I’m feeling a strange hum or light tingling feeling on my skin when I touch my computers

[MrScratch]

 

For some time now I started to notice a strange thing , if I lightly touch my hand on my PC tower computer or my portable laptop case while they are running I feel what I would describe as a slight hum or light tingling feeling on my skin . Both the computer PC and laptop are connected to separate computer monitor screens sitting on my computer desk. Both these monitors are plugged into separate mains wall sockets. The only way I can get the hum or light tingling feeling on my hand to stop ,  is if I un plug the HDMI cable from the monitor to the PC tower computer or my portable laptop . But as soon as I re connect the monitors HDMI plug to either the PC or laptop the hum or light tingling feeling returns.

 

Any suggestions or advice most welcome

[rvaviator]

 
For some time now I started to notice a strange thing , if I lightly touch my hand on my PC tower computer or my portable laptop case while they are running I feel what I would describe as a slight hum or light tingling feeling on my skin . Both the computer PC and laptop are connected to separate computer monitor screens sitting on my computer desk. Both these monitors are plugged into separate mains wall sockets. The only way I can get the hum or light tingling feeling on my hand to stop ,  is if I un plug the HDMI cable from the monitor to the PC tower computer or my portable laptop . But as soon as I re connect the monitors HDMI plug to either the PC or laptop the hum or light tingling feeling returns.
 
Any suggestions or advice most welcome:thumbsup:

Sounds like you are having a breakdown of insulation - do you feel the tingling when you touch metal or plastic parts ?



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[NCC1701A]

23 minutes ago, MrScratch said:

Any suggestions or advice most welcome

very common in Thailand as nothing is properly grounded. plugging in and out your HDMI is changing the path to ground.

 

if you are in a house, you can get a copper rod for about 150 baht at home pro and run your own ground connection.

you drive the rod into the earth outside and run a thick copper cable back to your AC strip and tie it to your ground connection in the AC strip. that was the only way to make a proper ground at my house. 

 

want to have some real fun? take your shoes off and stand on a concrete floor and then touch your computer. 

 

[tabarin]

I wish it wasn't me to be the one telling you this. It is not nothing after all but let's keep it short: The matrix is real, welcome to the awakened world.
That buzzy feeling is the beginners level to change to the right frequency and time travel. It might go faster by adding some water to the electronics.

[NCC1701A]

24 minutes ago, MrScratch said:

Both these monitors are plugged into separate mains wall sockets.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_loop_(electricity)

 

as an experiment see if this problem goes away using just one socket. 

also power strips in thailand don't have real ground buses. they just have a slot for the ground lug and then there is no ground lug into the wall socket. most extension cords are also this way in Thailand. VERY DANGEROUS! 

[Isaanbiker]

33 minutes ago, tabarin said:

I wish it wasn't me to be the one telling you this. It is not nothing after all but let's keep it short: The matrix is real, welcome to the awakened world.
That buzzy feeling is the beginners level to change to the right frequency and time travel. It might go faster by adding some water to the electronics.

Sorry, but please don't post such incredible stuff. As already mentioned you could use a 150 cm long rod, dig a hole and earth your whole house. If that's too much work, just connect a thick enough wire ( 16 mm is the norm). If there's already a rod, install it at least 4 meters away from that one.

 

     Please see how easy it is to do it. Once you've done that, ground/earth all appliances and you'll never have that feeling again. Don't forget to switch the main off when you're doing that. You only have to use one wire that's connected and ground your PC, all extension cables, monitor, etc. And of course which seems to be the most important one, your water heater!

Here's a pretty good one: 

 

         

      

[impulse]

10 minutes ago, Isaanbiker said:

Please see how easy it is to do it. Once you've done that, ground/earth all appliances and you'll never have that feeling again. Don't forget to switch the main off when you're doing that. You only have to use one wire that's connected and ground your PC, all extension cables, monitor, etc. And of course which seems to be the most important one, your water heater!

Here's a pretty good one: 

 

That's great if you live on the ground floor, or have your own house.  Which leaves out the folks who live in apartments, especially those on the higher floors.

 

 

[Scott]

Troll post and reply removed.   If you have nothing helpful to post, don't post.  

 

[Crossy]

I'll echo the above comments on lack of a ground. The tickle is caused by the mains filter and is normally shunted to ground, with no connection to ground it finds the shortest path, via you.

