40Volts. Safe to touch?

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Safe is a relative term... Household current is 'safe', unless you stick your fingers in the outlet, or take a bath with it. Don't be careless with electronics, there are worse things then a little shock that can happen.
 
I'm confused now. All this talk about safe voltage. I was always taught that it was the current that killed/injured you, not the voltage?

E=I*R.. so voltage determines how much current flow for a given resistance. everyones body has different resistance within certain limits so you can kind of determine a range of voltages that will produce a harmful current in the body
 
It's the current that kills you, but you need enough voltage to drive the current through you. A low voltage source capable of delivering a million amps won't do anything since there is not enough voltage to drive that current past your skin resistance. Also, a high voltage, low current source like static electricity won't do much either since although it can drive the current, there's no current to drive!
 
Don't test with your finger, use a meter. Although... Even though I bought a meter that reads temperature, seldom dig out the probe to check and see if components are hot. Got a nasty burn off an LM317T...
 
Gaston said:
we call that "jerry" rigged over here. or something that would offend some people so i won't mention it here
I think that's a derivative of the real term "jury rigged" from the days where both prosecuting and defense teams tried to skew a jury panel in each of their favor.
 
HiTech said:
I think that's a derivative of the real term "jury rigged" from the days where both prosecuting and defense teams tried to skew a jury panel in each of their favor.

yes!.. I used to use that slang term.. but I've moved on.. now I use terms like:

Hacked
Hack job
Mod
Rats Nest
Spaghetti
Kludge

 
HarveyH42 said:
I think its a term soldiers used describe bombs and traps left by the japanese in WWII...
In Australia, "jerry" was used in WWII as slang for German.

Hence jerry can (a can for holding petrol (gasoline in the US)) and jerry built - something badly built.

These terms are still used these days but not as frequently.
 
The British safety standards say the absolute maximum voltage you can allow the user to touch in dry areas is 60VDC or 25VAC.
 
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