My shocking day

darrell · Post by **darrell** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 11:45 pm

I baught a craftsman volt ohm meter and was checking the bias on my sl-x amp I all ways do the one hand only and lay my wrist on the edge of the chassis, well I was taking the B+ and It got me through the leads insulation all 500 volts..It made a burnt spot on my finger then it blew the fuse in the amp and the meter the meter is toast and will go back to sears tomorrow 5 hours later my hand still tingles..I usually put shrink rap over the leads just for safety reasons But im out.mmmmm note to self get some sheink wrap :>) I do believe If i had not had my rist on the chassis where it would not run through my body it would have hurt me real bad...caugh FLUKE

yngwie308 · Post by **yngwie308** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 12:10 am

Yeah I had a shocking day back in Blighty,when I was working for a data equipment company,testing the power supplys,I had my finger slip on to the solid 13 amp 240 volt AC mains plug out of my on bench Variac.
That is 480 peak cycle,plus the 13 amps hurt thank God it was my right hand,it was like having a gernade go off in your hand,I will always remember and never forget..ouch!!!!
yngwie308

darrell · Post by **darrell** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 12:32 am

I have a blister on my finger

St August · Post by **St August** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 7:43 am

Back when I was in High school I went to a vocational school 3 hours a day when I was a Jr and senior. I took radio and tv repair. I was testing the voltage to the cathode on the CRT with a probe that hooked to the chassis and the other end slipped under the cathode cap on the top of the CRT.. All was well until I threw the switch. BAM 25,000volts will give you a Hell of a Jolt.. I had not realized I had my hand on the chassis and it blew me back about 10 feet.
Never want to do that again

Bad Kitty · Post by **Bad Kitty** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 8:32 am

I was working on an oil frieghter a long time ago and all the power was DC. In the engine room they had a big cage with all the switches on one side of it. I don't remember what kind of juice they had going on back there but it was alot.
One day one of the electricians that was working back there forgot something, I think it was his lunch, and went walking back behind the switchwall after they energized it. It blow his arm off. Literally. Right off his shoulder.
It took me a long time before I got over my fear of electricity.

Mike

miguel · Post by **miguel** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 1:40 pm

darrell wrote:I do believe If i had not had my rist on the chassis where it would not run through my body it would have hurt me real bad

It depends on how well "grounded" the rest of your body was... you may have gotten yourself zapped worse by touching your wrist to the grounded chassis. That is, unless you happened to be standing barefoot on a wet floor.

darrell · Post by **darrell** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 9:49 pm

My right hand had the other lead on ground..It went up my arm to my shoulder.My finger tips still tingle a little..It nock the shit out of me thats for shure..it came trough the test lead this tester is a week old and rated at 600 volt max.. I was tought that electric will follow the shortest path and i figured that hot lead hand and wrist to ground woud be the shortest.. I gues it worked Im still here and the worst went trough to my wrist..I have had my share of getiing into eleictric fences and it wasnt much different. And for those of you who use aluminum foil for your fuses I hope you live through it If i had done this it would of fired my ass off. like i said it blew the amp fuse and the one in the meter..

NY Chief · Post by **NY Chief** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:34 am

As a kid I used to read Hot Rod. One of the trouble shooting"tips" they mentioned was to pull one spark plug wire from the plug while the engine is running and listen for a change in the rhythm of the motor (no change, bad cylinder). I tried it on my first car. Yep, reached in there and grabbed the plug wire....then picked my sorry ass off the floor on the other side of the garage

My arm felt like I got smacked with a base ball bat.

Also had a Boss who reached into a live RADAR cabinet once. Arced from the right elbow to the left elbow and he walked away!

rockstah · Post by **rockstah** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:38 am

NY Chief wrote:As a kid I used to read Hot Rod. One of the trouble shooting"tips" they mentioned was to pull one spark plug wire from the plug while the engine is running and listen for a change in the rhythm of the motor (no change, bad cylinder). I tried it on my first car. Yep, reached in there and grabbed the plug wire....then picked my sorry ass off the floor on the other side of the garage My arm felt like I got smacked with a base ball bat.

as a kid working on cars in my dads shop i used to do this all the time. never had that happen to me before!

NY Chief · Post by **NY Chief** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:44 am

I'm a little gun shy to try it again, Mark!

HIn · Post by **HIn** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 12:00 pm

I wonder if pluging amps into a ground fault plug would provide some sort of safety. I am thinking about putting one on my work bench. Any one have any ideas about this.

Take care
Dan

St August · Post by **St August** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 2:07 pm

not likely the caps wouldnt discharge and if yourplugged in well

HIn · Post by **HIn** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 2:24 pm

St August wrote:not likely the caps wouldnt discharge and if yourplugged in well

You are so right.

Thanks
Dan

JeffG. · Post by **JeffG.** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 12:02 pm

rockstah wrote:
NY Chief wrote:As a kid I used to read Hot Rod. One of the trouble shooting"tips" they mentioned was to pull one spark plug wire from the plug while the engine is running and listen for a change in the rhythm of the motor (no change, bad cylinder). I tried it on my first car. Yep, reached in there and grabbed the plug wire....then picked my sorry ass off the floor on the other side of the garage My arm felt like I got smacked with a base ball bat.

as a kid working on cars in my dads shop i used to do this all the time. never had that happen to me before!

I got my old man that way one time... he had a hold of the distributor somehow and I cranked the truck over. He was bitter LOL

Glass Tornado · Post by **Glass Tornado** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 8:57 pm

me and my dad and his friend were working on my go-kart when i was a kid. he looked at his friend and giggled saying, "hey jake, i'm going to need you to hold this wire while i try to start it." "that wire" being the spark plug wire. i hope his friend got a good laugh

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