Charging Shock Experienced With Home Charger

[MachEdad]

We had an electrician wire the 220V plug for the Ford Mustang Mach E charging in our garage. This is a separate garage from the house. Things were fine for three months. Today my daughter was shocked while plugging in the car. She said she plugged it in and it was not charging and there was on orange light instead of the blue light. She went to check the plug to the wall and was shocked. She said it was painful in her arm.

My question is does anyone have any ideas what it could be? Is there a problem with the plug wiring, the charger or the car? Should we have the car and charger checked at the dealer. Thanks for your help.

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[AlpaChino]

Turn off your breaker to that circuit immediately and call a different electrician for a full safety check. Do not call a buddy or friend, or the cheapest general contractor you can find. Please call a real electrician so no one gets hurt.

 

[timbop]

It is definitely not the car, but could be the outlet or the portable charger. Can you confirm that the foot long pigtail that goes into the mobile charger was plugged all the way in? When she got shocked, exactly what was she touching? Also, make sure you shut the breaker off before plugging and unplugging the mobile charger into the outlet. If she was removing or replugging in the charger while the breaker was on that could definitely cause a shock if she wasn't careful where her fingers were. If the breaker is on it can arc easily.

 

[MachEdad]

It is definitely not the car, but could be the outlet or the portable charger. Can you confirm that the foot long pigtail that goes into the mobile charger was plugged all the way in? When she got shocked, exactly what was she touching? Also, make sure you shut the breaker off before plugging and unplugging the mobile charger into the outlet. If she was removing or replugging in the charger while the breaker was on that could definitely cause a shock if she wasn't careful where her fingers were. If the breaker is on it can arc easily.

After checking the forums and talking to her, I think the not having the foot long pigtail well plugged in is the first thing to check. We will inspect with the breakers off to the garage power.
Thanks for good and prompt response.

 

[Mach1E]

Turn off your breaker to that circuit immediately and call a different electrician for a full safety check. Do not call a buddy or friend, or the cheapest general contractor you can find. Please call a real electrician so no one gets hurt.

^^

Don’t F with 220!!

110 hurts, 220 kills. Be safe!

 

[DevSecOps]

I'm not doubting your claim and I would normally immediately recommend what others have said and call an electrician, but since this is 3rd hand and because you are listed as being in California (cold dry climate in the winter) I'm gonna ask... Are you sure it wasn't static shock?

Second question would be what charger is it and what plug type or hardwire? Since you said it was while she was plugging it in I'm a bit confused by that because there's nothing in the handles that would conduct electricity and the charge cable isn't energized until it's communicated with the car. A claim of shock would make more sense once charging on an improperly grounded system. Additionally, a fault light (orange) would not keep the system energized.

Lastly did the electrician know what he was doing? If they hooked up 2 x 110's and a Neutral then it could be energizing the body of the car as the body of the car acts as a return path (such as a standard 10-30). EV chargers must be 2 x 110s and an earth ground, no exceptions. I think this is unlikely because if she would have been hit with 220 she would have been knocked on her rear.

Edit: I missed the "plug to wall" part of the original post. Leaving the message as is but largely irrelevant now.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Did she accidentally touch the 14-50 plug prongs while messing with the wall plug? It's easy for your fingers to slip, go too far, and touch the prongs if you're not careful. Especially if she's trying to pull it out, its tempting to reach around the edge for a better grip and touch the live prongs on the sides before it's completely disconnected.

Kids should never insert or remove a NEMA 14-50 plug IMO, too dangerous. Breaker should be switched off before operating the plug if you're not completely confident in your ability to avoid touching the prongs.

 

[Jimrpa]

^^

Don’t F with 220!!

110 hurts, 220 kills. Be safe!

Slight correction - CURRENT kills. Check out the voltage generated by a Van de Graf generator sometime

 

[RedStallion]

Yeah, touching 220v is no fun, experienced it several times myself. Perhaps there was water somewhere on the plug, maybe around prongs and she might have touched that.

 

[RickMachE]

Great reason to install a hardwired unit, or ensure that you have an industrial receptacle, not a cheap one.

 

[BadgerGreg]

When you had the outlet installed, did the electrician pull a permit and, if so, was the wiring inspected prior to turning on the circuit? When I had my system wired for EV charging, I went through the whole process (permit + inspection). I'm glad I did, because the inspector noticed something the contractor didn't do correctly (at the meter box!!) and I had to have them back to correct it.

My main concern is the distance to your garage from the house...did they use the correct wire gauge and did they bury/protect it appropriately?

 

[MachEdad]

After checking the forums and talking to her, I think the not having the foot long pigtail well plugged in is the first thing to check. We will inspect with the breakers off to the garage power.
Thanks for good and prompt response.

Hi Folks,

I wanted to give you a conclusion to this story and thank everyone for their concern and help.

My daughter powered off the garage outlet and found that if she really pushed on the charger pig tail cord, it snapped in further. She turned the power on and now the charger is working fine.
Here are some learnings from this.

1) 22OV is very powerful. If your charger is flashing warning lights, DO NOT go and start pushing in plugs with the power on. Read the manual about the warning lights. Do all your handling with the power off to the plug
2) When it is NOT plugged in, check that the pigtail cord for your charger is all the way pushed in. Push it in hard to the charger. Be careful if you try and run the cable far and don't pull on this connection.

I hope this information will help keep all Mach E owners safe. FYI. Her arm is feeling better.

Luis

 

[BadgerGreg]

I hope this information will help keep all Mach E owners safe. FYI. Her arm is feeling better.

Luis

Glad your daughter is ok! The pigtail issue is something a lot of owners have had a hard time with; that's a design issue that Ford should address quickly.

 

[Maquis]

This is why garage receptacle outlets are required to be GFCI protected by code.

^^

Don’t F with 220!!

110 hurts, 220 kills. Be safe!

The only way to receive a shock at full 240V would be to touch both hot wires. While that’s not impossible, most shocks are experienced hot to ground, which is 120V regardless of whether it’s a 120 or 240V circuit.

 

[timbop]

Hi Folks,

I wanted to give you a conclusion to this story and thank everyone for their concern and help.

My daughter powered off the garage outlet and found that if she really pushed on the charger pig tail cord, it snapped in further. She turned the power on and now the charger is working fine.
Here are some learnings from this.

1) 22OV is very powerful. If your charger is flashing warning lights, DO NOT go and start pushing in plugs with the power on. Read the manual about the warning lights. Do all your handling with the power off to the plug
2) When it is NOT plugged in, check that the pigtail cord for your charger is all the way pushed in. Push it in hard to the charger. Be careful if you try and run the cable far and don't pull on this connection.

I hope this information will help keep all Mach E owners safe. FYI. Her arm is feeling better.

Luis

I've been hit with 220V before (when I was living in Germany). It will definitely get your attention

Glad your daughter is ok! The pigtail issue is something a lot of owners have had a hard time with; that's a design issue that Ford should address quickly.

The pigtail didn't cause the shock, though. The pigtail caused the error, but she probably touched one of the hot leads by accident while unplugging/replugging to get shocked

This is why garage receptacle outlets are required to be GFCI protected by code.



The only way to receive a shock at full 240V would be to touch both hot wires. While that’s not impossible, most shocks are experienced hot to ground, which is 120V regardless of whether it’s a 120 or 240V circuit.

Yes, that is true. 120 will get your attention, too

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