BCD gave me an electric shock....

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Ministryofgiraffes

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So, i’m in the Red Sea today and after my morning dive the guys on the dock remove my tank from my BCD whilst it’s still on my back and I then take my BCD off and lay it onto the back of the little golf buggy/wagon whilst I pick up my shades. When I go back over to my BCD and go to pick it up I get a small sustained electric shock from it into my fingertips ( I would say as strong as licking a big domestic battery) but fingers not tongues.....immediately I think:

A) Crap, is this pain a signal of being bent?
B) Crap, is this pain a signal of an embolism?
C) Crap, is the BCD touching something on the buggy that is carrying a charge and I’m getting electrocuted?

I’m diving with a dude who happens to be a senior instructor and he furrows his brow, goes to pick up my BCD and comments ‘HOLY CRAP’ that is charged...’I have never seen that!’ We gage a sec and the charge reduces/disappears over a couple of mins and we turn off the buggy etc. Move the BCD and there is nothing but wood touching it, no metal at all... the only thing I had in it with charge was my dive flashlight which was functioning perfectly and touching no metal on the BCD...

Any ideas? No one at the dive shop had seen this before and I don’t think they would have believed me if we both didn’t feel it....
 
electrical short in the dock?
 
If the charge has gradually faded over a couple of minutes could it be static?
Im not sure how it will charge itself like so but its an option you should consider.
 
Here's a guess:

Sounds like the wet BCD passed along a rogue current from the dock/buggy. A dripping wet BCD could get the wood wet enough to conduct electricity.

Workable theory?
Cameron
 
I guess so..an electric short is the most likely explanation, although I’m now concerned I didn’t make enough of a fuss about it and someone is going the get a real shock in the next couple of days. There is a light on the dock, so cables run and the golf buggies are electric.

Where the hell is Quincey when you need him...
 
I think you are saying your BCD and cylinder were on an electrically powered golf cart for transport. If so, that sounds like the most likely source.
If your light was shorting and rapidly discharged, you would probably have noticed the heat and maybe even some damage once you went to recharge it or change the batteries.
 
"Sounds like the wet BCD passed along a rogue current from the dock/buggy. A dripping wet BCD could get the wood wet enough to conduct electricity."
Absolutely. A salt-water wet BCD will be a good conductor. This means the buggy was probably plugged in and there was a ground fault, energizing the entire frame of the buggy including whatever the BCD was attached to. Your wet body or wet feet probably completed the circuit down to the damp dock, and you were dry enough to get lucky and not get a lethal shock.
Wiring around saltwater docks is infamous for problems. If the facility operator is not extremely concerned and responsive--leave. Any "civilized" wiring done in the past 30? years will have a ground fault interrupt or other device that shuts off the power to an outlet before a ground fault like that can even be FELT. In the US, that's a $5-10 device and you have to be incredibly numb, inept, or stupid cheap not to install them.
 
Question would be was it a burning sensation like a DC voltage or a buzzing sensation like an AC voltage?
 
Question would be was it a burning sensation like a DC voltage or a buzzing sensation like an AC voltage?

An excellent question. Spoken like a man who has spent too much time sticking his fingers where they arguably don't belong I presume.

Cameron
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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