Shocked myself (on 120V)...Now Outlet doesn't work?

Thread Starter

BigJason

Joined May 27, 2011
29
I was being a dumbass while hooking up a small little project of mine and I held the IEC connector by the back when I was plugging it in.

I got shocked, but I'm alright...I'll think about that next time. :rolleyes:

However, my biggest concern is what happened because of that.

The outlet that was powering my soldering iron, fan, and desoldering iron suddenly turned off....I chekced my household circuit breaker. I didn't trip anything.

Anyone know what could have gone wrong? There's no GFCI on the outlet as far as I can tell.

Thanks.
 

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
Circuit breakers can be tripped without showing much difference. Fondle the handles and see if one feels different. You're going to need to find the right circuit breaker for that circuit because the next move is to take the outlet apart and see if the wires are "stabbed" in. Those connectors are weak and you'd need to move the power wires to the screw terminals.

edit: never mind.
 

debjit625

Joined Apr 17, 2010
790
Did you got your spiky hairstyle or not?


I remember the last time I got shocked,from an AC induction motor it was 220VAC....
 

Thread Starter

BigJason

Joined May 27, 2011
29
You held one of these in one hand while you stuck the connector in with the other? http://media.digikey.com/photos/Curtis Instruments Photos/EBM1,HBM1 SERIES.jpg

Mains is 230V AC where I come from: grabbing one of those things by the tail would be likely to be a memorable experience - if you were lucky.
Yessirr...I've never been shocked by mains before...so that was a first. Good thing my project wasn't drawing much current...

Felt pretty good too say the least. :p. I'm usually smart with that sort of stuff. This is why you don't try to wire mains with 4 hours of sleep the night before.
 

Adjuster

Joined Dec 26, 2010
2,148
Why do you say that it was lucky that your project wasn't drawing much current? That would only be relevant if you had managed to connect yourself in series with it, and even then its current consumption would have needed to be in the sub-10mA category to make you much safer.

Almost any mains connection is capable of delivering enough current to kill, so the difference between say a 15A circuit and a 30A circuit is pretty much academic. In practice these days ELCBs etc. often save our bacon, but that's another story.
 

Thread Starter

BigJason

Joined May 27, 2011
29
Why do you say that it was lucky that your project wasn't drawing much current? That would only be relevant if you had managed to connect yourself in series with it, and even then its current consumption would have needed to be in the sub-10mA category to make you much safer.

Almost any mains connection is capable of delivering enough current to kill, so the difference between say a 15A circuit and a 30A circuit is pretty much academic. In practice these days ELCBs etc. often save our bacon, but that's another story.
Yeah I knew I was wrong when I said that...any current can kill. I know.

But I AM thankful that I did have GFCI in the line and that it worked. The shock hurt but it wasn't as bad as I would have expected 120V to be...and that was probably in part due to GFCI.
 

BillB3857

Joined Feb 28, 2009
2,570
The safety problem with GFI breakers is that they only trip if there is current from Line Hot to Earth. They will carry full current from Line Hot to Line Neutral! The OP must have somehow allowed the proper amount of GFI trip current to find itself a path to ground without going through the Line Neutral wire.
 

Thread Starter

BigJason

Joined May 27, 2011
29
Well, yes...to be honest. I was very surprised to find GFCI tripped at all. I'm not sure how it exactly works, but I sure didn't think it would go off like that.

Whatever it was I did, it was really dumb, and the few times I plugged in the IEC afterwards, I plugged the cable into the inlet, THEN plugged it into the wall ;).
 

Ron H

Joined Apr 14, 2005
7,063
Keep in mind that neutral is connected to ground only at the breaker box.
You must have gotten yourself across hot and ground ( the center pin on the connector). That's the only way (theoretically) that a GFCI will trip. It works by sensing an imbalance between hot and neutral currents.
If you had gotten across hot and neutral, you would have looked to it like a legitimate load. If you got across hot and ground, some or all of the current through you was diverted to ground, bypassing the neutral wire, creating an imbalance in the sensing circuitry, tripping the GFCI.
 
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