of electronics completely fine for over a decade,

And that there's flaws in the electricity running in my house because testing another socket had zero buzzing, while the one I use daily which my setup is on does give buzzing. Other sockets have yet to be tested whenever is convenient for me but the solution to all this is,

 

The grounding is (most probably) incomplete and someone (actually qualified) has to figure out the mess and finish the job.

The problem, lack of education, freely available in a technical world.

 

Using electronics and understanding electronics are two different things.

 

Most definitely a lack of earthing at that socket.

 

Do you have a DVM (Digital Volt Meter)?

They are cheap enough in most countries. The next step is learning how to use one. There should be information on the web.

As for having any, I have one on the bench behind me, another two out in the workshop. Where I was this morning, at least 3 on the bench.

 

Your next step would be to learn / know the difference between DC, AC and resistance measuring.

 

The questionable socket - you would need to measure between the 3 connections and know which should have voltage on them. One way as a start, simply measure a supposedly good one and then compare the readings with the questionable one. The DVM should be set to something over 300 VAC. Probably 500 VAC. That means using the AC range and a high enough voltage range. NOT the DC range.

[mr moose]

On 7/22/2022 at 11:05 PM, Wohaaa said:

Ok I was absolutely not expecting this to work since I expected all the outlets to be wired the same. I definitely should have tested this sooner I guess but it was a hassle to try, but all the concerns raised made it clear that it was not something to take for granted. Anyways, same room, different outlet, same experiments as on the first post. But there's zero buzzing, no matter if the switch is on or off. Putting it back in the original outlet brought the buzzing back and it was the same pattern as on the first post.

 

 

 

Until you can get that socket replaced I would refrain from using it.  I really suspect the active and neutral are reversed in it. 

[RollyShed]

1 hour ago, Caroline said:

The cheapest and most common digital multimeters you can get often look like this, I have one and pretty much works perfectly when it comes to do quick testing on computers and other electronics.

I have at least one of those.

1 hour ago, Caroline said:

For AC they do work if all you want to do is check wall sockets, switches or appliance internals. I prefer analogue meters myself because I'm already used to them but keep the digital just in case.

I still have my mother's analogue multimeter that she bought more than 50 years ago. The only analogue one I might use is for current from a power supply, an AVO 9, near the size of a brick.

 

Yes, Wohaa needs to learn what the terms volt, amp, resistance mean.

[Kizoto]

socket testers are pretty cheap and will be able to tell you if the earth is present or if the live and neutral are swapped.

 

getting a weak shock from the casing might not be the fault of the laptop or its charger, it could be anything that is plugged into the mains which is causing it. You could try plugging it in somewhere else (not on the same ring main) to see if the behaviour changes.