Zapped while charging new Model Y?!

[MY-Y]

There is no neutral connection on the HPWC. If there is a neutral wire run to the box, it is tied to ground in the main panel, so that won't possibly have enough voltage to feel.

If you feel the electricity when touching the car while wearing shoes, make sure you don't touch it in bare feet.

 

[drtimhill]

A potential difference is going to be there all the time and it doesn't feel like a "pinch" it's more of a "tingle".
This is static.

You could be right, but you dont mess with 240V .. they are right to have it checked carefully. Remember the basic rule of high voltage work .. you ALWAYS assume something is live until you can prove otherwise .. and even then you take precautions.

 

[Dangerous Fish]

You could be right, but you dont mess with 240V .. they are right to have it checked carefully. Remember the basic rule of high voltage work .. you ALWAYS assume something is live until you can prove otherwise .. and even then you take precautions.

Living in a country where 240V is the standard mains supply, most of us here know the difference between static and a mains shock. Yes, it could be something in between like a PD but I doubt it from the description.
But let's see what the OP reports, if she decides to post the diagnosis.

 

[drtimhill]

Living in a country where 240V is the standard mains supply, most of us here know the difference between static and a mains shock. Yes, it could be something in between like a PD but I doubt it from the description.
But let's see what the OP reports, if she decides to post the diagnosis.

And I've zapped myself with 110V and 240V (long stories) ... it's way different from static of course. But most ppl dont know the difference and I'd not bet on a laypersons description to determine if it was static or not.

 

[mongo]

And I've zapped myself with 110V and 240V (long stories) ... it's way different from static of course. But most ppl dont know the difference and I'd not bet on a laypersons description to determine if it was static or not.

One point of clarification: 240V in the US is still 120V to ground, unless you were unfortunate enough to connect yourself to both hots at the same time. 230V (effectively 240V?) in the UK is full voltage to ground.

 

[user212_nr]

There is no neutral connection on the HPWC. If there is a neutral wire run to the box, it is tied to ground in the main panel, so that won't possibly have enough voltage to feel.

If you feel the electricity when touching the car while wearing shoes, make sure you don't touch it in bare feet.

The HPWC has a ground connection, the miswiring of which would electrify the chassis. Since the shock was weak we are speculating that there is a problem with the ground wire or even someone who plugged neutral into ground. It would work just fine but provide a slight shock.

Living in a country where 240V is the standard mains supply, most of us here know the difference between static and a mains shock. Yes, it could be something in between like a PD but I doubt it from the description.
But let's see what the OP reports, if she decides to post the diagnosis.

Nothing special about the 240v, I think the OP has said that it was not a static shock. I got a giant electrostatic shock from (to) and elevator button, so strong that it hurt my knuckles. My first thought was that the button was connected to mains, but then I thought of how dumb and unlikely that was so I touched it again.

It is definitely possible, with the car being grounded that it attracts a static discharge. OP should definitely clarify how many times he touched the car.

 

[qdeathstar]

@ pr
[QUOTE="user212_nr, post: 4759312, member: 113224". OP should definitely clarify how many times he touched the car.[/QUOTE]

or just get it looked at by a professional...

 

[user212_nr]

or just get it looked at by a professional...

Its not an either or.

 

[MC Lee]

Thanks to all for your responses.

This most certainly was not a momentary static discharge - it was a continuous (but clearly not high voltage!) current. On a sunny day in humid mid-Florida, static is pretty rare.

I took the car to the local service center - we could not reproduce it on a Supercharger or a wall mounted connector. Most likely this is an issue with the ground at my house, as previously mentioned by an astute commenter, and less likely directly related to the wall connector. We live in an older house so I would not be surprised at all if it was an issue of grounding or our old electrical panel.

Good thing my commute is pretty short. I won’t be connecting to the wall charger here until this gets sorted out by an electrician.

 

[MC Lee]

For the sake of clear communication, I need to correct sone terminology:
The charger is built into the car.
The item in the wall is the Wall Connector. It is a higher threshold GFCI, contactor, and electronics to tell the car how much current it can pull and control the contactor, plus check for faults.

The car's charger interfaces to the 400V pack, but the Wall Connector only provides split phase 240V.

The ground connection to the car exists whenever the car is plugged in, it is not switched when charging is started or stopped.

