Electrocution Poll

[kl7aj]

Tell us your experience!

[n2nh]

220 at 20amps but it was long before I was a ham.

Don't try this at home.

[KC7UP]

Repairing appliances for 20yrs I have encountered a few shocks in my life.
Curt

[KC0KBH]

I have got nailed countless times by outlets. My arm has been numb for hours afterword.

But, I prefer to feel for plugs and jacks around the back of equipment. One day I was working on a defunct Ten Tec PS. I was replacing the fuse, and made the mistake of leaving it on. Well, while feeling around, my finger went in the hole for the fuse. You can guess what happened. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[KB3LIX]

Been "BRACKED" more times than I care to remember !
Good reason to keep one hand in a pocket at ALL times when working on anything above 15-20 volts. Had to learn that the "HARD WAY"
BUT, it was a sincere learning experience.

Even got bracked by my -48 dc telco plant once. Never thought that -48 would feel like that.

Woo Hoo Hooey ! ! !

bill # # KB3LIX

[KC0KBH]

My dad has been zapped by welders numerous times.

[AB8RU]

B & W TV Set the CRT has a charge on it even with the power off I still frogged around as a teen put my elbow to chasis and finger on the CRT, well you know what a capacitor does at discharge ? #got a poke ! .

also got bit while working on a live 120 VAC outlet had to leave the power on while replacing the electrical outlet by the way kids don't do this stuff at home, I think mainly the guys at work wanted to see if I would get a poke or not, besides computers were on line.

[kl7aj]

I need on o' them thar pocket difibrimacators.

eric

[KD4CFL]

277 volts is the worst. It just hurts, and it can make you sick.
I have been knocked down twice while working on light switches.
It blows up real good when you short it out.
I have even seen a coworker jump off of a twelve foot ladder to get away from it.

[K7FE]

I grabbed the link coupling of a tank circuit in a transmitter with 2000 volts on it when I was 16 to adjust it for a frequency change. It knocked me out. I woke up on the floor where I had fallen, away from the transmitter. Had I fallen towards the transmitter, then my brother would be an only child.

Be careful.

73,
Terry, K7FE

[KC2ESD]

Well I'v have had 110Vac go across my hand while working on a video poker machine and it felt like a bug bite. The worst shock of my life was 20,000 volts from a car ignition coil going right across me chest, my heart hurt for a few minutes but I was ok since I was 28 at the time.

[vk3kxw]

Hi how about our mains system here in Australia its 240 AC volts ....really something to play around with #....makes your exit to a new-life much quicker !

73`s Roly

oh no would not like to try ours out at all ! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif

[kl7aj]

Quote[/b] (K7FE @ Feb. 25 2005,23:23)]I grabbed the link coupling of a tank circuit in a transmitter with 2000 volts on it when I was 16 to adjust it for a frequency change. #It knocked me out. #I woke up on the floor where I had fallen, away from the transmitter. #Had I fallen towards the transmitter, then my brother would be an only child.

Be careful.

73,
Terry, K7FE
Hey.. You're revealing your age when you talk about LINK COUPLING, you know! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Ahhh...such fond memories!
\\

Eric

[WA2ZDY]

Had my Globe Scout at the time, and it was cathode keyed. Unbeknownst to the newbie Novice (me) that meant there was B+ on the key. One day I went for the plate switch and key at the same time and ZAP!!!!!!!!!!! The B+ for the 6146 was about 750 volts and I got it all. Fortunately I was a healthy 13 year old at the time.

The stupid thing? I did it more than once. I never lost consciousness, but it sure knocked the bejeezus out of me.

You wanna talk shocks and burns? Try an RF burn - the higher the frequency, the more painful and longer lasting.

[KC0KBH]

My old lawnmower zaps me a lot. One time I was working on it, I started it up, and then purposely knocked the spark plug wire off. I was touching the handle. It started to stop from wide open, and then it started back up again without the plug wire on. It zapped me a good deal before I realized what it was coming from. The weird thing- the mower will run with the plug wire off. A little harder to start, but works fine w/out it on.

My question-
Why sometimes when you get zapped is the part of your body hard to pull away from the thing zapping you?

[KG4RUL]

I am very curious, is this poll an Event or a HamFest??

Dennis http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[w5klb]

I use to work on mobile electric power plants for aircraft. I was working on one that had 115VAC 200 amp 3 phase power and accidently got my probe across two phases. All I seen was a brillantly blue ball of flame and remembering waking up on my sitter seeing spots. I wasn't hurt or anything, it just taught me to pay a little closer attention to what I was doing.

[N0PU]

When I woke up I had a lot more respect for the rules about multiple cycle discharging of capacitors in a Radar Modulator...

[KB3LIX]

Another BRACK in particular stands out,

One day while doing a rebuild of a directional
AM stations phase monitoring system, I was at the base of tower #1, and for whatever reason, I grabbed the copper tubing feeding the base of the tower.

