Electricity question

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Evadman

Administrator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Feb 18, 2001
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Originally posted by: QuitBanningMe
Read the edit DICK.
Your edit was 3 minutes after I posted. I apologize of not reading the edit that did not exist when I posted. Perhaps if you posted what specificly you disagreed with we could have a meaningful discussion. I am not sure who's post you are refering to. (Either my post or JohnCU's) Your edit didn't really help me understand the meaning behind your post, sorry.

If all you are going to do is call me or other members here (who are actually contributing by the way) 'dicks', then I see no need to continue conversing with you.

As for the Dragon, I wear it as a badge of Honor. If you harbor a prejudice against dragons, I am sorry. Perhaps a dragon ate someone you related to in the Middle ages. If so, I appologize on behaf of my kin. But the Middle Ages was a different time then now. I try not to eat any Knights if I can help it. However, Maidens are another story.
 

QuitBanningMe

Banned
Mar 2, 2005
5,038
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Originally posted by: Evadman
Originally posted by: QuitBanningMe
Read the edit DICK.
Your edit was 3 minutes after I posted. I apologize of not reading the edit that did not exist when I posted. Perhaps if you posted what specificly you disagreed with we could have a meaningful discussion. I am not sure who's post you are refering to. (Either my post or JohnCU's) Your edit didn't really help me understand the meaning behind your post, sorry.

If all you are going to do is call me or other members here (who are actually contributing by the way) 'dicks', then I see no need to continue conversing with you.

As for the Dragon, I wear it as a badge of Honor. If you harbor a prejudice against dragons, I am sorry. Perhaps a dragon ate someone you related to in the Middle ages. If so, I appologize on behaf of my kin. But the Middle Ages was a different time then now. I try not to eat any Knights if I can help it. However, Maidens are another story.

I meant to quote you as being correct. You have the same avatar. You labeled me as whiny.
 

PurdueRy

Lifer
Nov 12, 2004
13,837
4
0
I am also in my second year of EE and I can see how this can be confusing. People, as stated before, as confusing voltage drop with voltage, or potential difference. Between a battery and ground there will indeed be a voltage. It cannot be measured by a DMM but can be theoretically be found to be 1.5 V(or 9V or whatever). By talking about V=IR you are looking for a voltage drop, which doesn't exist. This is why it comes out to be 0. If you put a 100ohm resistor between the terminals you will find a voltage drop equivalent to the potential different between the terminals, or the voltage of the battery. I can see where the confusion came from JohnCU, sorry that lots of other people are harping on you for being confused about a fact and wanting to get it straightened out.
 

Evadman

Administrator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Feb 18, 2001
30,990
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Originally posted by: Eli
Someone say pics? :D

These are old. I should take some new, non-blurry ones. Would be able to see the LED and stuff better, too. This was back when I had an old Kodak 1mp cam, lol.

Dimly lit LED

Bad pic of voltmeter reading ~8VAC. It depends on how hard you press your feet against the concrete, how sweaty they are, etc. ;)

Holy sh!t dude! Move out! That is crazy!

Originally posted by: QuitBanningMe
I meant to quote you as being correct. You have the same avatar. You labeled me as whiny.

You are correct, I did. If you quoted cressida on accident instead of me, why did you post that one liner to JohnCU who was commenting on cressida's post that you quoted? You were arguing with JohnCU on a quoted post that you didn't mean to quote?

I mean no offence, but do you read the post that you are defending before lashing out with an insult? I guess I have learned to do that over the years. After all, I have been a member since before God. He Joined on 11/03/2004. :p

I am humbled that you came to the conclusion that I was the owner of the Dragon Avatar. However, there are a hundred thousand some odd members here, and only 132 Avatars. That measn there are about 757 more members with the Dragon Avatar. Please be sure which one you are quoting. May I suggest you, at minimum, read a post in its entirety before you lambbaste another member, and be sure you are quoting by name, not avatar. It can make you look, well, whiny.
 

QuitBanningMe

Banned
Mar 2, 2005
5,038
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Originally posted by: Evadman
Originally posted by: Eli
Someone say pics? :D

These are old. I should take some new, non-blurry ones. Would be able to see the LED and stuff better, too. This was back when I had an old Kodak 1mp cam, lol.

Dimly lit LED

Bad pic of voltmeter reading ~8VAC. It depends on how hard you press your feet against the concrete, how sweaty they are, etc. ;)

Holy sh!t dude! Move out! That is crazy!

Originally posted by: QuitBanningMe
I meant to quote you as being correct. You have the same avatar. You labeled me as whiny.

