Shocking News

[fmc351]

Originally Posted by rodderz

Clontarf, I remember there were a heap of us back in year 8 or so at school thought it would be fun to shove steel wool and wire into the powerpoints at the back of the room, goes without saying the teachers weren't real chuffed about it. Luckily I was too wuss to push the power button though

*coughwooden rulercough*. Black marks the wall and power point. Can start a fire though.

[Professor Farnsworth]

DOC, not undermining the serious situation you experienced and all, but that was amusingly put. I had the back off my TV last year when a very, VERY local lighting strike outside our house took it out, along with my digital tuner and about 4 other apliances in the house (including a computer). Damn that was the loudest noise i have EVER experienced. Anyway, my cousin came over as he fixes tv's for a living, has done since he was a kid. My TV was only about a year old at the time, Pana 76cm w/s CRT. He replaced a few bits and had it going again in a few days. He's a gun. If you want his details let me know, he does things very cheaply too!

[normxb]

If I remember right , an old TV Tech told me the tube cable runs about 11,000 volts , & the "Caps" hold that charge for quite a while .

I've had a couple of "jolts" while fixing guitar amps when I had the music shop (some old amps had huge Caps) , and you've got to be "lucky" . If you cop a jolt "before your heart beats" it can stop it , but if it's AFTER the beat it will "give it a boost" . After one jolt I copped (must have been "after the beat") , man , I could have taken on Mike Tyson , felt great for ages, but I don't recommend it .

I'm very cautious these days , if I've got something electrical open , I've always got the power lead "in my hand" , even when I'm changing Angle Grinder discs or bit's in the drill (had a mate cut his hand to bits with a chuck key , bumped the trigger)

Be Careful ,mate.........."Power Bites"

Norm

[LTDHO]

Anyone who knows anything about TV's know they hold charge. Hence the warnings all over the back of them. Electricity is a unseen, un heard, un smelt killer and is best left to those who know what they are doing.
It takes under an amp to kill you and appliance use up to 10, that's 100 time more than what can kill.

[Yellow_Festiva]

Hey we have some sparkies here it seems, or people who know electronics.....

I've a question thats bugging me for a while, my computer case "steel tower style" feels funny when i run my finders along the side of it..... i cant explain it, it feels like its charged, hmmm i cant explain it more than that, compute works fine however... a few computers have done this... you run the tips of your fingers along the side of the box or tower, and, well it doesnt feel like you would assume... is this a short within the box ya think???

Cheers

[XR Martin]

Got zapped by a tig welder once, touched the filler rod on the electrode which allowed it to earth through my finger, despite the thick gloves I was wearing.

[nobbystang]

Originally Posted by stockel

Anyone else copped mains?

Close. Reaching in behind bed to unplug cord from power board. Couldn't get it out so gave final reach and hand slipped under plug. Not sure if i touched metal but i had this horrible buzz shoot up my arm, scared the crap out of me!!

[DOC]

Originally Posted by mrcrackers

DOC, not undermining the serious situation you experienced and all, but that was amusingly put.

He's a gun. If you want his details let me know, he does things very cheaply too!

I hoped in the funny side it would make people remember the story and never touch these bad boys, And yes all the warnings were there, but thinking this was all turned off what harm could i do, it read WARNING LIVE POWER.

Thanks for the offer for the repair but this puppy will hit the bin,( or if cheap to repair may do so and give away ) I have 5 more TV's now but will save up for a really nice plasma. Funny thing is TV's are not important, theres usually crap on them and it got me thinking that if your life revolves around dropping down each night in front of the box like a muppet then its a sad life ( in most cases )

[4.9 EF Futura]

Originally Posted by stockel

Anyone else copped mains?

Yep.

When i was a kid, just being stupid, didnt know much about the ways of the world... basically cut the wire to a lamp and jammed the exposed wires into my hand.

Probably my earliest memory actually... dont forget that in a hurry!!

[XR06T]

Originally Posted by clontarf_x

I have, in my infinite curiousity I plugged some bent wire into the top two sockets in a 3-point wall socket, and thought "I wonder what it will do when I turn it on"

Needless to say my arm felt pretty funky for a while after that and the wire became superheated and has burnt a permanent mark into my finger.

