I decided to hook up my trickle charger for a few hours today, (I dont really like to leave it hooked up overnight) and had something weird happen to me. I hooked up the red line to the red (+) terminal on the battery, and the black line (-) to a nice chassis ground on the passenger side. Once I hooked it up and got it going I decided to look around the engine bay. I was resting my arm on the drivers side shock tower when I got a strange tingling/burning sensation in it. At first I thought it was some sand or something, but it turns out that it is the charger. I used my elbow to test other areas in the engine bay (I guess the skin on my hand is too thick to feel the current) and it seems that every ground in the engine bay is hot (has electricity flowing through it into me). I could be wrong, but I dont think that this should be happening. What is wrong? Did I hook it up wrong , or is there some other electrical issue that I am not aware of?

Another thing that might be a contributing factor is that my alternator makes a humming noise when the key is turned to ON. I thought I thought that it might be something wrong with the alternator, so I removed it and had it tested at Advanced. It came back fine, so just for fun I upgraded to a 160 amp unit for better charging and to eliminate it as a problem. When I put the new one in, it made the exact same noise. The only thing that I can think is that somewhere, something is not grounded properly or is wired incorrectly. This something only gets power when the ignition is on, as that is when it makes its electrical hum. It seems that there are 2 issues at work here, they may be interrelated, I dont know. The Alternator hum only occurs when I have the key in the on position, without the engine running. If I disconnect the negative cable from the alternator, the hum stops....

Anyone have any ideas?

 

Why didn't you just hook up your charger to the actual negative battery post?

 

I was under the impression that you are supposed to use a good ground for the negative calbe from the charger. In any event, both locations (battery and ground) result in current being felt elsewhere.

Any ideas about the alternator?

 

Sounds like a switched power wire has chaffed bare on metal somewhere. If your battery doesn't seem to hold a charge too well, that's another indicator of a short.

 

A direct short to ground from positive to a ground would result in blown fuse, or burnt wire. It would be like laying a wrench across terminals of the battery. What seems like is happening is your acting as a ground when you touch the chassis. Somehow there is less resistance in you and power is flowing that way. Thats not normal. You can easily touch both terminals of a automotive batt. without feeling anything. I suspect the charger. Does it have a ground prong on the plug that goes into the wall? Is your floor wet? An easy way to tell would be to disconnect the charger completely and do the same test. If nothing happens, it has more to do with the charger than the cars electrical system.