You are correct, I did. If you quoted cressida on accident instead of me, why did you post that one liner to JohnCU who was commenting on cressida's post that you quoted? You were arguing with JohnCU on a quoted post that you didn't mean to quote?

I mean no offence, but do you read the post that you are defending before lashing out with an insult? I guess I have learned to do that over the years. After all, I have been a member since before God. He Joined on 11/03/2004. :p

I am humbled that you came to the conclusion that I was the owner of the Dragon Avatar. However, there are a hundred thousand some odd members here, and only 132 Avatars. That measn there are about 757 more members with the Dragon Avatar. Please be sure which one you are quoting. May I suggest you, at minimum, read a post in its entirety before you lambbaste another member, and be sure you are quoting by name, not avatar. It can make you look, well, whiny.

I had no reason really to go back and reread because what I thought I quoted I knew to be correct. I quickly added that I may have read the post wrong and I went back and read through. I noticed I had originally quoted the wrong post and edited my post to reflect that. Is it that hard to grasp?

I've answered plenty of similar questions on here which would show we are on the same page. Unfortunately I can't show you.
 

Eli

Super Moderator | Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
50,419
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Originally posted by: Evadman
Originally posted by: Eli
Someone say pics? :D

These are old. I should take some new, non-blurry ones. Would be able to see the LED and stuff better, too. This was back when I had an old Kodak 1mp cam, lol.

Dimly lit LED

Bad pic of voltmeter reading ~8VAC. It depends on how hard you press your feet against the concrete, how sweaty they are, etc. ;)

Holy sh!t dude! Move out! That is crazy!
I'll have to take some pics of the dryer in action. It can light a high intensity LED, or a a strip of 6 normal LEDs.... LOL....

You can really feel the 60hz buzz when you feel it. It actually kinda hurts with the dryer, but it's tollerable otherwise.

I suppose we really should try and fix it sometime... The more I think about it, the more dangerous it seems.. ;)

I wonder how long it has been like this. The house has regular, non-3 prong outlets... so I have no idea. I guess I'll look around by the breaker box for something?
 

Evadman

Administrator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Feb 18, 2001
30,990
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Originally posted by: QuitBanningMe
I had no reason really to go back and reread because what I thought I quoted I knew to be correct.

I guess I am trying to figure out how you could confuse a post that was 1285 words long with one that was 123, and then argue that the post you quoted incorrectly was correct, and belittle the person that said you were incorrect; which you were.

Now, normaly, I would be thrilled to continue this conversation, But it is not adding anything to the thread at all. Granted, it will probably provide some good fodder for people who wish to laugh. Unfortunately, if you keep displaying your ignorance, all that is going to happen is this thread being locked. Then no one will learn why they need to connect both jumper cables when jumping a dead battery, not just the positive.
 

QuitBanningMe

Banned
Mar 2, 2005
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Originally posted by: Evadman
Originally posted by: QuitBanningMe
I had no reason really to go back and reread because what I thought I quoted I knew to be correct.

I guess I am trying to figure out how you could confuse a post that was 1285 words long with one that was 123, and then argue that the post you quoted incorrectly was correct, and belittle the person that said you were incorrect; which you were.

Now, normaly, I would be thrilled to continue this conversation, But it is not adding anything to the thread at all. Granted, it will probably provide some good fodder for people who wish to laugh. Unfortunately, if you keep displaying your ignorance, all that is going to happen is this thread being locked. Then no one will learn why they need to connect both jumper cables when jumping a dead battery, not just the positive.

Ignorance? You fvcking retard. I scrolled down read some, scrolled up and quoted what I thought was the post I intended to quote. Jeez get a life. I even posted that I quoted the wrong post. If I was hellbent on arguing why wouldn't I have kept going? Do you think you showed me the light in your post calling me a whiny brat?
 

Evadman

Administrator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Feb 18, 2001
30,990
5
81
Originally posted by: QuitBanningMe
Ignorance? You fvcking retard. I scrolled down read some, scrolled up and quoted what I thought was the post I intended to quote. Jeez get a life. I even posted that I quoted the wrong post. If I was hellbent on arguing why wouldn't I have kept going? Do you think you showed me the light in your post calling me a whiny brat?
Ig·no·rant

It was a statement towads you not knowing about correct forum quoting procedure. Often, a quoted post is different than what you expect to be quoting, because the OP edits their post before you can quote it. Of course, quoting the incorrect person can happen too, as you pointed out so eloquently. It was not meant as an insult, just a statement of fact. I appologize if you took offence. Obvioulsy, I must choose my words better when speaking to a person of your calibur, so my words are not misconstrued. I will try to remember that in future conversations with you.