Never again

haha did exactly that in my yr11 accounting class..
pretty big bang sound, wire is instantly red hot..
yanked it out with the ol finger and i got a perminant scar too hahaha.
made a nice melted mess outta the power point

didn't seem to short anything else in the room out though? thought that was strange??

lives and learns, even if its only just on the living part!

Originally Posted by stockel

Anyone else copped mains?

I've copped mains. Was 14 at the time trying to put a light in the garage roof. Wired up the bulb holder, put in the bulb, went to the fusebox and switched it on. Came back inside and thought there should be a glowing bulb... It wasn't on so I climbed up again and thought hey that connection looks a bit loose. Got hold of the insulations between my index and middle finger, and tried to push it in, slipped and got mains through my body. Think of the 50hz buzz that you get from some appliances, my body felt like it was jolting like a worm in that rhythm. I was thrown from the ladder about 3 metres back from it, from almost ceiling height onto the garage floor.

Pretty scary thing to happen to me.

[SVR73]

Wow doc your a lucky boy
VHS video recorders I have no problem working on but I'll never touch a TV
Too risky. Probably stored some voltage. It's an interesting experience being given a jump start. I've got some big jolts in my younger days on our farm. Really hurts for a little while but then you seem to have alot more energy soon afterwards

[stockel]

Wow guys a lot of you seem to have found creative ways to electrocute yourselves... I was thinking it would be people working in the area more that would have been shocked however most of you just seem to have been a little too curious for your own good...

Someone was asking about the computer case, you could be imagining it as your description is a bit vague or it could be a bit of static or it is possible but for the computer case I would say highly unlikely that it is slightly leaky i.e grounding showing some small resistance due to any number of things (usually the cause mechanical in nature).

[goXF]

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

Hey we have some sparkies here it seems, or people who know electronics.....

I've a question thats bugging me for a while, my computer case "steel tower style" feels funny when i run my finders along the side of it..... i cant explain it, it feels like its charged, hmmm i cant explain it more than that, compute works fine however... a few computers have done this... you run the tips of your fingers along the side of the box or tower, and, well it doesnt feel like you would assume... is this a short within the box ya think???

Cheers

Never come across it on a computer case before, but quite often you can feel a small tingle when you touch the metal case of a double insulated appliance. Like a VCR or DVD player. The metal case is not 'true earth' and sometimes you can get a small current leakage from the case onto you when you touch it. - feels strange and can be surprising but nothing to worry about.

Try this: if you have a vcr, go and unplug the antenna input from it and while holding the metal part of the antenna plug, touch the metal case of your vcr..... I assure you its safe........

[Hunter]

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

Hey we have some sparkies here it seems, or people who know electronics.....

I've a question thats bugging me for a while, my computer case "steel tower style" feels funny when i run my finders along the side of it..... i cant explain it, it feels like its charged, hmmm i cant explain it more than that, compute works fine however... a few computers have done this... you run the tips of your fingers along the side of the box or tower, and, well it doesnt feel like you would assume... is this a short within the box ya think???

Cheers

Sounds like an earth leak - your PSU may not be earthing properly. But that being said, I know the feeling you speak of and I can feel it on all sorts of devices - my brand new amp does it, my mates $3000 amp does it, our lamp does it and god heaps of things! EDIT: Bah beaten hehe.

I've copped mains once or twice before. First was from some dodgy nightlight, second was from a dodgy old XT PSU (the kind that had the mains toggle switch protruding through the case and out the side). Its a wierd feeling, everything tingles... then it hurts like a mf afterwards.

[goXF]

Originally Posted by stockel

Can i say again.... please you really shouldn't be doing this kind of work unless you know what you are doing and even then as someone already mentioned that doesn't always count for much in some instances.

Yes, electronics technicians, even though they may know what they are doing...still have their fair share of jolts... well at least i do.

One small lapse of concentration and BANG!

Most of my zaps have been from charged primary power supply caps but i have had the occasional mains shock.

Not long ago an experienced Tv tech (40years) from where i work touched something inside a big old TV and could not let go... he had to walk away from the bench so he could pull the power cord out of the socket.... and then the tv had a mighty fall to the ground, followed by a mighty implosion of the tube....

[Van D]

My mate stuck his hand in a 300 watt tube bass amp and got a fair kick from it.. Ive learnt not to touch the inside of mine now, lol.