To this day, I do not know why I grabbed it, I knew it was "Hot"

#Brain Phart, I guess.

Talk about an en"LIGHTNING" experience ! ! !

Fortunatly, it was only 1 kW, but it got my attention right quick.

bill # # # KB3LIX # # http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[kl7aj]

Quote[/b] (KB3LIX @ Mar. 08 2005,23:22)]Another BRACK in particular stands out,

One day while doing a rebuild of a directional
AM stations phase monitoring system, I was at the base of tower #1, and for whatever reason, I grabbed the copper tubing feeding the base of the tower.

To this day, I do not know why I grabbed it, I knew it was "Hot"

#Brain Phart, I guess.

Talk about an en"LIGHTNING" experience ! ! !

Fortunatly, it was only 1 kW, but it got my attention right quick.

bill # # # KB3LIX # # http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
Without a doubt R.F. burns at A.M. broadcast frequencies are the most painful of all. I know from experience and charred flesh!

Eric

[KE5CMU]

Installing a fluorescent light bulb (about 3 feet long) in a live circuit. #Stood on a 6 foot ladder and began to guide the pins on both ends into the socket. #Next thing I remember is being on the floor. #120v through both hands is not a good thing. Damn I was dumb back in the day.

[VE1IDX]

I was working on my old Heath DX-60 and was checking the plate voltage.The test lead slipped off the test point and my hand fell into the B+ line.600 volts into the fingers and out the thumb joint of the same hand feels like a thousand bee stings.Then there was the time I was working on a buddies sweep tube amp.I had a similar type and wired the power supply of mine into his to check things out.I still can't figure how the chassis was raised to a negative 200 volts as referanced to ground but I did find out what happens when it does.I fell to the floor and just sat there feeling like I was going to vomit.Never work in the basement on the cement floor in your bare feet when working on tube gear!
Lastley I can relate to those AM broadcast RF burns.I am a broadcast engineer and was called in to assist one of our sister stations that just had an IT guy and no real engineer.I was working on the lighting choke for the tower lights and came into contact with the antenna side of the choke.My finger tips resonated at 960KHz with 10 Kw.That is how I define pain.It took several weeks before the cooked skin healed.RF burns are definately the worst.

[kb1lly]

I've been zapped a couple times by 450vac. Generally this happened when I was tired and in a hurry taking chances. I have also seen someone temporarily blinded by operating contactors without arc chutes in place. A 450 volt short sounds like a shotgun blast.
KB1LLY

[KC0UDT]

Quote[/b] (KC0KBH @ Mar. 03 2005,15:31)]My question-
Why sometimes when you get zapped is the part of your body hard to pull away from the thing zapping you?
Your muscles tighten as they recieve the electrcity.

I ahve been shocked numerous times already in my young life. Discharged 10 20KV caps into me(scary). Had a pluged in CRT get me in the chest (the neck board). Too many 110V zaps from power cords, and several photoflash caps have discharged into me.

There's probably more, and will be more (doing high voltage work).

[M3HTV]

Around 5 years ago, I was helping an electrician friend with a contract to rewire the old church in the next village. Unable to turn off all the power (it get's dark inside English village churches) I just removed the old ceramic fuse from the board and continued to pull through the old cable. WHAM!! It felt like I'd been kicked in the back and thrown backwards over a couple of pews. In the time that I had walked back down the church, my friend had found the fuse on top of the board, saw the empty space on the fuseboard...and you've already guessed the rest!!

If I remove a fuse from the main board now, I ALWAYS carry it in my pocket.

[Ka0zjo]

Me and my idiot brother-in law were on a construction job and we had no power to a unit we needed power in. I saw the empty meter base with two slots that I figured a wire should work just fine to make a bridge.
A huge blue flash and I remember my idiot brother-in-law saying to me "Bobby, you alive?" over my near dead carcuss flat on the cement.
I saw a big orange dot for a while in my eyeballs and I really should not ever call my brother-in-law an idiot as I now realize I was more one than he.

[VE1IDX]

Quote[/b] (Ka0zjo @ April 09 2005,10:25)]I saw a big orange dot for a while in my eyeballs and I really should not ever call my brother-in-law an idiot as I now realize I was more one than he.
I think you owe him an apology for calling HIM the idiot. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[nm5tf]

400KV @ 5KA...Marx Pulse Generator mis-fired into open load
resistor...near-field voltage knocked co-worker off his feet & arced to my metal sunglass frames....saw stars for a couple of minutes...co-worker taken to Hospital as precaution; was OK afterwards... http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[kl7aj]

Quote[/b] (wa6oml @ April 13 2005,09:43)]400KV @ 5KA...Marx Pulse Generator mis-fired into open load
resistor...near-field voltage knocked co-worker off his feet & arced to my metal sunglass frames....saw stars for a couple of minutes...co-worker taken to Hospital as precaution; was OK afterwards... http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
I don't see stars...usually it's purple banana-shaped objects.

eric