Originally posted by: Eli
I wonder how long it has been like this. The house has regular, non-3 prong outlets... so I have no idea. I guess I'll look around by the breaker box for something?
If you have 2 prong outlets it is unlikely you have a ground bus bar to connect to. If I were you, I would rewire all the outlets to 3 prong variety, which would obviously require a new main panel, and running a ground out to each circuit. It would probably only cost a few hundred bucks, but he danger is conciderable to non-trained personell. In fact, putting in a new breaker panel without being certified is probably against some kind of code. The 2 hot bus bars will be hot even as you connect them. I certainly wouldn't do that part myself.

It is possible that the box and conduit is acting as a ground. You may be able to jumper to the panel itself, but I would have a qualified electrician check it out before you do it, as you may not actually have a good earth ground in the system. :(

 

Eli

Super Moderator | Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
50,419
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Originally posted by: Evadman
Originally posted by: QuitBanningMe
Ignorance? You fvcking retard. I scrolled down read some, scrolled up and quoted what I thought was the post I intended to quote. Jeez get a life. I even posted that I quoted the wrong post. If I was hellbent on arguing why wouldn't I have kept going? Do you think you showed me the light in your post calling me a whiny brat?
Ig·no·rant

It was a statement towads you not knowing about correct forum quoting procedure. Often, a quoted post is different than what you expect to be quoting, because the OP edits their post before you can quote it. Of course, quoting the incorrect person can happen too, as you pointed out so eloquently. It was not meant as an insult, just a statement of fact. I appologize if you took offence. Obvioulsy, I must choose my words better when speaking to a person of your calibur, so my words are not misconstrued. I will try to remember that in future conversations with you.

Originally posted by: Eli
I wonder how long it has been like this. The house has regular, non-3 prong outlets... so I have no idea. I guess I'll look around by the breaker box for something?
If you have 2 prong outlets it is unlikely you have a ground bus bar to connect to. If I were you, I would rewire all the outlets to 3 prong variety, which would obviously require a new main panel, and running a ground out to each circuit. It would probably only cost a few hundred bucks, but he danger is conciderable to non-trained personell. In fact, putting in a new breaker panel without being certified is probably against some kind of code. The 2 hot bus bars will be hot even as you connect them. I certainly wouldn't do that part myself.

It is possible that the box and conduit is acting as a ground. You may be able to jumper to the panel itself, but I would have a qualified electrician check it out before you do it, as you may not actually have a good earth ground in the system. :(
Yeah, but even in an old house that only has 2-prong outlets... the system is still supposed to be grounded somewhere, isn't it? Otherwise, what is preventing this problem from happening in every old house?

Even our outdoor cable splitter has a copper ground wire comming out of the ground for it. :confused:
 

Jeff7181

Lifer
Aug 21, 2002
18,368
11
81
Originally posted by: JohnCU
Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
Originally posted by: Heisenberg
Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
Originally posted by: JohnCU
Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
well for one thing you can't read AC and DC at the same time... :) among lots of other things

Ground is ground, isn't it? I mean, 0 volts is 0 volts, the ground isn't sinusoidal.

AC doesn't have a ground
Err...what? All electricity requires two points to have a potential difference whether it's AC or DC.

it's neutral

There is a 3rd prong that connects to the ground for safety precautions, or have I spent 2 years in EE for nothing?

You spent 2 years in EE and don't know the answer to your question. Uh... then yes... you spent 2 years in EE for nothing.
 

Evadman

Administrator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Feb 18, 2001
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Originally posted by: Eli
Yeah, but even in an old house that only has 2-prong outlets... the system is still supposed to be grounded somewhere, isn't it? Otherwise, what is preventing this problem from happening in every old house?

Even our outdoor cable splitter has a copper ground wire comming out of the ground for it. :confused:

In that case, the conduit itself is likely serving as a ground. This is acceptable in some places for code. But if you are getting a voltage potential on everything, then I am going tooo have to say your ground is non-functional ;)
 

Eli

Super Moderator | Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Originally posted by: Evadman
Originally posted by: Eli
Yeah, but even in an old house that only has 2-prong outlets... the system is still supposed to be grounded somewhere, isn't it? Otherwise, what is preventing this problem from happening in every old house?

Even our outdoor cable splitter has a copper ground wire comming out of the ground for it. :confused:

In that case, the conduit itself is likely serving as a ground. This is acceptable in some places for code. But if you are getting a voltage potential on everything, then I am going tooo have to say your ground is non-functional ;)
Yep, everything. Even my guitar! Annoying when I played in the dining room a lot... lol
 

JohnCU

Banned
Dec 9, 2000
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Originally posted by: Jeff7181
You spent 2 years in EE and don't know the answer to your question. Uh... then yes... you spent 2 years in EE for nothing.

