I have confirmed voltages up to 71 V are safe

[Auryg]

Originally posted by: sheik124
Oh, touching the exposed...coily things in a XBOX PSU while the fvcker is plugged in is NOT a fun experience

Done that 3 times now.

They even hold a bit of a charge unplugged.

 

[grjr]

once I was fiddling around with a CRT that was unplugged and got shocked by the static charge on the high voltage terminal that hooks up on the top of the CRT. That sucked....

 

[Jimmah]

When I was in grade 6 or 7 me and a buddy were playing around with wired gator clips and decided to hook up batteries to my braces, tried 9v, 12v and a weird 24v he had. The 24v got really tingly, but it wasn't enough and he suggested trying the wall socket........

Thats as far as I remember, I have no memory from being hooked up to the plug. Fried my braces and damn was my face sore for the next while....

 

[JohnCU]

Originally posted by: Jimmah
When I was in grade 6 or 7 me and a buddy were playing around with wired gator clips and decided to hook up batteries to my braces, tried 9v, 12v and a weird 24v he had. The 24v got really tingly, but it wasn't enough and he suggested trying the wall socket........

Thats as far as I remember, I have no memory from being hooked up to the plug. Fried my braces and damn was my face sore for the next while....

lmao, nice.

 

[bobsmith1492]

You guys ever tried 400 Hz power (at 115VAC)? It's pretty wierd; I got a kind of low dose since I was touching a barely grounded panel and the hot line, but it makes for a much different experience. 😛

 

[Maiora]

You guys ever tried 400 Hz power (at 115VAC)? It's pretty wierd; I got a kind of low dose since I was touching a barely grounded panel and the hot line, but it makes for a much different experience.

You either have 400Hz power or 60Hz power not both.

Suggesting ANYONE contact potentially dangerous power on a public forum is foolhardy. Do NOT do this!

 

[bobsmith1492]

To be sure, I don't recommend it. It was an accident of course.

Also, I never mentioned 60 Hz; I'm not sure where that came from (115 VAC doesn't mean 60 Hz).

 

[SinNisTeR]

some tazers get up to 50K volts, and you wont die from that... Does anyone know what amps most tazers operate at?

 

[exdeath]

Now is that AC or DC? AC is much safer than DC.

I've zapped myself on car ignition systems many times (30,000 volts). I've also voluntarily grabbed and held 120v AC lines in the form of those parallel wires that run on top of walls to stop dogs from jumping over them 🙂 I was also working on a power supply for a PC server one time. Used my hand to push down this logic board to compress a rubber seal under it so the short screws could start... discharged a 150,000 uF or so capacitor through my hand.. Could smell burnt flesh and I had little white pock marks on my hand in the pattern of the solder points.

Two things I won't touch... the 70+ amps per channel coming out of my stereo amplifier and a current balance at the school lab that goes up to 125 amps...

 

[bobsmith1492]

Dude, something that runs at 125 amps at like 50 volts or less won't hurt you. You need high voltage to initiate any current flow through your body.

 

[exdeath]

Originally posted by: bobsmith1492
Dude, something that runs at 125 amps at like 50 volts or less won't hurt you. You need high voltage to initiate any current flow through your body.

I think it was 250 volts.

 

[krazyjosh]

I dont post here often but gentlemen (and ladies), the following link is scanned DIRECTLY FROM A PHYSICS TEXTBOOK!

http://tinypic.com/view/?pic=9rk8lx

1mA = mild shock can be felt
5 mA = shock is painful
15 mA = muscle control is lost
100mA = death can occur

The resistance of the human body when the skin is dry is about 10^5 Ohms. It drops to about 1500 Ohms for wet hands. Therefore, the current through the body from 120 V is about 1.2mA for dry skin and 80mA for wet skin. A person will feel a tingle at about 1mA, at 10 to 20mA there will be muscular effects, and by 20mA a person will not be able to let go of a conducting wire. Respiratory paralysis occurs between 20 and 100mA, and currents above 100mA can be fatal.

 

[Mo0o]

Originally posted by: bobsmith1492
Dude, something that runs at 125 amps at like 50 volts or less won't hurt you. You need high voltage to initiate any current flow through your body.

Uh... 100mA can kill you

 

[exdeath]

Originally posted by: Mo0o

Originally posted by: bobsmith1492
Dude, something that runs at 125 amps at like 50 volts or less won't hurt you. You need high voltage to initiate any current flow through your body.

Uh... 100mA can kill you

Yes but he is referring to the fact you need a high enough voltage potential through your body in order for that current to want to go through you. (either by decreasing the resistance of the body via moisture or increasing the supply voltage)

 

[exdeath]

Originally posted by: krazyjosh
I dont post here often but gentlemen (and ladies), the following link is scanned DIRECTLY FROM A PHYSICS TEXTBOOK!

http://tinypic.com/view/?pic=9rk8lx

1mA = mild shock can be felt
5 mA = shock is painful
15 mA = muscle control is lost
100mA = death can occur

The resistance of the human body when the skin is dry is about 10^5 Ohms. It drops to about 1500 Ohms for wet hands. Therefore, the current through the body from 120 V is about 1.2mA for dry skin and 80mA for wet skin. A person will feel a tingle at about 1mA, at 10 to 20mA there will be muscular effects, and by 20mA a person will not be able to let go of a conducting wire. Respiratory paralysis occurs between 20 and 100mA, and currents above 100mA can be fatal.

High voltage DC is much more deadly than AC. When you complete a high voltage DC circuit you tend to sit there and cook. The alternating cycles in AC supplies tend to cause the muscles to twitch in cycles with the current, and it's more often than not, enough to cause the person to involuntarily and violently 'throw' the wires or whatever it is they are touching after a few cycles.

However alternating low frequency high voltage AC can be more dangerous in the right conditions as it can cause the heart to lose coordination due to the AC pulses and go into fibrillation, leading to near immediate death if resuscitation is not provided.

 

[exdeath]

I will try to find the schematics, I don't remember the principles off hand... but I used to play with 'high voltage generator' circuits as a kid. A small capacitor bank, a transformer, and a relay can deliver 100,000 volt pulses from a 9v battery.

When you touched the leads it induced a pulsing numbing vibration in your hands all the way up to the elbow and your fingers would sweat.

 

[StrangerGuy]

As long as the current flowing through your body does not exceed a certain safety threshold, any voltage you touch is safe. The thing that kills is the current, not voltage.