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Thread: Ouch...

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
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    Melbourne, Australia
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    678

    Default Ouch...

    I just got zapped about 5 or 6 times, within 5 minutes.

    Setting up a laser show for my family.. a dodgy powerboard that I had plugged the gear into i assume mustn't have had a good earth in it. So all the casing of all the gear was a little bit "live". My arm still feels a bit wierd, and i got all these wierd spasm things happening in my muscles now and then. Hmm, that might just be because I haven't had any rooties today though....

    1. aijii unscrews locking screws on ilda cable. tingle. ouch?
    2. aijii picks up usb cable and touches shield. ZAP. ouch wtf?!
    3. aijii brushes past smoke machine. tingle zap. oww fuck man!
    4. etc etc..

    Point is... be careful when you kiddies are playing with mains power. it fucking hurts to touch it.
    Now proudly stocking and offering the best deals on laser-wave

    www.lasershowparts.com
    http://stores.ebay.com.au/Lasershow-Parts

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
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    Charleston, SC
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    Default

    Damn... I know it isn't funny, but I laughed anyway. Of course, here in the US we only have 110 volts on most of our outlets. You're running 220 though, right Aijii? Zap!

    I've been bit a few times, and you're right. It hurts! It scares the hell out of me too. (I'm a bit jumpy anyway, especially when it comes to electricity.)

    Glad to hear you're OK though. Did you find the fault in the powerboard, or did you just throw the whole thing out?

    Adam

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Norway
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    Default

    ouch..

    Y have been zapped sometimes from the 220Volt .. and that stick in my finger..
    But I have also been zapped from one of my 35.000volt HID trafo and that is realy painful..


    But I wost first worried that you was zapped by your laser like I was
    And I think that is more risky then the shock from the power... (if you dont die of if)

    Play safe, stay safe, be alive remember to ground all wires corectly, and use googles !!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
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    North West England
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    Default

    Most people learn by their mistakes, but 5 times :lol: :lol: :lol:

    Jim

  5. #5
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    Oct 2005
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    Default

    No, I haven't gone back in the garage yet.

    Lol and yes, 5 times. I'm a sucker for punishment. Actually, I was just trying to work out what was causing the earth leakage.... couldn't be fagged getting my multimeter out so it was easier just to use the back of my hand.

    Now proudly stocking and offering the best deals on laser-wave

    www.lasershowparts.com
    http://stores.ebay.com.au/Lasershow-Parts

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
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    denver,co
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    Default

    I have seen something similar before. If you are using a cheap power strip and it has leaky mov's and a poor earth connection you can get the results you found. The mov's are usually connected to the line and neutral and then to ground. If the ground is bad an the mov's are leaking it will put a current on the ground. I have run into this many times in night clubs trying to track down audible ground loops.

    Any way, just something to look at..

    Chad

  7. #7
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    You know, sometimes it takes a few shocks before you realize that something is wrong....

    Once, I was working on a PC. I shut the thing off, and was reaching inside the case to change some jumpers. Suddenly, I felt a mild shock! I knew it was off, and I was nowhere near the power supply, but it freaked me out nonetheless. So I yanked the power cord out of the wall.

    Started poking around again, and sure enough, I got zapped a second time! Yow! What the hell??? This can't be! I thought it was a muscle spasm or something, but when I stuck my hand back in there it kept happening...

    Turns out that I still had the phone line conencted to the PCI modem card. (This was a long time ago, before the glorious days of broadband.) Yep, you guessed it. The transformer on the modem card had some exposed prongs on the top that were connected to the phone line. When I brushed up against them, I got zapped with the 60+ something volts that are always present on the line. (Good thing it wasn't ringing at the time, or the voltage would have been near 90 volts!)

    I never even considered getting shocked by a telephone line! But my hands were sweaty, and the modem card was right in the way. I unplugged the line and pulled the modem out, and from then on I was fine.

    Sheesh!

    Adam

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Buffo
    I never even considered getting shocked by a telephone line! But my hands were sweaty, and the modem card was right in the way. I unplugged the line and pulled the modem out, and from then on I was fine.
    I've twice been zapped by a phone line. Both times while stripping back insulation on a cord that i had forgotten was plugged in.

    Now the fun part - BOTH times I was using my teeth to strip the cables.

    Yep. Zapped in the mouth.

    Yum.
    Now proudly stocking and offering the best deals on laser-wave

    www.lasershowparts.com
    http://stores.ebay.com.au/Lasershow-Parts

  9. #9
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    Oh shit!!!!!

    That is too damn funny! Well, it's really not funny, but... Damn!

    Ok - confession time. I, too, was once shocked IN THE MOUTH when I tried to strip a wire with my teeth. I, too, had forgotten that it was plugged in. Scared the SHIT out of me. (Can't get much better conductive path than to stick the wire in your mouth, right?) Sheesh, what an idiot I was.

    Nice to know I'm not alone though, Aijii! (It's those momentary lapses of judgement that will get you every time...)

    Ok - one more "shocking" story and then I'm done. Once, I was building a DC power supply. Only problem was that I wired up the transformer backwards, so that instead of taking line voltage (110 volts) and knocking it down to around 6.3 volts, it stepped it up to around 1900 volts! Of course, this high voltage blew straight through the full-wave bridge rectifier, so I had high voltage AC at the output terminals of what was supposed to be a 9 volt DC power supply.

    I poked around with my multimeter, but of course I couldn't get a reading. (It was set to DC) So now I'm holding the damn thing in my hands, poking and prodding at the connections with my fingers. (Hey, it's DC right? What's the danger?)

    All of the sudden, *ZAP*! I got the *shit* shocked out of me. I convulsed for several seconds before *throwing* the whole damn assembly against the wall, where it embedded itself in the sheetrock. My wife came running in from the kitchen to ask what was wrong, and I was so freaked out I couldn't even answer her right away. But when I did finally find my voice, I let loose a stream of profanity that would make any sailor proud. (After all, I was a submariner at the time!)

    Took me all of 30 seconds to figure out where I screwed up. After a quick re-wiring on the transformer (and a trip to Radio Shack to buy a new rectifier) I was back in business. But I learned my lesson that day! (Never trust electricity...)

    Over all, I've been shocked a lot more than I would like. This is one reason why I'm so chicken-shit around power supplies. I don't want to get nailed again.

    Adam

  10. #10
    Join Date
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    Belgium
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by aijii
    Quote Originally Posted by Buffo
    I never even considered getting shocked by a telephone line! But my hands were sweaty, and the modem card was right in the way. I unplugged the line and pulled the modem out, and from then on I was fine.
    I've twice been zapped by a phone line. Both times while stripping back insulation on a cord that i had forgotten was plugged in.

    Now the fun part - BOTH times I was using my teeth to strip the cables.

    Yep. Zapped in the mouth.

    Yum.
    I know the feeling

    I once was installing electricity together with my father. I was standing in the basement on a step just in front of some stripped wires. Then the light went off.
    Hmm. Which jumper off the two that were of was it? One was for the light in the basement, the other for the wires in front of me.
    My father tried the first one and I licked my lips at the same time... Holy shit!

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