If you had read the entire thread, you'd know it involves something deeper than what appears on the surface.

 

JohnCU

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Dec 9, 2000
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Originally posted by: Evadman
Originally posted by: Eli
Yeah, but even in an old house that only has 2-prong outlets... the system is still supposed to be grounded somewhere, isn't it? Otherwise, what is preventing this problem from happening in every old house?

Even our outdoor cable splitter has a copper ground wire comming out of the ground for it. :confused:

In that case, the conduit itself is likely serving as a ground. This is acceptable in some places for code. But if you are getting a voltage potential on everything, then I am going tooo have to say your ground is non-functional ;)

Ignoring the whiney brat comment, you seem pretty educated. Are you an electrician or an EE? They don't teach wiring in EE, so we can't wire a house, but get to know all the theory. Is there a book on wiring that you recommend?
 

cressida

Platinum Member
Sep 10, 2000
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Originally posted by: JohnCU
Originally posted by: Evadman
Originally posted by: Eli
Yeah, but even in an old house that only has 2-prong outlets... the system is still supposed to be grounded somewhere, isn't it? Otherwise, what is preventing this problem from happening in every old house?

Even our outdoor cable splitter has a copper ground wire comming out of the ground for it. :confused:

In that case, the conduit itself is likely serving as a ground. This is acceptable in some places for code. But if you are getting a voltage potential on everything, then I am going tooo have to say your ground is non-functional ;)

Ignoring the whiney brat comment, you seem pretty educated. Are you an electrician or an EE? They don't teach wiring in EE, so we can't wire a house, but get to know all the theory. Is there a book on wiring that you recommend?

Not sure if you have done any breadboard work but use some resistors and a batttery for now then build your way up.

I think next time it is best to ask a professor if you are confused about terms and concepts, instead of going on to ATOT and saying everyone is wrong. There is a difference between voltage drop and voltage potential as mentioned earlier.
 

stevty2889

Diamond Member
Dec 13, 2003
7,036
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I tried to read through everything, but may have missed if anyone mentioned this. This is how batteries work if I remember correctly. There are basicly 2 chemicles in the battery, and 2 ends, the anode and the cathode. One side has more free electrons than the other. By connecting the 2 ends together, the free electrons on the negative side, will fill in the "holes" on the more positive side. This is what creates the potential differance, allowing current to flow. Once enough of the free electrons on the negitive side, have gone over to the positive side, the battery is now "dead" as there is no longer a differance in potential. Therefore, connecting a positive lead on a battery, to a ground, is not creating differance in potential, and you won't get current flow.
 

JohnCU

Banned
Dec 9, 2000
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Originally posted by: cressida
Originally posted by: JohnCU
Originally posted by: Evadman
Originally posted by: Eli
Yeah, but even in an old house that only has 2-prong outlets... the system is still supposed to be grounded somewhere, isn't it? Otherwise, what is preventing this problem from happening in every old house?

Even our outdoor cable splitter has a copper ground wire comming out of the ground for it. :confused:

In that case, the conduit itself is likely serving as a ground. This is acceptable in some places for code. But if you are getting a voltage potential on everything, then I am going tooo have to say your ground is non-functional ;)

Ignoring the whiney brat comment, you seem pretty educated. Are you an electrician or an EE? They don't teach wiring in EE, so we can't wire a house, but get to know all the theory. Is there a book on wiring that you recommend?

Not sure if you have done any breadboard work but use some resistors and a batttery for now then build your way up.

I think next time it is best to ask a professor if you are confused about terms and concepts, instead of going on to ATOT and saying everyone is wrong. There is a difference between voltage drop and voltage potential as mentioned earlier.

I'm not saying everyone is wrong, bout half the people in the thread were though and we just got mixed up. I've used breadboards in lab, and done all that resistor inductor stuff, I'm talking about real world electrical work.
 

amoeba

Diamond Member
Aug 7, 2003
3,162
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The moral of the story is that most EEs are elitist pricks who drink too much.

You should post a solid state question next time, then the sparks will really fly.
 

Painkiller

Member
Oct 15, 2002
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Originally posted by: JohnCU
Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
Originally posted by: Heisenberg
Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
Originally posted by: JohnCU
Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
well for one thing you can't read AC and DC at the same time... :) among lots of other things

Ground is ground, isn't it? I mean, 0 volts is 0 volts, the ground isn't sinusoidal.

AC doesn't have a ground
Err...what? All electricity requires two points to have a potential difference whether it's AC or DC.

it's neutral

There is a 3rd prong that connects to the ground for safety precautions, or have I spent 2 years in EE for nothing?


The third prong should be considered a bond that is tied back to the source neutral. There should only be one ground point .