Shocking Flexwatt development!

When you cut the heat tape to length, did you cover the cut edges on BOTH ends with electrical tape?

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Originally Posted by kavmon

somewhere voltage is coming into contact with the rack, this rack is wood right? wood can conduct volts also. how did you fasten down the flex?



vaughn

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yes painted wood.

It is not a big shock, it barely tingles when she touches it... so it doesnt seem to be a direct leak.

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Originally Posted by Wild Bill

When you cut the heat tape to length, did you cover the cut edges on BOTH ends with electrical tape?

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most definiitely

you could screw in a couple of ground wires to the rack. then wire this to an outlet ground in the room. if a breaker trips, you have a voltage short. grounding the rack will make it safer.


vaughn

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kavmon

you could screw in a couple of ground wires to the rack. then wire this to an outlet ground in the room. if a breaker trips, you have a voltage short. grounding the rack will make it safer.


vaughn

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Interesting, I didnt know I had to ground a wooden rack.. hrm


I should re-state that there isnt much of a shock coming from the aluminum tape, just a little tingle...

Im confused right now, I guess I will deal with it when I get home on thursday.

Thanks guys.

So I am now at home and have had time to play with it.....

Took off foil tape.

Double taped everything with black tape, including areas that were obviously not exposed, but i wanted to be safe.

Still getting a slight buzz from it, not like a shock but a tingle...

Still confused as all heck...

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Originally Posted by SnakeySnakeSnake

What could be going wrong here? It worked fine at first, I used black tape on every exposed piece, and the foil tape is only touching the plastic covered portion.

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Are you sure it worked fine at first? If you were wearing rubber soled shoes, you may have insulated yourself from getting a shock right away. It definitely sounds like a ground fault. It may only be a tickle, but under the right circumstances (i.e a wet floor) it could be serious. I can't quite picture how you have this set up so bear with me: Are each of the 11 pieces wired together in series?

No, they are wired individually




~ 4 foot piece of flexwatt

1 end taped up in black tape

other end has an extension cord soldered on to it.

black tape all around the wire, the end of the flexwatt, completely covered


foil tape stretching down both sides of the length of the flexwatt


does it matter which side is facing up for flexwatt?

PS ++ for another chicago suburbs person :)

As far as I know, it doesn't matter which side is facing up. I am stumped. Are you positive there is no exposed contact on the flexwatt, and no exposed wiring on the cord? What about your rack? Is it in direct contact with the floor, or is it sitting on something that might be insulating it, like a rubber mat?

First, I have to say that wood is NOT a conductor.

Okay, as for the tingle, I'll bet that if you put one end of a voltmeter to the hot foil and the other end to the ground in the outlet, it would register 110VAC. The tingle is simply because the resistance in your body is great enough to prevent a serious shock. But don't press your luck.

So, is each tank on a seprate cord? If so, I'd unplug everything, and connect one side of an Ohmmeter to the foil, and then touch the other end to the prongs on each plug. This will at least tell you wich one is giving you a problem, and narrow your search down greatly.

If you don't have a digital multimeter, time to buy one. And I'd exercise some precautions for now while working on the shelf. Don't work on it alone - have a safety observer who can turn off the power if you get lit up.

And STOP TOUCHING THE METAL! A DMM is a much safer way to see if there is voltage present.

A good DMM (digital multimeter) will run about $130 at Home Depot. (Fluke brand) It will measure voltage, resistance, current, and a few other things. They even sell one with a temperature probe. But you can also get one for as low as $20 at Radio Shack. For this application, ensure it will measure voltages up to and over 120VAC. And don't take any current measurements unless you know what it means to measure a circuit in series as opposed to parallel. (improperly measuring current will result in a short circuit wich will manifest itself in the form of a few bright sparks before the circuit breaker trips (hopefully)

One last word of caution - the circuit breakers in your house won't save your life - they are rated at 15-20 amps. It takes about .02 amps to stop your heart.