 

Check that any power boards really are grounded and that your outlets actually have a ground connection.

 

It doesn't have to be a particularly good ground to fix this problem, if you don't have a garden or metal water pipes even a metal balcony railing will usually do the trick.

 

[cooked]

Thai solution: remove the power plug and turn it round. 

Installing an earth connection is obviously the best solution, but in most houses this means buying new plugs and rewiring. 

[Fruit Trader]

4 hours ago, cooked said:

Thai solution: remove the power plug and turn it round. 

That method mostly works for switch mode power adaptors with a single filter capacitor across isolated circuits back to the mains supply. Switching the plug around moves the filter from live to neutral.

 

Computer power supplies like the common ATX often have filter capacitors on live and neutral supply lines connected to case ground. Changing power plug over will make no difference.

 

In most cases these filters will employ class Y safety capacitors but with so many products using low quality Chinese components  you can never be sure whats between you and live conductors. Even quality safety capacitors have been known to fail short circuit from power supply surges and spikes.

 

Leaving a computer with ATX style power supply without ground is also increasing the chance of damaging other electronics that share ground via computer sockets like USB and HDMI.
 

[Estrada]

Even if you have an earth, the problem is circulating currents on the neutral wire as they do not balance the load on the 3-Phase supply and do not earth the neutral at the transformer. If you are able, get an electrician to bond everything to earth after installing an earth rod.

[Lacessit]

When my son built a desktop here with some Australian-sourced components, he was quite surprised by the charge on the cage. Some hasty re-routes were necessary. I'd agree, a breakdown of insulation somewhere.

[MrScratch]

Thanks to every one for your advice and comments 

 

Well Ive been and looked a bit more at the house electrical wiring and this is what Ive found so far.

 

In the single phase CB board in the lounge there is a large white Earth cable that runs up into the loft area then down some yellow plastic pipe , and out side the house .

 

The out side earth rod that the White Earth cable connects to , seems to be similar to the round metal thats used when making some thing concrete ( rebar ) . I tried to scratch the Earth rod top to see if it showed any sighs of being made of copper , but could not see any copper colour .

 

The White Earth cable attached to the Earth rod seems to be some how soldered to it , rather than having some sort of clamp or screwer connector.

 

The White Earth cable seems to be well fastened to the Earth rod . I am not sure how deep the Earth rod goes into the ground . The earth looks sandy and slightly damp.

 

I'm not sure if its now best to replace the existing Earth rod for a new one , and is there any way I can test to see if the house Earthing  is OK ( I have a digital multimeter ) . 

 

Any suggestion or advice please . 

 

 

 

 

[milwaukeeboy]

It's not fun to get fully zapped. And I have been fully zapped several times over my 23 years in Thailand.

Happy to be alive.

[bankruatsteve]

So, the cable seems to be securely connected to the rod?   (Not obvious in the photo.)

 

You've confirmed that your outlets actually have the earth cable connected?

 

Report voltage between:  L-N, L-E, N-E  (at the CU)

 

Then wait for Crossy.

[MrScratch]

39 minutes ago, bankruatsteve said:

So, the cable seems to be securely connected to the rod?   (Not obvious in the photo.)

 

You've confirmed that your outlets actually have the earth cable connected?

 

Report voltage between:  L-N, L-E, N-E  (at the CU)

 

Then wait for Crossy.

Thanks , sorry yes in the photograph it does not really show it , but when I pulled the White Earth wire connected to the Earth rod , it felt well connected without any movement or play.

 

I Have just taken the voltages at the CB board with my digital multimeter 

 

L-N = 230 V

L-E = 231 V

N-E = 0 V 

 

I have taken the wall socket front plates off and I can see that every wall socket outlet has a white Earth cable connected to it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MrScratch]

10 hours ago, cooked said:

Thai solution: remove the power plug and turn it round. 

Installing an earth connection is obviously the best solution, but in most houses this means buying new plugs and rewiring. 

Thanks 

 

The two computer monitors have original moulded non access 3 pin plugs on them .

 

 

[xtrnuno41]

An earth rod is not just placing it in earth. You need to measure it if the resistance is low enough, otherwise you have false safety. You need special equipment for that, with special way of measuring.

They also show a way with an amp meter, but its not quite safe to do so.

