Electric shock when exiting car

**roleary** · 12-04-2006, 01:53 AM

for some reason i've only started to notice this recently. Whenever I'm in the car, I can feel quite a bit of static electricity between myself and the car seats (cloth). I can really feel my hairs standing on end. Then, when I get out of the car, once I touch the ground and grab my door ZAP!. Shock EVERY time.

So, question is... what did I do wrong that is causing this? I don't seem to notice any other electrical problems with my car.

Thanks.

- O

**psyrex** · 12-04-2006, 01:55 AM

Maybe the air is more dry in the winter and thus it's easier for you to build up static electricity?

**2k1Toaster** · 12-04-2006, 02:02 AM

Did you ground your pc through your seats grounding bolt improperly?

Meaning the ground isn't directly getting to the chassis, it has goop and paint inbetween it.

Also, I get shocked everytime too. But this was even before I put the CarPC in. Just when you move around on the seat, you built up some static!

**tigergibb** · 12-04-2006, 06:47 AM

i haven't even put a carpc in yet and i get shocked every time too. my last car was leather, so i didn't have a problem. this is my first winter in this truck with cloth seats, so i guess i'll just get used to it.

**parksgm** · 12-04-2006, 09:58 AM

Originally Posted by tigergibb

i haven't even put a carpc in yet and i get shocked every time too. my last car was leather, so i didn't have a problem. this is my first winter in this truck with cloth seats, so i guess i'll just get used to it.

Yep...get used to it. Winter air and cloth seats = shocking exterior! Interestingly, some tires make a big difference as well...I remember that some of the more fuel efficient cars using very narrow, hard rubber tires and some city busses have factory installed grounding straps that touch/brush the pavement to provide a ground for the car's chassis to prevent this situation.

But consider yourself lucky...I used an inverter with my first install that was not well designed, and allowed a ~20V AC current to flow between the computer case/ground and the car chassis...including the ground on things like the audio cables from the computer. I first began to suspect something was wrong when I noticed a distinct tingling in my arm with the audio cable plug in my hand, and my arm resting on my aluminum shift knob (chassis ground). So, I got out my trusty multimeter and took a reading: 20V AC curent! Good thing it wasn't more than a 20V leak.