Electrical/electronic mishaps

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  • Tom41
    Badcaps Veteran
    • Oct 2005
    • 336
    • England

    #1

    Electrical/electronic mishaps

    I thought I'd start this thread, rather like the Computer Stupidities thread, where we can all post bad experiences we've had with electronics or electrical equipment.

    I've had a few shocks from the mains in my time - one time I was fiddling around inside an old dot matrix printer to try and fix it while the power was on. I reached behind to flick the power switch, and touched the fuse instead - making my arm jump away!
    More recently, I was fixing the power switch on my server - it has an old AT PSU. One of the rubber sleeves on the terminals came off, and as I tried to push the switch back into place I touched the live terminal. The shock threw me back about 1 meter!

    Bear in mind we have 240V AC mains here, not 120V like the US - so shocks are much more serious

    Also when doing a modification on an old games console (installing a 50/60hz switch), I pulled the soldering iron to the end of its cord without realising it. The iron jumped back a bit, and instead of touching the plastic handle I touched the hot metal tip and burnt myself! Still got a little scar now, and thinking about it brings back painful memories...
    BTW that's the only time I've ever burnt myself on the soldering iron itself; though I have burnt myself numerous times by touching hot components after soldering.

    If you think this topic is irrelevant or in the wrong forum, feel free to lock or move it.
    You know there's something wrong when you open your PC and it has vented Rubycons...
  • gonzo0815
    Badcaps Legend
    • Feb 2006
    • 1600

    #2
    Re: Electrical/electronic mishaps

    For a few weeks i meesed around with a TV, and shure i messed around like any noob withouth isolation transformer. I wanted to adjust some voltage in it. First bad thing i touched the heasink of the SMPS main switcher, not bad this shock i hade the urgent feeling, that my heart don`t liked that
    Then i wanted to measure one of those voltages, looked at the service manuel and got the point wrong. I wondered, why those blue arcs comming out of the other tip of the DVM I have held against the metal casis.
    Now may DVM did not feature the 1000vAC range anymore
    May be i touched the Focusvoltage, but it was no obvuous for me, that this would be located there, as this TV has another seperate focusboard.

    So noobs keep smart an don´t open TV`s
    Last edited by gonzo0815; 02-07-2007, 03:49 AM.

    Comment

    • Shroomie
      Badcaps Veteran
      • Apr 2006
      • 356

      #3
      Re: Electrical/electronic mishaps

      Shocking Yourself the Shroomie Way™

      Ingredients:

      - One two-prong outlet, American plug, 120v AC
      - One matching extension cord, two prong, three hole (basically a 25 foot outlet adapter), from the Carter administration
      - One also matching two-to-six-plug wall wart adapter (see attached)

      Plug male end of extension cord into wall outlet and one plug (of two) of two-to-six-outlet adapter into female end of extension cord. Assume the second plug of the adapter is NOT live. Grab it. Pull your now-conducting finger away, yelling a senseless, profane phrase*.

      That's it! You've just Shocked Yourself the Shroomie Way™!

      *My phrase of choice was "son of a cunt." Just yell what comes to mind.

      Oh, and this happens to be post 300. What a milestone.
      Attached Files
      You know there's something wrong when you open up a PSU and are glad to find Teapos.
      Why I don't buy cheap cases!

