Got bitten tonight

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tvtech

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Too many wires lying around here. Too much experimentation. Too much beer. All at the same time.

220VAC found me. I should know better. Good belt across my heart and the Earth Leakage tripped. So frigging easy to become complacent with stuff. So easy.

Unreal. Last time that happened to me was maybe 20 Years ago...sure TV's can shock..but nowhere near like raw Mains.
Got belted deluxe....still don't know what caused it though

Worrying. Thank God the Earth Leakage did it's job....
 
Glad to hear you survived.

I've been bit by 220VAC once. I still recall the burnt hair on my arm and the smell of hair and ozone. It was 40+ years ago. Knocked me down a flight of stairs too.

Stay safe!
 
Glad to hear you're ok tvtech. I've been bitten by mains more times than I care to remember, though thankfully around here it's only 120v. Never tripped the breaker though, just felt like a vibrating numbness in my hand and arm.

Then we get to Tesla coil stuff, 100kv on the fingertips isn't very fun. At least it's low current
 
Tesla would be so proud... Defib paddles a nice touch .

tvtech, very glad you survived but, you're LL (lectric license) is temporarily suspended until further notice.
 
I got taken out as a kid - was only about 12 or 13 and put two fingers across a terminal strip in an old record player thinking it was the amplifier audio input.

I wasn't quite expecting the level of "hum" I received .......
 
Thanks guys....it was a little wake up call for me. Cleaned up and made things orderly again

Regards,
tv
 
I am getting too used to 240v belts.... My father ( electrician all his working life ) could actually hold it!!! He used to test for neg / pos by touching the live cables.... The worst bites are when you aren't expecting them...
 
Ian Rogers said:
He used to test for neg / pos by touching the live cables....
Click to expand...

Hi Ian

This is AC though...no neg/pos....

You are correct though where you say "The worst bites are when you aren't expecting them..."

Innocently tootling along and 220VAC found ME.....


Regards,
tv
 
Last edited:
Ian Rogers said:
I am getting too used to 240v belts.... My father ( electrician all his working life ) could actually hold it!!! He used to test for neg / pos by touching the live cables.... The worst bites are when you aren't expecting them...
Click to expand...

I still 'test' (in the absence of any equipment) by rubbing the back of my finger on anything I suspect might be live - it's it's live then it feels 'rough' as you rub it - and because it's the back of your finger you can't 'grab' it
 
Nigel Goodwin said:
I still 'test' (in the absence of any equipment) by rubbing the back of my finger on anything I suspect might be live - it's it's live then it feels 'rough' as you rub it - and because it's the back of your finger you can't 'grab' it
Click to expand...

Thanks Nigel

Good tip. My problem was that I had too many wires connected to stuff....testing things. I totally forgot that there was 220VAC in the mix. Never even entered my mind that I need to be careful. I had a blonde moment. And got belted.

Good wake up call for me though that always tries to preach safety and stuff.

Fixed today with some cleaning/tidying up. Won't happen again.

Regards,
tv
 
Haha, happens to me every so often as a wake up call, "never get too complacent". But its never been too bad, just makes me kinda on edge for the next few hours.

Never had one of those where it makes you grab the wire and not let go...still waiting for my turn with that experience.
 
I was in my teens working outside, shoeless, shirtless, shorts laying on the ground and operating a sander doing body work on the car with a bad commercial extension cord with a rectangular cross section. e.g.The 14 AWG wires in parallel molded together. Sorta, like trailer wiring ribbon cable, but thicker.

I caught the frayed end between my toes and could not let go and no one was home but me. No GFCI back then. So, the best thing I could do was to consciously SCREAM. That DIVERTED nerver impulses, so I could free myself. 120 VAC.

So now, the entire porch (source of some outside power) and the front yard receptacle have GFCI's. The kitchen and bath don't yet. A hair dryer that's used in the bathroom has a bulit-in GFCI. The house stall has fuses, but no pennys.

I won't do that again. Working on 13 kV DC systems at 1.5 A and 100 kV DC systems at 0.1 A and 1000 W tube transmitters leaves NO ROOM for error.
 
Current code requires them, but older houses are grandfathered unless major renovations are done. See https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...=UhOglqnSYefQ9l73qR8kug&bvm=bv.92189499,d.cWc

and

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...=onBIMVHnMJU994qRG5G70w&bvm=bv.92189499,d.cWc

and

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...=y2VmJhAjRBYMyGMV0X5g7g&bvm=bv.92189499,d.cWc

They now make combination GFCI's and AFCI's (Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter). The latter looks for a arc signature like from worn cords etc and will turn off the power based on that.
 
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