electric shock while on charge.
- Thread starter jonnym
- Start date
CrippsCorner
Well-Known Member
B
But this happens with my Surface & iPhone at my house... my girlfriend's iPad at her house... my work colleagues Samsung at work... literally everywhere. How can we stop it when it's clearly not isolated incidences?
Argh, unfortunately this approach will lead to serious injury when it should never happen at all. Well... its ok ... only a very small percentage will actually get electrocuted and we can blame it on them then, otherwise you'll just get a little tingling and we can continue to properly ignore the problem.
But this happens with my Surface & iPhone at my house... my girlfriend's iPad at her house... my work colleagues Samsung at work... literally everywhere. How can we stop it when it's clearly not isolated incidences?
It's not up to you to stop it, it's the vendors that need to build these devices better. none of mine do that. I have or had 3 Surfaces, 2 iPads, iPod, iPhone, HTC metal phone. As was mentioned a user here got their Surface replaced and the new one didn't tingle. Vendors are turning a blind eye to this and telling people its harmless which in most cases it is until it isn't as you found out. Maybe its a more widespread issue where the voltage is higher like in the UK but if its properly isolated you shouldn't feel tingling. when I was a kid my dad had a metal case firedept radio that would shock the crap out of you and we had a metal case TV that was ok until we moved it to the basement and if you touched that while barefooted on the concrete floor it would bite you good. If I had a device like that it would absolutely get returned.
CrippsCorner
Well-Known Member
I've had two Surfaces now, both of which had the issue. Like you say, maybe it's worse here in the UK... but no one really seems to care. Are there any reported cases of this causing significant injury? I'd be interested in reading them.
daniielrp
Active Member
CrippsCorner
Well-Known Member
Ha, sod them... didn't do anything about the Peugeot problem me and thousands of others were having! Is that programme even still on?
Wayne Orwig
Active Member
The current I measured is WAY to low to cause any injury. It is just going to 'tingle' and annoy.
It the US, we use a 120 volt system. In the UK, you are at 230 volts. So yes, if it is a set of balanced drain resistors as I suspect, you guys have twice the voltage/current that we have.
I would assume that the amount of voltage/current varies depending on how the dielectric/insulator is broken down likely by being pinched/pierced during assembly thus some have no tingling and others do while still others have even more. Fortunately for me there are no devices in my possession the exhibit this behavior nor will I accept any. Another possibility is there is no insulator but there is supposed to be clearance between the components and the case but some components are protruding from the board farther than they should making contact with the case. Regardless, its a situation that should not occur. Its like having a big scratch on the device, a yellow haze, or some other imperfection and yet I don't expect perfection but there are some things I wont tolerate.
Now back to your regularly scheduled activities...
Wayne Orwig
Active Member
No, I'm pretty certain it is intentional drain resistors to drain off static. I'm sure the insulation is not breaking down. The safety standards that modern equipment gets tested to wouldn't allow anything like that. Some people and setups are just more sensitive to it.
Static is not constant and wont tingle you get a discharge and it's gone. if there's a source of constant static buildup it will pop but not tingle. Tingling is directly related to a path to the electric supply. Regardless the tingling isn't supposed to be there it's due to a defect OR are you trying to say if it's not tingling its a defect. D'oh
Wayne Orwig
Active Member
No no no. I guess that I was not clear.
In electronics, you often need a path to drain off static. If you don't, it can develop to many thousands of volts. Then when you plug in a USB cable, or such, bang, it can cause damage.
So you need a path to discharge that low current, high voltage, static. It you have a power supply with the third ground wire, your job is done. If you want a two wire plug with ground, you need that drain path. Often they put in a set of resistor to the AC hot, to drain off that thousands of volts. But that drain path now has a very slight current path to AC.
Trust me, I do EMC work every day.
