Dumbest 'electronic' mistake you ever made

[zx8401]

Re: Dumbest 'electronic' mistake you ever made

They heard "Switch it on" and flicked the switch..... I remember doing a funny kinda dance

Im so sorry newtothis but i could not stop laughing, a funny kinda dance, sorry lol

[zx8401]

Re: Dumbest 'electronic' mistake you ever made

" I remember doing a funny kinda dance "

lol im so sorry but i could not stop laughing, imagination is so bad

[goontron]

Re: Dumbest 'electronic' mistake you ever made

So yeah, I didn't cause this (LOL), but I thought this is the best place to post this, so here goes:
Yesterday we had some power issues at school. Bathroom (that sucks, LOL) and some stairway lights didn't work. No tripped circuit breakers! We checked the incoming 3 phase supply. A to N = 119V, C to N = 122V, B to N = 7V!!!! Ruh-roh!
We went into the boiler room, which is separate from the electrical room (though, there are sub-panels in the boiler room). As soon as we opened the door, a bad burning smell hit us. One of the circulator pumps runs on 3 phase, and it didn't like being run on 2 phases!!! It was smoking! We quickly shut it off and it took quite a while to stop smoking.
There are no other 3 phase motors in the building besides the fans for the A/C system and it's compressor(s). We made sure everyone knew not to turn them on, lol.
An AC powered clock shows that the B phase failure happened at around 2:40 AM (If I recall correctly, lol). We called PSE&G (Public Service Electric and Gas) and they came out. A pole down the street had the B phase cutout blown. They opened a manhole cover, where some splices were (for the 13.8kV feeder lines) and there was water in there. Splices looked fine, according to the workers. They did pump out the water just to be sure. Well, here is the fun part. They put in a new fuse, to see if there was still a fault. Yep, there was, and it blew. DAMN! Quite a bang, and a flash of light from the bottom of the cutout! They sure put a good amount of explosives in those things! :P
So, it turns out, that the fault was actually on the pole. It was in the shroud that covers the HV wires, which are going to the bottom of the pole, and into the underground conduit that feeds the building.
Oh, and there are 3 underground transformers in a vault, each is 100kVa. Just thought you might want to know.
I might see if I can get the circulator motor when they replace it, and take a look to see how cooked it is inside. Then I'll just recycle it, or give it to the local motor repair shop, if they want to rewind it and sell it to someone else. I also think we should get some sort of protection contactor for the new motor, to prevent this from happening in the future, if we do loose a phase at some point in time. Those motors aren't cheap!

we lost a phase at my HS and we lost the elevator, 3 phase circulatiors, cooling tower fan motors, 3 phase server PSU.... all of them burned up. yep, expensive.

[ben7]

Re: Dumbest 'electronic' mistake you ever made

You might need to get to a dentist Ben.

So yeah, I didn't cause this (LOL), but I thought this is the best place to post this, so here goes:
Yesterday we had some power issues at school. Bathroom (that sucks, LOL) and some stairway lights didn't work. No tripped circuit breakers! We checked the incoming 3 phase supply. A to N = 119V, C to N = 122V, B to N = 7V!!!! Ruh-roh!
We went into the boiler room, which is separate from the electrical room (though, there are sub-panels in the boiler room). As soon as we opened the door, a bad burning smell hit us. One of the circulator pumps runs on 3 phase, and it didn't like being run on 2 phases!!! It was smoking! We quickly shut it off and it took quite a while to stop smoking.
There are no other 3 phase motors in the building besides the fans for the A/C system and it's compressor(s). We made sure everyone knew not to turn them on, lol.
An AC powered clock shows that the B phase failure happened at around 2:40 AM (If I recall correctly, lol). We called PSE&G (Public Service Electric and Gas) and they came out. A pole down the street had the B phase cutout blown. They opened a manhole cover, where some splices were (for the 13.8kV feeder lines) and there was water in there. Splices looked fine, according to the workers. They did pump out the water just to be sure. Well, here is the fun part. They put in a new fuse, to see if there was still a fault. Yep, there was, and it blew. DAMN! Quite a bang, and a flash of light from the bottom of the cutout! They sure put a good amount of explosives in those things! :P
So, it turns out, that the fault was actually on the pole. It was in the shroud that covers the HV wires, which are going to the bottom of the pole, and into the underground conduit that feeds the building.
Oh, and there are 3 underground transformers in a vault, each is 100kVa. Just thought you might want to know.
I might see if I can get the circulator motor when they replace it, and take a look to see how cooked it is inside. Then I'll just recycle it, or give it to the local motor repair shop, if they want to rewind it and sell it to someone else. I also think we should get some sort of protection contactor for the new motor, to prevent this from happening in the future, if we do loose a phase at some point in time. Those motors aren't cheap!

[rhomanski]

Re: Dumbest 'electronic' mistake you ever made

You might need to get to a dentist Ben.

