Holey moley Electric Shock?

Hey Forum.

This will be one of the more entertaining posts of the day.

In retrospect YES I know I probably shouldnt have done what I did, but hey, I did it so there, please no flames I wont do it again I have learned my lesson!

So. This post is NOT a joke.

I have a problem with my feet that cause me to take footbaths in a small footbath thing filled with water and mineral salts every evening. That small plastic footbath is also attached to the mains to vibrate the feet nicely (ah quel massage yes).

So I sit there, on the velour couch, my feet safely in the foot massager water (very salted water may I add) watching the TV. Its effectively a plastic tub that is touching the wooden ground ONLY with plastic feet. There is no way that this is in any way conductive (or so I thought).

So my MacBook Pro lies on the couch beside me, with the power plugged in. I pick it up put it on my lap (wearing shorts so the MBPro could have touched my skin).

First all is well, I work happily along. Next thing I know about 5 minutes later is I get a rather HEAVY shock vi my Hands (both of them). I mean this was no tingling. It was so damaging that I threw the Mac away from me physically, damaging it in the process (it has a dent now great).

It shocked me again and again until I tossed it.

Now, (feet out of water) all is well again no shocks it seems. Allthough Im ready for 6000 responses telling me Im an idiot for having done this I have a question:

Principally, how can this be? Is it likely the footbath had something to do with it? I mean this isnt exactly the hairdryer falling in the bathtub syndrome, but wow, this was one powerful shock.

Now Im scared to even use my Mac WITHOUT a footbath. Nope I wouldnt use my MBPro in a bathtub, but surely this should have been fine?

NOTHING touched or fell into the footbath. I am 100% sure. The powercord remained attached to the MBPro during the incident.

I am using the Earth on the plug of the MBRpo and everything and Im QUITE SURE this was no 6V shock, more like 220V. I am UNSURE tho if the footbath plug was earthed.

Is there something wrong with my Mac or was I a dumb idiot to work like this during a footbath?

Is it possible that this was a static effect? I say again, this was a NASTY shock, not a "tingling". It made me throw the Mac 2 metres away in fear.

All cables were IN the mac, no cable is damaged, no cable touched the bath, Network was not plugged in. The only cable in the mac was the power at the time.

Any comments folks (apart from: you dumb idiot dont do it again...yes yes I know!)

Thanks,
Janice

MBPro Intel Core 2 Duo, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Oct 1, 2007 12:44 PM

Reply
4 replies

Oct 1, 2007 4:54 PM in response to JNealy

I have been thinking about doing something similar, that would be a nice way to work 🙂 You may want to use the laptop on battery power while dipping your feet in the watery massage goodness.

** You may want to check the ground (Earth?) wiring to make sure that IT is not carrying some current somehow. You know qualified electrician? I wouldn't be surprised if there was something awry in the wiring of the outlet/building/etc. I suppose you have seen the YouTube video of the MBP case making buzzing on the guys speakers?

Tommy

Oct 1, 2007 5:06 PM in response to Matt Hanks

I don't think any piece of electronics should do that. That said, it may be "normal" for the Macbook Pro. There seem to be a ton of systems that have electricity flowing over the case.

Check this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPdtDHjr3QM

Do the "test" with a pair of speakers-preferably powered. Mine does the exact same thing as the Macbook Pro in the video, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'm thinking it may be a basic design flaw.

Let us know if yours has that issue, and also whether yours was grounded at the time this happened. Mine has electricity on the case regardless of whether it's grounded.

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Holey moley Electric Shock?

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