Don't want to die D:

[sinkoman]

I'm into electronics as a hobby, and my auntie, being a government electrician (on base) brings me all sorts of goodies and components.

A while back, she gave me a wallward and a PSU to use with it, but I haven't touched either yet, since they'd both be the first time i've ever done anything involving mains power.

The wallwart takes standard American AC down to 16.5 volts AC, 40VA.

My question is, could I seriously harm myself with this sort of AC voltage?

That Power Supply looks really usefull, and I really want to use it, but if it's too dangerous then i'll hold off.

 

[madog]

Well would your aunt give you something that could kill you? I bet it is ok. 16.5 volts is not fatal I'm pretty sure.

 

[sinkoman]

Well would your aunt give you something that could kill you? I bet it is ok. 16.5 volts is not fatal I'm pretty sure.

Well, see, if it IS infact dangerous, she probably gave it to me knowing that I understand the risks of AC voltage, and that I know how to handle it.

Which is true. I'd be completely responsible and careful around this piece of equipment if I used it, but what i'm scared of is a situation like it falling into my lap and I lose muscle controll, then end up burnt or something.

16.5 volts in itself SHOULDN'T be dangerous, but that 40VA scares me. I mean, 100 mA is enough to get yourself fibrilated.

I'm not 100% positive what that V stands for, i'm trying to figure it out now.

 

[Pesmerga]

We're all going to die.

 

[bliink]

Just hope you aren't near ikerous when you do

 

[NotATool]

And once we're dead, we won't be alive to regret it.

 

[Pesmerga]

Or Nat Turner. Then again, Nat Turner isn't someone you should be around, ever.

 

[madog]

We're all going to die.

qft

 

[sinkoman]

Guys, this is a serious question, i'd prefer if we stayed ontopic.

 

[xcellerate]

lol, it isn't the voltage it's the amps that kills you. A car battery is 12v but like 500 amps, try holding on to one of those when you start your car and see how bad 12v feels then

 

[sinkoman]

lol, it isn't the voltage it's the amps that kills you. A car battery is 12v but like 500 amps, try holding on to one of those when you start your car and see how bad 12v feels then

I know that, which is why that 40VA is scaring the shit out of me.

And no, that isn't ENTIRELY true. You need a high voltage to power that high amperage to high enough to kill you.

 

[bliink]

Well, I wouldn't touch it while it was on... that kind of voltage can kill, not sure on 40VA, but wouldn't take a chance with it..

Might turn out like an overhead projector.. I touched the inside of one of those before, and it hurt like hell..

Actually, I've been zapped by a psu before (not sure which part it was), and if I wasn't sitting, I would have probably hit the floor... its like a really bad punch in the arm/chest. The capacitors can be deadly, I'm told..

 

[xcellerate]

well that should equal about 660 watts of power. x/16.5=40, unless i'm mistaken.

I've been shocked by 220v and 110v plugs before, and i'm still walking fine.

And no, that isn't ENTIRELY true. You need a high voltage to power that high amperage to high enough to kill you.

...and i'm confused by this, the optima red top battery is 12.8 volts and generates 815 amps at startup...from a 12.8 volt source, so clearly you don't need a high voltage source to make a lot of amps...unless i missed something again.

 

[Ikerous]

I took apart a psu once when it was plugged in :| I wasnt paying attention.
Needless to say i was shocked. It wasnt that bad though.

VA = volt-ampere (w/e the hell that is)

 

[sinkoman]

Btw, http://www.altronix.com/index.php?pid=2&model_num=AL624

That's the PSU. Figured you guys probably thought I was talking about a PC type PSU.

 

[Dumb Dude]

Just hope you aren't near ikerous when you do

 

[Adabiviak]

I do believe it only takes a tenth of an amp through the heart to make it reconsider beating. If you just hold the two leads of this voltage with your fingers, you will probably get shocked but not die. If you poke the leads into the flesh of your fingers, you may be asking your heart this very question. 110v and even 220v will zing ya pretty good, but over that (440, for example) and it'll 'grab' you, and make it difficult to let go. It'll wake you up pretty good though.

