Dave Liquorice wrote:

I was assuming that it was indeed a genuine earth-gone-live fault (and
would Pete have received such a shock otherwise?).

Capacitive coupling is well capable of giving you quite a tingle but
nothing like a belt from the mains. Has Pete ever had a direct contact
shock from the mains? If he hasn't he might think "quite a tingle" is the
mains.

IIRC this was also a hand to hand shock. If it was direct mains, I'd
expect him to have reported numbness/tingling down both arms for several
hours afterwards and achey elbow and shoulder joints. Those are certainly
the after effects I've had after picking up the mains. Fortunately all
belts so far have been confined to across a small distance say a finger or
side of hand. The worst was hand to elbow.

I've had a couple, but one of the nastiest wasn't actually mains, but
450V. I was working in a factory that made meters (moving coil meters,
in my case), and got it from hand to hand, right across my chest.

Apart from the shock itself, which I felt go right through my heart, my
whole body felt as though it had been wrung out like a cloth for hours
afterwards.

Daniele
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