If the ground at the Wall Connector is actually connected to neutral at an intermediate sub panel, then you could get an offset between the car and the floor (note this would be ore apparent if the ground is wet). This can also occur if everything is correctly wired due to voltage gradients in the earth itself (the reason there is a bonding ring around poools and hot tubs).

Why would this potential be more apparent when charging? Hard to say, usually neutral shifts occur with bad connections and 120V loads.
Edit: Not to imply it is a ground issue. Other items could cause a slight AC leakage.

@MC Lee
Do you notice any lights in the house that change brightness when you charge?
Where was the car when this occurred? Was it wet out?

Great questions... it was dry and the car was in the driveway. No change to the lights in the house.

 

[DDrawer]

Can someone explain to my not knowing enough about electricity self how the electricity leaks into the chassis of the car because a ground on the wall connector is wrong? Is the cars port not just a big wire connected to the charger/battery?

 

[mackgoo]

Did anyone say "take this car into service immediately"?

 

[Janus]

Can someone explain to my not knowing enough about electricity self how the electricity leaks into the chassis of the car because a ground on the wall connector is wrong? Is the cars port not just a big wire connected to the charger/battery?

Good question. While the two hot wires from the wall connector do connect to the charger, the ground wire is special. Like many electrical devices with metal cases, the ground wire is not just connected to the charger, but also to the body of the car. For example, say the car is stuck by lighting while it's charging, it's much safer for that current to find an easy path to the earth, vs. ending up in the battery. Similarly, if there's a power surge, or a malfunction in the charger, you'd want the extra power to flow to the earth; not anyone in/near the car.

On an average day, not a whole lot is happening on the ground wire (besides random devices running a little current to validate it's functional). But the neutral is a different story. On an average day, it's got lots happening on it. When the neutral gets connected to the body of a car, that's what can lead to a shock.

 

[mswlogo]

It could be the car it well grounded (ICE wouldn’t be) but it’s the floor that has the leakage !!!

I installed my pool (legally and passed inspection). A big thing your trying to protect against is the ground could be live due to a fault and the pool is well grounded.

Curious if the current is felt when NOT charging but still plugged in?

If the floor is the leakage and the car is properly grounded, the Wall Connector would NOT trip it’s Ground Fault.

 

[Evoforce]

I'm betting static electricity. Hope we hear the result.

 

[drtimhill]

One point of clarification: 240V in the US is still 120V to ground, unless you were unfortunate enough to connect yourself to both hots at the same time. 230V (effectively 240V?) in the UK is full voltage to ground.

It was in the UK ... so yes it was 240V. I dont recommend it though

 

[qdeathstar]

Can someone explain to my not knowing enough about electricity self how the electricity leaks into the chassis of the car because a ground on the wall connector is wrong? Is the cars port not just a big wire connected to the charger/battery?

Basically, the potential to earth of the chargers ground is higher than the ground potential earth where you are.

If there is a bad ground to the building, or to the wire, it is possible for voltage to couple onto the ground wire of the building (or ev charger) raising it’s potential.

When you are grounded, you become a better path to zero potential than the buildings grounding system, so current flows through you.

 

[user212_nr]

Can someone explain to my not knowing enough about electricity self how the electricity leaks into the chassis of the car because a ground on the wall connector is wrong? Is the cars port not just a big wire connected to the charger/battery?

The ground wire is connected to exposed metal objects, like a washing machine frame, a car chassis, for example. The goal is that if a live wire touches the car, the electricity will flow to ground instead of to a person who touches the car. Additionally, it will cause circuit breakers to trip.

All the grounded objects are not only connected together, but also connected to the neutral wire (the non-live plug) in the main panel, so there is care that has to be taken so that electricity does not flow between these components. There is current on the neutral flowing back to the transformer. It won't flow to ground because the charge is stronger at the transformer and it won't flow backwards, but you could wire it wrong and get a current on the ground wire.

Here's a video with some explanations. He mixed the ground and neutral on purpose and shows what happens.

 

[MC Lee]

Did anyone say "take this car into service immediately"?

Yes - the dealer

 

[SSedan]

Please consider asking the electrician or Tesla technician to write a brief explanation of any fault they find so you can copy it without introduction of your interpretation.
I think this would benefit the community.

Not a dig at the OP in any way, just most of us aren't great about repeating technical details of something we don't really understand.