 

[Ikerous]

I think that thread killed my chances with bliink D:

 

[sinkoman]

I do believe it only takes a tenth of an amp through the heart to make it reconsider beating. If you just hold the two leads of this voltage with your fingers, you will probably get shocked but not die. If you poke the leads into the flesh of your fingers, you may be asking your heart this very question. 110v and even 220v will zing ya pretty good, but over that (440, for example) and it'll 'grab' you, and make it difficult to let go. It'll wake you up pretty good though.

Yeah, read up more on it, and I read in a few places that mains power under 50V usually isn't harmfull because your bodies resistance is too high. Also read on Wikipedia that there have been no recorded deaths from power under 32 volts.

So I went ahead with it. Crimped everything together and fired up the PSU. Did some tests, and it works fine, just puts out a little over the wanted 12 volts, which is easily corrected.

I'll probably end up putting this in one of those radioshack Project Boxes for safety though. As I said, I don't want to drop it on my lap and end up a fibrilated piece of shit.

And yeah, i've been snaped by 120V AC before. Was plugging in a printer back when I was maybe 11, and my fingers off the plug and shorted both leads while they were partially plugged in. Got a nice smack and the plug flew out of the socket. Hair was pretty fubar too.

I think I remember that I actually held it there for a few seconds, and was just shaking around for maybe a split second till I got that smack and the plug shot out.

Another question. Does anybody else find shorting a 9V battery with various parts of your face to be a good way to pass the time?

I got a burn on my lip the other day, cause I was trying to see how long I could hold the battery to both my top and bottom lip before I absolutely had to let go, while I was waiting for BF2 to load. I noticed that when hold one lead to my lip, and touch the other to my tongue, there's a flash of white for like, a micro second, then my tongue will either snap back, or snap onto the lead.

 

[Parrot of doom]

15mA is enough to kill a person.

As others have said, its the amperage of a circuit that harms/kills a person - not the voltage. The voltage is integral to the process, just as the resistance of the circuit is, but human beings are made of salt water, not metal.

The simple answer to the OP question is, if you don't know what you're doing, then leave it alone - or you'll kill yourself.

BTW - 12V is an impossibly small voltage with which to induce enough current to kill a person. Try working out the current flowing through a human body with dry skin, with a 12V potential. Its barely a tickle.

 

[spookymooky]

Aren't you fine either way, as long as you make sure you're not grounded?

 

[JNightshade]

Yes. So whatever you do, make sure it's in zero-gravity.

 

[sHaDdoW]

Aren't you fine either way, as long as you make sure you're not grounded?

Indeed.

If you don't complete the circuit than you'll be fine.

When i'm working in the lab at college. I always put my one hand in my pocket. Just to make sure i don't pick up the wire(while holding another on with my other hand) and complete the circuit.

We also have a special floor. To stop it.

I've been zapped a few times. Low amps though.

I work in electronics, most of the time electronics don't go above 24v's and uses low amps. Since Intergrated circuits can't take much power.

Digital electronics your very unlikely to get hert.


Electricians can kill themselves D:
Electronic engineers stay safe D;

 

[Parrot of doom]

lol, it isn't the voltage it's the amps that kills you. A car battery is 12v but like 500 amps, try holding on to one of those when you start your car and see how bad 12v feels then

A car battery might be 500AH - thats Ampere Hours.

That basically means that you can draw 1A of current for 500 hours. Or 2A of current for 250 hours.

It does not mean that it will supply 500A for 1 hour though, the battery and leads would likely melt before that happened.

 

[Parrot of doom]

Aren't you fine either way, as long as you make sure you're not grounded?

Not necessarily. A mains system works because the current is drawn from the generating station, into your house via the live connection, through your equipment, and discharges through the neutral connection (which itself is connected to ground in the local substation, via a big metal stake in the earth).

The human body has a fairly high resistance when the skin is dry, but will still form part of the circuit if connected. The degree to which the body is damaged depends on that resistivity, the potential difference, and the capacity of the circuit to supply current.

 

[sHaDdoW]

Not necessarily. A mains system works because the current is drawn from the generating station, into your house via the live connection, through your equipment, and discharges through the neutral connection (which itself is connected to ground in the local substation, via a big metal stake in the earth).

The human body has a fairly high resistance when the skin is dry, but will still form part of the circuit if connected. The degree to which the body is damaged depends on that resistivity, the potential difference, and the capacity of the circuit to supply current.

Thats why your wear shoes and don't touch anything earthed. Radiator, tap etc(keep your hand in your pocket)
Thats what i mean by completing the circuit.

