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  • Author Author: tonyboubady
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The First Contact

I just remembered when I was first contacted with HIGH VOLTAGE from grid... I was in 7th grade, my age was 12 or something, i just wanted to experiment electromagnetic concept using nail, copper and battery which taught in school subject, it was successful and electromagnet was working, but, my little me was so curious to make more powerful magnet in the world...So my idea was connecting the copper wires into wall plug and I am too cautious about safety so i was thinking using stereo player wire plug (which got 2 pin on one end for wall plug and another end got 2 female pin connecter(holes)) was safe... i just plugged the one end of the copper into one hole and another end to second one, i was still holding the nail...i switched on the plug and BOOOM, I FELT THE FIRST CONTACT... it was fraction of a second and copper wires were in loose contact so it got disconnected...and I was safe, My parents didn't know this till now... image

 

So tell me when was your SHOCKING moment of the FIRST CONTACT of HIGH VOLTAGE...

 

Please tell me your age of FIRST CONTACT...

 

DISCLAIMER: I don't encourage anyone to attempt this once in their life time, this poll is intend to expose the caution, professional guide and safety to work with HIGH VOLTAGE.

Parents

  • Pain is such an effective teacher.  I learned about hot chassis in high school when I attempted to convert an old black and white TV into a computer monitor.  I wired a coupling circuit into the video amplifier, then mounted a UHF connector (the only connector I had available) on the side of the TV chassis with one side connected to the metal chassis as a ground reference.  In those days some TV chassis were connected directly to mains AC.  I did not know this at the time.  As soon as I connected my home brew S-100 computer video output to the  UHF connector I received a powerful shock, made sparks, and smoke too.  Also blew up the video card in my computer.  I learned a lot that day.

     

    That same year I was trying to impress a girl by showing her that capacitors held a charge after power was removed.  The capacitor I was pointing to was charged to 300 VDC.  Like an idiot, I touched the terminals to prove there was a charge in the capacitor.  300 VDC hurts when you touch it.  What hurts more is the gash you get on the back of your hand as you reflexively jerk your hand away and slice it open on a sharp chassis edge.  The girl was not impressed with my knowledge of capacitors, but she sure did laugh a lot.

Comment

  • Pain is such an effective teacher.  I learned about hot chassis in high school when I attempted to convert an old black and white TV into a computer monitor.  I wired a coupling circuit into the video amplifier, then mounted a UHF connector (the only connector I had available) on the side of the TV chassis with one side connected to the metal chassis as a ground reference.  In those days some TV chassis were connected directly to mains AC.  I did not know this at the time.  As soon as I connected my home brew S-100 computer video output to the  UHF connector I received a powerful shock, made sparks, and smoke too.  Also blew up the video card in my computer.  I learned a lot that day.

     

    That same year I was trying to impress a girl by showing her that capacitors held a charge after power was removed.  The capacitor I was pointing to was charged to 300 VDC.  Like an idiot, I touched the terminals to prove there was a charge in the capacitor.  300 VDC hurts when you touch it.  What hurts more is the gash you get on the back of your hand as you reflexively jerk your hand away and slice it open on a sharp chassis edge.  The girl was not impressed with my knowledge of capacitors, but she sure did laugh a lot.

Children
  • in reply to Instructorman

    Mark Archibald wrote:

     

    I learned about hot chassis . . . . . . . . . . . .  old black and white TV . . . . . . . . . . . .  I received a powerful shock . . . . . . . . . . . . I learned a lot that day.

    Done that - sort of, just without the smoke and destruction.

     

    Didn't know about Live / Hot chassis in old TVs, had a burning carbon resistor going to a big ole' TO-3 transistor - could have just checked the current thru the transistor to see if it was high, instead I opted to feel the transistor to see if it was hot (physically, not electrically).

     

    Being a sensible soul I wetted my finger with saliva, don't want to burn it you know, and touched the case of the tranny, you know, the collector . . .

     

    You can guess the rest, UK Mains smarts a wee bit!