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Sources & emitters

Bedroom wiring AC electric field

Live conductors in walls and in lamp flex create a power-frequency electric field that couples to the body whether or not any current flows; building biology grades below 1 V/m with ground reference as 'no anomaly'.

elf electrichome

Last verified 12 August 2026.

Also searched as: body voltage, AC electric field bedroom

Category
elf electric
Emission bands
Power frequency and harmonics
Environments
home
Duty cycle
Continuous — the field exists whenever the circuit is energised, even with everything switched off.

Field strength by distance

30 cm — electric field strength
1–50 V/mMeasured range — SBM-2024 bands with ground reference: <1 V/m no anomaly, 1–5 weak, 5–50 strong, >50 extreme. Without ground reference the bands are <0.3 / 0.3–1.5 / 1.5–10 / >10 V/m.sources: sbm-2024
30 cm — body voltage
10–1,000 mVMeasured range — SBM-2024 body-voltage bands with ground reference: <10 mV no anomaly, 10–100 weak, 100–1000 strong, >1000 extreme. Readings depend entirely on the grounding method used, so protocol must be identical to compare.sources: sbm-2024

Mitigations, most effective first

Unplug bedside lamps and chargers at the socket, not just at the switch.
Removes the nearest energised conductor, usually the largest single contribution at the pillow.
Fit a demand switch (Netzfreischalter) on the bedroom lighting circuit.
De-energises the circuit when no load is drawing, eliminating the field for the whole night.
Use shielded cable or grounded shielding paint on the wall behind the bed head where rewiring is impractical.
Grounded conductive surfaces block power-frequency electric fields effectively — unlike magnetic fields.

Measure with

  • AC electric field meter
  • Body-voltage measurement kit

Related records

  • Building Biology SBM-2024 AC electric field bands

    Sleeping-area grades with ground reference: below 1 V/m no anomaly, 1–5 weak, 5–50 strong, above 50 V/m extreme; body voltage below 10 mV is 'no anomaly'.

    Exposure limits

  • Body-voltage measurement

    The building-biology method for grading a sleeping area's AC electric field: a high-impedance millivoltmeter, a hand electrode, and a documented ground reference.

    Measurement protocols

  • Body voltage

    Millivolts induced on a person by nearby power-frequency electric fields, measured against a ground reference; the metric building biologists use to judge bedroom wiring.

    Quantities & units

Sources

  1. sbm-2024 Building Biology Evaluation Guidelines for Sleeping Areas (SBM-2024) — Institut für Baubiologie + Nachhaltigkeit (IBN), 2024. ngo, link checked 2026-08-12.

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