Unless its high enough voltage to jump. Unlikely.

 

[Parrot of doom]

hehe, the advice was always to put one hand in your back pocket when working with high voltage equipment, so that the current would flow through your arm, across the shoulders, down your other arm, down your leg, and to earth.

All to avoid the heart. I've never seen anyone actually do it though Too much of a PITA

 

[Parrot of doom]

Oh and in case anybody ever wondered how to fiddle your electricity meter, all you do is disconnect the neutral connection from your meter, and connect it to a big copper stake buried in the ground. That basically cuts the meter from the circuit

Thats why you have metal seals on the meter box, so you can't tamper with it

 

[sHaDdoW]

hehe, the advice was always to put one hand in your back pocket when working with high voltage equipment, so that the current would flow through your arm, across the shoulders, down your other arm, down your leg, and to earth.

All to avoid the heart. I've never seen anyone actually do it though Too much of a PITA

That would go down straight to your leg(Which is good). What you don't want to do, is it to go to the other arm(Since it goes through your heart).


It would still only go to ground(via feet), only if its higher enough voltage to pass through a inducter.

Even if it does, at least it does not cross your heart. Since your heart runs on mA signals from your brain. A whole amp would wipe it out.

 

[Dalamari]

NOOOO HE AIN'T GONNA DIE!!!!

Rooster anyone?

 

[short recoil]

As a general common sense rule, unless you know exactly what the current is and what it will do, don't bugger about with it............i've learnt that the hard way.

Also never piss on an electric cattle fence, electrolytes in piss.

 

[Que-Ever]

16.5 volts isn't much at all. You are able to stand two nine-volt batteries on your tongue, aren't ya? I don't know about that 40 va or whatever though. As long as you don't like it, you should be fine.

 

[sHaDdoW]

16.5 volts isn't much at all. You are able to stand two nine-volt batteries on your tongue, aren't ya? I don't know about that 40 va or whatever though. As long as you don't like it, you should be fine.

Those batteries are only mA.


I have survied a electric shock of a couple of thoasands volts(Can't tell you exactly it varies). Rub a balloon on your hair and get a static shock. There you go you've survied a couple of thousand volts. D:

Its amps that kills you, as stated before.

 

[Link]

*Rubs ballon, gets shock, dies*

Damn you sHaDdow, you tricked me!!!

 

[sinkoman]

Try working out the current flowing through a human body with dry skin, with a 12V potential

Already did

Wanted to make sure I knew what I was getting into before I actually plugged the bastard in.

Was hopping you'd make a post Parrot

Oh and yeah, the static you get from the carpet at the Space needle is a couple thousand volts, but only like, a uA.

NEW QUESTION!!!

What would be the best way to play around with Zener diodes, without shorting out the battery used?

I want to hook up a couple of Zener diodes I got the other day to a 12V gel cell I have, but i'm not dumb enough to just stick it across both leads.

I just want to get some current through it so that I can take some readings off the diodes with my Multimeter.

But yeah, as previously stated, I know that when I hit the Zener breakdown voltage, that right there would be a short. And I don't want a 12V Lead Acid Battery to meltdown in my room.

So what would you guys (IE Parrot) do? What I was thinking of doing is just putting a 30V cap into the circuit, so that it's just virtual current, but then i've got to go through all the trouble of wiring up a 555 for 60HZ, then find a transistor that can handle an unrestricted 12V 3AH battery, all of which is a PITA.

So what would you guys do?

 

[Codcommando]

Only way to find out is to stick your tongue on it :-/

 

[Pesmerga]

Risk it all man! Live life to the fullest! Treat every day like a woman who just married you for your money!

 

[short recoil]

Only way to find out is to stick your tongue on it :-/

That would bring a tear to your eyes!

I've had a 12v train set transformer pack on my tounge once (as a dare) it was adjustable so we turned it up to see who could handle the most, at max my tounge was twitching like.

 

[sinkoman]

That would bring a tear to your eyes!

I've had a 12v train set transformer pack on my tounge once (as a dare) it was adjustable so we turned it up to see who could handle the most, at max my tounge was twitching like.

New question short recoil.

I bet you know an answer.

*waits*

 

[evil^milk]

Also never piss on an electric cattle fence, electrolytes in piss.

are you telling us your peepee got zapped? :O