Shock from Oscilloscope ground clips

What else are you touching? - if nothing then it's YOU that's charged up, with static electricity, and you're discharging to ground vis the scope ground.

Either that or the scope itself (or the power outlet its running from) is not properly grounded and there is some slight leakage?

hmm.......could it be that the house is not properly grounded? i think it is the neutral line that is to be grounded in civilian homes.

Let's ask the question– what kind of scope is it? And what kind of power cord does it have?

it is a digital storage oscilloscope UTD2102CEX and the power cord has 3 terminals

The neutral line is grounded at the source substation or transformer, but that should be just as well isolated from appliance metalwork as live.
The ground pin is the safety ground.

Can you check for continuity between the scope probe ground and power plug ground pin (without it being plugged in to a power socket)?

If there is no continuity, either the scope has a "ground isolation" jumper disconnected or the power cable / scope have have a serious problem.

If it does have continuity, the problem is either in the power outlet or the general house wiring.

rjenkinsgb said:

The neutral line is grounded at the source substation or transformer, but that should be just as well isolated from appliance metalwork as live.
The ground pin is the safety ground.

Can you check for continuity between the scope probe ground and power plug ground pin (without it being plugged in to a power socket)?

If there is no continuity, either the scope has a "ground isolation" jumper disconnected or the power cable / scope have have a serious problem.

If it does have continuity, the problem is either in the power outlet or the general house wiring.

Click to expand...

there is continuity between scope probe ground and the neutral pin of the power cord(three pins) as shown in image.

is there then a way to check the power outlets or house wiring?how serious is this situation?

Measuring AC voltage between round ground pin and the taller rectangular slot at the oitlet should be close zero. Measuring between the round ground pin and the shorter slot should be close to 120v. Measuring between the two rectangular slots should also be close to 120 volts.

Use caution making these measurements. The test leads will be live. Don't touch the metal parts or allow the metal parts to contact other objects.

I had that problem a couple of days ago. It turned out that the ground pin of the AC outlet that the scope was plugged into was not connected to earth. Moved to another plug and it is no longer painful to use the scope.

okbro said:

there is continuity between scope probe ground and the neutral pin of the power cord(three pins) as shown in image.

Click to expand...

To avoid confusion: The flat blades on the plug are live (aka line) and neutral.

The round pin is earth/ground.

okbro said:

there is continuity between scope probe ground and the neutral pin of the power cord(three pins) as shown in image.
View attachment 137303
is there then a way to check the power outlets or house wiring?how serious is this situation?

Click to expand...

Your profile says that you're in India. I would not have expected the American plug that you have shown.

You should get a lead that plugs directly into the wall socket, without an adaptor, because some adaptors don't connect the earth wire. What type of sockets have you got?

I would expect a round pin socket and you should use a lead like this:-

If your oscilloscope was delivered with a lead that has an American plug, and the IEC socket in your picture, you should use a different lead if you don't have American sockets.

One way to check the power outlets is to measure the voltage between all of the pins. You should measure:-

Live to Neutral:- between 220 and 250 Vac
Line to Earth:- between 220 and 250 Vac
Neutral to Earth: less than 2 Vac