      Comment

      • rkchkr
        Member
        • Apr 2006
        • 27

        #4
        Re: Electrical/electronic mishaps

        I got one for ya......Ages ago I worked as a driller ,drilling the dynamite holes for blasting at stone quarrys. When regular work got slow ,the boss told me he had a job a couple hours away drilling of all things ,fence post holes around a quarry. A few weeks of doing this went by....and one morning after a night of heavy partying I arrived at the job sight to notice that I was going to be getting close to a tower carrying all the power down into the quarry....SEVERAL big wires of which I'm sure carried oodles of high powered juice. No worry....I made a mental note to keep aware and duck the drill boom down under them when i got close. The drill had a 25' boom and the compressor was a 1250 cfm jobber.....you can't find those at Sears. There was a small platform to stand on while "driving" the track drill from hole to hole. As I advanced ahead to the next mark to start the next hole......I felt quite a "sting"....or scrape on my back from some brush that rubbed against me as I drove the drill forward. I stopped the drill and stepped off the platform to investigate....and it felt as though I had twisted my ankle a bit....but no....it just felt that way. After looking the brush over ....expecting to see a big old hawthorn bush....or a rogue stinging insect ,I shrugged it off and proceeded to inch the drill forward to my mark.....BUT. As i stood on the ground and grabbed the control handles for the drill....I got that...."DAMMIT THIS SUX AND I'M NOT SURE I CAN LET GO!!!!!" feeling. Fortunatly I was able to let go....and instantly knew what I had done......looked up.....yup....several of those big wires were now against the boom and stretched tighter'n a banjo string. Then.....IT happened. Fireworks that is...not at the location on the boom where the wires were touching ,but from the tracks on the drill ....and the ground!! Sparks....stones and dirt getting spit away from the tracks as the voltage found it's "path of least resistance". "Fortunatly" there was a pickup truck loaded with about 3' pieces of 2X4 sitting within 50 feet or so of this notable event. I hurredly retrieved one of the 2X4's and used it to leverage the controls and back the drill away from the wires BEFORE something inside the drive mechanism of the drill became welded to itself. After a change of underwear and a moment of silence I got the nerve ,and summoned enough remaining energy to inspect the area of contact where the tracks met the ground. I found in the dirt what appeared to be funnel shaped objects about 2 or 3 inches long that resembled some sort of crude fragile glass! I tried to save a few of them ,but even with the most delicate of handling they all eventually disintegrated......although my memory of that day shall never fade.

        Comment

        • kc8adu
          Super Moderator
          • Nov 2003
          • 8832
          • U.S.A!

          #5
          Re: Electrical/electronic mishaps

          ahhh do it yourself fulgarites!

          Comment

          • kc8adu
            Super Moderator
            • Nov 2003
            • 8832
            • U.S.A!

            #6
            Re: Electrical/electronic mishaps

            2 in one day.
            a customer who is too nosey for his own good kept poking at a ac servo drive i had open doing some tests.
            this thing full wave rectifies 480 3ph and has a huge bank of filter caps.
            whats that red light?as he pokes finger into the chassis.
            finally got him to stay away by telling him the light means you are a crispy dead s.o.b. if you touch the board.
            had another one tonite i had to tell 3 times that he was about to stick his hand on the live side of a 480 3ph disconnect in a grinder.

            Comment

            • pentium
              Badcaps Legend
              • Mar 2006
              • 2778
              • Canada

              #7
              Re: Electrical/electronic mishaps

              I tried killing a lawnmower by pulling it's sparkplug cable.
              Ever notice how after a good shock you shut up and tend to get restless?
              Find Nedry!


              Check the Vending machines!!

              <----Computer says I need more beer.

              Comment

              • gonzo0815
                Badcaps Legend
                • Feb 2006
                • 1600

                #8
                Re: Electrical/electronic mishaps

                Hr hr hr i tried that with a Daimler 190, when the ingnition lock was bad (can`t switch of the engine and it was an automatic gear....)

                Got a severe shock and refused to try it again it, as it was shure very painfull. The owner then summoned all is courage and got the plug out.
                This car has very very strong ingintion system, if i compare it with other cars...

                Comment

                • stretch0069
                  Screwed Up Super Moderator
                  • Oct 2003
                  • 2658
                  • oooo ess aaaaaaaaa

                  #9
                  Re: Electrical/electronic mishaps

                  CHEERS TO 300!!!!! shroomie....good on ya mate

                  my 'shocking' story.......

                  i was in the Corps stationed at MCAS New River. I was the guru for the AFLCS (air field lighting control system). This is a computer that controls all the lighting on the airfield. It also includes a traffic light at the approach end to runway 03. Well.....the traffic light is the responsibility of facility maintenance. The control of which is my responsibility. So...I'm down at the remote control site with a facility maint guy. He says he removed the 220VAC from the light. I checked the lines that SHOULD be connected to the light. Well.....I go to remove the lines and my arms touch the door of the connection panel. BOTH arms go up like I'm doing the funky chicken!!!!! I was like HEY!!! The FacMaint guy says "sorry". HE does his thing and says "its ok now". I go to remove the connection again and....yep....the funky chicken again. At that point, I go into the xfmr room and analyze and remove the power myself.

                  lesson learned????.....never assume the other guy knows what the hell he's doing.


                  "Its all about the boom....."

                  Guns kill people like spoons made Rosie O'Donnell fat.

                  We now return you to your regularly scheduled drinking.

                  "Fear accompanies the possibility of death.....calm shepherds its certainty"

                  Originally posted by Topcat
                  AWD is just training wheels for RWD.

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