See for instance  

 

They show the three ways

However now you also have clamp on meters with which you measure, it "only" costs starting 200 dollar and way higher up to 1400 dollars.

A copper rod is the best, though i saw in Thailand they are also using cheaper, copper plated rods.

When you use them, they can easily corrode in soil and your safety is gone again.

Copper maybe more expensive but better for your safety

In Thailand you better place them in dry season, as then you have to pile them into the ground until resistance is low enough. On wetter occasion, there is less effort for it, but it should also work in dry season when water is low in soil.

You can end up driving rods, connecting them, 30 ft down, depending on measuring resistance. 

This should be close to 10 ohms or lower, higher is not good. Also the diameter of the rod doesnt have that much effect on resistance, but a second rod, paralele does again however.

[hugocnx]

17 hours ago, tabarin said:

I wish it wasn't me to be the one telling you this. It is not nothing after all but let's keep it short: The matrix is real, welcome to the awakened world.
That buzzy feeling is the beginners level to change to the right frequency and time travel. It might go faster by adding some water to the electronics.

How do you set the time dial? Lost my manual.

[bankruatsteve]

39 minutes ago, MrScratch said:

I have taken the wall socket front plates off and I can see that every wall socket outlet has a white Earth cable connected to it.

Not trying to give you a hard time, but unless you pull the outlet (power off so you don't accidentally grab on to the live screw) it's not that easy to see what is hooked up to what.  What color is used for L?  Color for N?  (Ground is usually green/striped)

 

Your voltage readings indicate a good ground but if your N is also white, you may have to do additional power off testing to make sure N is N and E is E.  ??

[elcaro]

For 500 baht I had 3 earthed wall sockets placed and connected. This included a 160cm rod at the back of the house. One for computer and TV and 2 for kitchen. For about 800 bought a proper socket extension that protect against lightning strikes and gives me 4 more sockets for computer appliances. For about 200 bought the proper 3 pin plugs and cables to replace the two pin ones.

 

No more zapping and added a couple of years extra for the PC. Cpu, you and motherboard are very susceptible to shocks.

 

As a side note it is actually you shocking the computer and the computer shocking you. 

[PerkinsCuthbert]

It is the beginning of Thainess; after several years of this sensation, you will be fully qualified to blame brake failure, sleep while on the job and divine lottery-winning numbers from trees.

[Wirejerker]

Do you have 2 or 3 wires to each wall socket. If you feel confident with your multimeter you should check L-N L-E & N-E at the wall socket


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[CliffH]

37 minutes ago, MrScratch said:

Thanks 

 

The two computer monitors have original moulded non access 3 pin plugs on them .

 

 

Is the appliance metalwork actually connected to earth?  The mains plugs may have an earth pin, but this does not necessarily mean that there is an earth conductor within the cable.  Many appliances are double-insulated, with a high value resistor (several megohms) connected between the metalwork and (hopefully) neutral, effectively 'grounding' the appliance. It's likely that the live-neutral are crossed over at the power sockets.  Personally, if the plug can't be reversed, I wouldn't worry about it. The current flowing through you is just a few microamps.

[toofarnorth]

11 hours ago, cooked said:

Thai solution: remove the power plug and turn it round. 

Installing an earth connection is obviously the best solution, but in most houses this means buying new plugs and rewiring. 

Ah , you have reminded me,  my twin hotplate cooker , if I plug it in one way fine , if I plug it in with the plug turned round I get the tingle from the cooker. Oh and if I sit here and touch the mouse with my electric shaver ..the same.

 

[Fruit Trader]

14 minutes ago, CliffH said:

Personally, if the plug can't be reversed, I wouldn't worry about it. The current flowing through you is just a few microamps.

Bad advice.

[MrScratch]

Ok, so I thought I would try this , unplug the HDMI lead from the external monitor that was connected to my laptop ( and still making my hand tingle ) and use my multimeter set to AC volts , then put one multimeter probe into an Earth connection on a wall socket and the other multimeter probe onto to the metal part of the HDMI plug . this is what I get ????

 

 

[Crossy]

17 minutes ago, MrScratch said:

this is what I get 

 

Yup, that's expected if one end isn't correctly grounded.

 

[khunPer]

19 hours ago, MrScratch said:

Any suggestions or advice most welcome

It seems like typically lack of ground/earth connection, or leak to earth, somewhere in your set-up.