[ben7]

Re: Dumbest 'electronic' mistake you ever made

Ever had a Rulycon blow up?

Nope. I've found bad ones but never had one blow in my presence. What, do they have an interesting smell? xD

... snip...

[TechGeek]

Re: Dumbest 'electronic' mistake you ever made

[TechGeek]

Re: Dumbest 'electronic' mistake you ever made

Yeah, popped caps can really stink. It's interesting though, all the brands seem to have a different stink xD

Ever had a Rulycon blow up?

[ben7]

Re: Dumbest 'electronic' mistake you ever made

Yeah, popped caps can really stink. It's interesting though, all the brands seem to have a different stink xD

[TechGeek]

Re: Dumbest 'electronic' mistake you ever made

putting 9 caps on the output VRM on a Dell GX280 all backwards. 9 pops i a row very quickly

At least it didn't run and cook anything else.

[Uranium-235]

Re: Dumbest 'electronic' mistake you ever made

putting 9 caps on the output VRM on a Dell GX280 all backwards. 9 pops i a row very quickly

[goontron]

Re: Dumbest 'electronic' mistake you ever made

Lets see, dumbest. . . I was 8 or 9, decided I needed to know what would happen if I put a hanger across the pins of a lamp plug before plugging it in. Hanger welded itself to the plug prongs. Luckily I didn't get electrocuted, and circuit breaker tripped before anything really bad happened.

One time I put my hand on a heat sink to feel if it was warm, got a nice 200+ volt DC shock.

Latest dumb thing, put a Panny FM 2200UF 16V cap in backwards. "pop-fissssss" scared the shit outta me when I hit the power switch. Cloud of magic smoke streamed into the air through the PSU air vents. Smelt like a skunk fucked a garlic clove.

[LLLlllou]

Re: Dumbest 'electronic' mistake you ever made

Lets see, dumbest. . . I was 8 or 9, decided I needed to know what would happen if I put a hanger across the pins of a lamp plug before plugging it in. Hanger welded itself to the plug prongs. Luckily I didn't get electrocuted, and circuit breaker tripped before anything really bad happened.

One time I put my hand on a heat sink to feel if it was warm, got a nice 200+ volt DC shock.

Latest dumb thing, put a Panny FM 2200UF 16V cap in backwards. "pop-fissssss" scared the shit outta me when I hit the power switch. Cloud of magic smoke streamed into the air through the PSU air vents. Smelt like a skunk fucked a garlic clove.

[TechGeek]

Re: Dumbest 'electronic' mistake you ever made

A while back, I was around a live electrical socket w/o a cover for the hole in the wall. I think I was poking around in there and I heard BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT. How I didn't get zapped, I have not a clue.

[newtothis]

Re: Dumbest 'electronic' mistake you ever made

Well I have had my fair share of mishaps... I started young with electric... to the age of 3 when my mom said I went very quiet for 2 minutes.... After investigating what I was doing she noticed I had a screwdriver in my hand... and the front AND backbox of a plug socket off the wall... How I didn't get fried I have no idea lol.... My luck did not continue though!..

Multiple times I have picked up a power board after testing and shorted my fingers across the PFC caps! LOL Many little burns from those.

Tested a broken plug socket with my DMM to make sure there was no power after switched the fuse off for (Counter plugs).... DMM says no power.... Unscrew the cables and fit new backbox... go to wire the front on and BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! DMM was faulty and Fukin thing was live.... HA

Making the mistake of asking for help from someone that doesn't listen properly..... Was working on a HPS light ballast and asked someone to switch the unit on WHEN I said so.... They heard "Switch it on" and flicked the switch..... I remember doing a funny kinda dance with my hands gripped tight to the unit before all my muscles locked up on me... friend turned off the power and I instantly let go of the 4KG ballast dropping it on my foot breaking 2 bones!

[TechGeek]

Re: Dumbest 'electronic' mistake you ever made

And blew some some rare as fuck 50yr old zenith speakers...

Too bad they fried. Can you find replacements?

[goontron]

Re: Dumbest 'electronic' mistake you ever made

I read that. It popped@5:00 in the morning, scaring the *bad word* out of you.

And blew some some rare as fuck 50yr old zenith speakers...

[TechGeek]

Re: Dumbest 'electronic' mistake you ever made

most recent was leaving a 40yr old POS Soundesigns receiver plugged in overnight..

I read that. It popped@5:00 in the morning, scaring the *bad word* out of you.

[goontron]

Re: Dumbest 'electronic' mistake you ever made

most recent was leaving a 40yr old POS Soundesigns receiver running overnight..

[TechGeek]

Re: Dumbest 'electronic' mistake you ever made

It wasn't really anything, but something that wasn't smart. I was taking apart an Acer Aspire One D150, and I was removing the keyboard tray, and I forgot to unplug the power button, and tore the ribbon cable right off of the power button. While trying to fix it, I almost fried the netbook and made smoke come out of the button. I got lucky there.