Originally Posted by OhhWatALoser
So I talked to my dad today, got an answer that explains all of it. So basically adding the foil makes a crappy capacitor (2 conductors separated by a insulator) and it holds a tiny charge. When you go to read it with the digital meter, it has a resistance in the megaohms, thus not discharging much at all and reading the voltage. With a mechanical meter or body part the resistance is very small and discharges it instantly, thus no reading on the meter. When you got hit, you must of had a condition where it stored enough to give you a shock. I wasn't able to recreate that condition but I have no doubt it is possible. My smaller pieces had less of a charge because there is less to hold it. I had way less of a charge when the piece weren't sitting over the bus, thus having air also act as an insulator.
So knowing all of that, the op did nothing wrong, just accidentally made a bigger capacitor than the rest of us.
I would suggest if you must use conductive tape, use small pieces or try not to place it directly over the bus bar, it won't make as good of a capacitor.
What is the bus bar?
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