i wouldnt really call this a disaster mod but it happened while i was modding a plasma globe for my comp. i was trying to remove the insulation on the spark cable because it was too short, it was too thick to do with my wire stripper so i used my all steel pocket knife. i only realized that it was still plugged in after testing and turned on when 12,000 volts went surging through my hand. THAT REALLY HURTS!! but what made it all worse was it happened again the next day.....
tis true if enough elctiricct flows through you just die in a somouldering pile of burning flesh, but i digress. Sucks about the 12k shock, mr fuse.
not enough current in a plasma globe to do that. You would need probably ~500 mA or better to actualy throw a person. The plasma globe was probably a few mA. (talking HV here not low voltage like <500v) Ive had a relay driving a car ignition coil with a ~200uf cap making nice sparks and got buzzed a few times. Not that bad for ~20-50,000v since it was not at high current. If I were dumping a 10,000uf cap into the coil it would have probably nailed me good. However I did jump when I shorted at photo-flash cap with a tip of a pencil in english class last year. I was messing around with the carcass of a disposable camera and wanted to discharge the cap. (the flash wouldn't take it down all the way) so I figured (wrong) pencil lead is fairly resistive, so I could use that to bleed the cap. I short the leads, and a nice sharp crack comes from it, I jump back (according to the teacher, with very wide eyes) but that was from the unexpected "bang"
Been there done that, i used that to scare people, then some one picked it up while it was charged and discharged it with his fingers, that was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO funny.
Mains has more than enough power to throw a man especially if you're crouched and it earths through your feet. I achieved almost 15 feet last time that happened Damn my rock hard thighs
yah it doesnt have much amprage but it still hurt like h***, but i do have to admit, i did start breathing pretty hard. the strange part is, it didnt even leave a mark.....i still feel stupid ....and oh yah, the thing you did with the camera flash, in 8th grade i collected 10 of those and wired them all together.(turned it into a taser like thing later) now that was loud and powerful....
There's no other way for me to put this... you're a friggen idiot. I mean I've seen our school's IT guy hot-swap RAM (albeit unintentionally) but the first rule of electricity is to unplug the thing before operating on it... Like trying to see if a light bulb socket is live with your thumb instead of a light bulb...
true but you need the voltage to move the current so it's kinda like a hand in hand, mind you if that globe was at 12000V and had a cureent like 3-4 amps, now thats deadly.
That is why electricians use lock-out tags on panels. Someone else may energize something you are working on. Even locked-out equipment must be tested before touching it. I have had panels that were locked out and still live.. they were miswired, and not labeled properly. The rule is it takes 2 seconds to either check it out...or yell call an ambulance Glad you are still here
Before anyone comments on my stupidity for what I am about to reveal. Please note that I am a much older (implied wiser - I hope). When I was about 8 or so, one morning while watching Saturday morning cartoons I was bored. I'm a natural chewer - pencils, pens, Chuppa chup sticks have all been decimated by me. Not looking what I was doing I picked up the nearst thing and started to chew. Turns out what I had picked up was a live extension cord. I chewed through the outer insulation then the wires inside. It felt like my head exploded. It knocked me on my ar$e. I had black teeth and melted plastic in my mouth for some time. I have been told that the only thing that saved me was by (accidentally) chewing the earth wire first. (I'm no electronics genius so I don't know the validity of this). Yes it was dumb. You can all laugh at me now. I don't chew extension leads anymore but have had other minor shocks since.
At work once I took 12,000 volts from a UL short tester right through both hands and across my chest (and heart). It knocked me back onto the floor because of the current that it uses, whereas everything related to modding will be low current. I went to the hospital and they said that i should have been dead, and i definately would have if i had been shocked for another 500ms or so. It took a chunk out of the tip of my thumb, kinda like a crater almost
The worst ive had is one of a switch in an off an old at psu. And failing that multiple shocks of sparkplugs testing our jet boat engine. Dad asks me to hold the plug (while plugged in) against the engine. Done it quite a bit, (every time we have igntion problems), and only got 5 shocks in 3 ish years. Also lost the hairs on a bit of my forearm, butr that was my fault, i should'v got my arms away from the top of the carby b4 dad started it, and id just bn using ether. But i think 12000 volts would hurt, i think thats another reason im scared of working with my ccfl's while they plugged in.
