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Close-calls or accidents with HV?

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Alex M

Tue Nov 01 2011, 04:25AM

Registered Member #3943 Joined: Sun Jun 12 2011, 05:24PM
Location: The Shire, UK
Posts: 552

Hi, Just though I would start this thread for people to share their close-call experiences or accidents with high voltage projects such as getting shocked ect.

My first time getting shocked with high voltage involved a 330v 120uF photoflash capacitor when I first started messing around with electronics. I was attempting to make a homemade camera stun gun by following one of those youtube how-to videos but did not know that taking the battery out did not mean that the capacitor would be safe to touch.

Wow was I wrong. I made contact with both hands, one finger on each terminal which meant the capacitor was being directly discharged across my chest. It was very painful and left me feeling numb, shaking and a distinct burning smell coming from my fingers where they had made contact.

Although it did not stop me from trying again the next day and successfully finishing my first project, I learnt to respect electricity that day and now I always take the necessary precautions to ensure safety and I have not been shocked since (well apart from when my brother jumped me with my current limited HV shocker, though it was far less painful than that capacitor).

So please do share your story's/experiences!

Legit_bacon

Tue Nov 01 2011, 06:55AM

Registered Member #4034 Joined: Thu Jul 28 2011, 10:41PM
Location: somewhere in the Southern hemisphere
Posts: 138

Photo flashes are nothing, once half willingly touched a 400V 1000uf cap bank on my first coilgun, fell over and didnt paticlularly want to move for the next 5 mins. id eveluated it would be safe enough if i thouched with one arm. Photo flashes do give you quite a shock though. Im interested what a hf arc from a zvs will fell like though i dont think i want to :s

Experimentonomen

Tue Nov 01 2011, 01:10PM

Registered Member #941 Joined: Sun Aug 05 2007, 10:09AM
Location: in a swedish junk pile
Posts: 497

30kV from one hand to the other, was a hell of a bang which left black spots that lasted for 2 week.

Adam Munich

Tue Nov 01 2011, 01:18PM

Registered Member #2893 Joined: Tue Jun 01 2010, 09:25PM
Location: Cali-forn. i. a.
Posts: 2242

75kV from a CW through the arms. Didn't feel like doing anything for a few days.

Mads Barnkob

Tue Nov 01 2011, 01:37PM

Registered Member #1403 Joined: Tue Mar 18 2008, 06:05PM
Location: Denmark, Odense C
Posts: 1968

If you look around the forum, there is already plenty of these thread

f.ex. one that you replied in...

Tue Nov 01 2011, 02:00PM

Registered Member #4146 Joined: Tue Oct 18 2011, 02:01AM
Location: Wisconsin, U.S.A
Posts: 56

About 15 years ago i was demonstrating a MOT for some friends and made the mistake of no chicken stick and using both hands and took it across the chest sounded like a shotgun going off right next to both ears and tossed me like 15 feet. Loudest thing i ever heard even though my friends didn't hear a thing. Definitly learned a lesson that day.

Fraggle

Tue Nov 01 2011, 09:01PM

Registered Member #1526 Joined: Mon Jun 09 2008, 12:56AM
Location: UK
Posts: 216

@HB

That is very difficult to believe - are you sure you didn`t just get nipped through some capacitance somewhere or something, or off the mains? I can hardly believe you`re alive!

Alex M

Tue Nov 01 2011, 09:05PM

Registered Member #3943 Joined: Sun Jun 12 2011, 05:24PM
Location: The Shire, UK
Posts: 552

Fraggle wrote ...

That is very difficult to believe - are you sure you didn`t just get nipped through some capacitance somewhere or something, or off the mains? I can hardly believe you`re alive!

No, this was a simple battery operated disposable camera circuit that I got a shock from. It was the capacitor I got shocked from as I was trying to wrap some wire around the terminals at the time.

Tetris

Tue Nov 01 2011, 09:27PM

Registered Member #4016 Joined: Thu Jul 21 2011, 01:52AM
Location: Gainesville, FL
Posts: 660

First time was one of the worst ones I've recieved to date. Of course, it was only static, but I had no idea of how I got charged that badly because it was humid and I was riding a metal shopping cart. Anyways. 3-5 inch spark. Spread eagle. Numb. Yelping. Dizzy afterwards. Never goes into air freshener isles again. However, the most damaging one and most painful was the start of my HV hobby: as of most people, a flash cap. Fully charged, I had slammed my finger on the board at the time. While I was taking it apart, I was chatting with Killa-X. And I was still chatting with him when I got zapped, so I told him. I had painful marks for 3 weeks. I matched up the lead points to the marks on my fingers. My most painful and weird one: 3 feet diameter crt television + aluminum foil + slightly wet hands + full hand to hand contact with foil and plug + unsuspection= Weird pain. I very nearly got knocked out. I could have sworn I saw an 1 and half centimeter spark jump to the grounding pin of mains. O_O Pain.... and yesterday night very nearly touched jacobs ladder while it operated... both pri and sec side XD I realized how close I was once I was about an inch away.

Wed Nov 02 2011, 05:18PM

Registered Member #4146 Joined: Tue Oct 18 2011, 02:01AM
Location: Wisconsin, U.S.A
Posts: 56

@Fraggle I was very inexperienced at the time it was just the plain transformer and i had some cheap alligator clips making arcs with them and the arc jumped through and nailed me. There was no cap or anything connected. Been shocked by wall voltage many times so i know what thats like. I think i just got extremely lucky.

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