[FordFan86]

I actually remember zapping myself once (apart from the countless times with the gas heater ignitions that mates used to pull out of unfinished houses).
Bout 6 months ago, go toilet, wash hands, don't dry hands.. flick light switch (4switches on one pad, hit 2 of em)... ZAP, "oohhh that felt kinda funky"... *touches it again*... "ZAP!".. 'ok, I remember mum telling me NOT to touch things with wet hands.. I don't want 240 volts down me' *proceeds to dry hands and avoids touching that switch*
EDIT: I think I did it 3 times before giving up...

[gtfpv]

thats no good to hear DOC. a word of caution next time you fill up your car you better discharge your left side on the CHASSIS 1st.

here one for ya . i sat on a 500 KW BRAND NEW ELECTRIC MOTOR AMATURE. it had never been inside a motor yet . apparantly they holod a charge from testing or something. high amps and low voltage i think . anyhow it discharged through my arrse cheeks . very very draining of energy indeed.

[Hunter]

Originally Posted by gtfpv

thats no good to hear DOC. a word of caution next time you fill up your car you better discharge your left side on the CHASSIS 1st.

here one for ya . i sat on a 500 KW BRAND NEW ELECTRIC MOTOR AMATURE. it had never been inside a motor yet . apparantly they holod a charge from testing or something. high amps and low voltage i think . anyhow it discharged through my arrse cheeks . very very draining of energy indeed.

Hehe sorry I shouldn't laugh but that's funny!

Way back when I had my Gemini, I had a little incident with electricity during the process of re-installing the EGR pipe (after cleaning it out and putting thread sealant on the threads). Basically the EGR pipe runs from the right-hand side of the motor around to the left-hand side (from the exhaust on right, around the back of the motor and up underneath the inake on the left). On the back of the motor, of course, is the starter motor. Said pipe falls down onto said starter motor and shorts the positive terminal to the chassis or block and BANG. Blew a hole in the stainless steel piping. After that I removed it and plugged the EGR holes up it:

[chief]

Dam DOC that is not good.

I have copped mains a few times. Not a fun thing. Working around lighting systems for theaters, there is alot of power. Lucky I havn't got the zap from that or I would be toast.

Also got a zap from an electric fence. Then was told that if you have wet hands the water acts as an insulator (what we all know is false). I was very young. I did it and couldn't feel my left hand.

[fmc351]

Originally Posted by chief

Dam DOC that is not good.

I have copped mains a few times. Not a fun thing. Working around lighting systems for theaters, there is alot of power. Lucky I havn't got the zap from that or I would be toast.

Also got a zap from an electric fence. Then was told that if you have wet hands the water acts as an insulator (what we all know is false). I was very young. I did it and couldn't feel my left hand.

Fences are good fun. Especially if you can get someone near it. Touch em and grab the fence. Oh yeah thats funny.

[Falcon_Phill]

Ive only been shocked twice. Once, sitting on 2 different tracks on a railway, and the other fiddling with a spark plug on my XP when it was running. Im not sure what the shock from the spark plug would have been, gave my arm a bit of a jolt though.

Does anyone know how much that would have been?

[MITCHAY]

I copped a shock when I went to change a broken xmas light bulb with the power on!

Also I work with developing photos and you will be suprised at the shock a disposable camera will give you. It is pretty painful with just a charge from a AA or AAA battery.

[Ford_V8]

Originally Posted by Falcon_Phill

Ive only been shocked twice. Once, sitting on 2 different tracks on a railway, and the other fiddling with a spark plug on my XP when it was running. Im not sure what the shock from the spark plug would have been, gave my arm a bit of a jolt though.

Does anyone know how much that would have been?

Spark plugs need about 10000-20000 volts for the spark to jump the gap.

[GK]

10 years ago, I was "fixing" an old Kambrook desklamp, the type with the small flouro. Anyway a wire looked kinda loose and I wiggled it, heard a little crackle and then.......bam!

Next thing, I woke up on the other side of the room. Not sure how long I was out. Nanna upstairs was calling out to me. I staggered up to her, she said the noise was like the sound of a wardrobe falling over!

I'm glad to be here. The good bloke upstairs was looking after me! From what I've read on this thread, most of you guys as well! LOL!

Now I'm very careful with anything to do with electricity.

GK