Electronic – line voltage on live line 220v

mains

I need the input from you electro-wizards. I'm in the Philippines, the power is 220v, 60Hz. In most places there is an absence of a ground line.

Lots of people in our area have issues of getting "zapped & bitten" when touching metal parts of table lamps, etc., and even resting on the palmrest of my (aluminum cased) laptop I get the occasional "bite"

To me it is bizarre, but if I connect ONLY the + lead of the voltage tester to the live line I get a power reading , usually between 40 – 60 volts.

I am at loss as to why I get a voltage reading when I connect only to the live line. If I test between the line and neutral I get the expect 230v.

We've ordered up a ground rod and will be driving this in next week to ground the neutral line and another one will be driven into the ground to act as a true electrical ground.

It isn't causing any great problems (yet), but I am trying to figure best how to resolve these issues.

Cheers,
Tim

Best Answer

You get voltage reading because it's AC, so it passes through air as through a capacitor, it means nothing. As for grounding, be careful, don't kill anyone with that neutral wire. Ground the cases and enclosures of your equipment and use earth leakage circuit breaker. Neutral may hold voltage by itself (referenced to earth).

Edit: it's residual current circuit breaker, apparently.