! Kodak DC5000 Digital Camera Recall Possible Electrical Shock Hazard !

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

Lemondrop

Senior member
Jul 20, 2000
377
0
71
If you experience repairs like I did with my Kodak , be in for sending the unit back 3 or 4 times till they finally give you a new one .
Of course the new one malfunctions like the old one did . I gave up trying to get it fixed and have chocked it up to craptastic Kodak . Ill NEVER buy a Kodak again . The flash will not fire after the camera warms up . By that you may think Im running the LCD for 30 minutes and then trying to fire the flash . Im talking about walking outside at night in FL , turn the camera on , take 5 pictures and the flash stops working . If your in the A/c you can rip about 12 to 15 pictures before the flash gives out .
This recall proves what I have thought about Kodak ....... SUCK .
 

Morbius

Member
Feb 15, 2002
40
0
0
I guess you will want to explain that to one of our technician's families who was killed (yes, killed) by 5 volts several years ago when I first went to work for IBM.

It is the current availability that makes it dangerous.

I used to work on an inkjet printer that had a highvoltage transformer that generated about 20,000 volts but the current was in the picoamps. Wouldn't even give you a good buzz.

 

Player

Member
Jun 18, 2001
92
0
0
Originally posted by: Morbius
I guess you will want to explain that to one of our technician's families who was killed (yes, killed) by 5 volts several years ago when I first went to work for IBM.

It is the current availability that makes it dangerous.

I used to work on an inkjet printer that had a highvoltage transformer that generated about 20,000 volts but the current was in the picoamps. Wouldn't even give you a good buzz.
By that reasoning, a piece of uncharged aluminum foil should be hazardous! Do you have any idea the number of free charge carriers one of those has?!?

The explanation of the technicians death would be quite simple really. Whatever this technician was working on clearly had some sort of inductive properties. The source might have been only 5 volts, but with current forced through some sort of inductor the voltage will climb to as high as neccessary to complete the circuit and keep a continuous current flow. The energy in the inductor must have also been great enough to maintain a sufficiently high voltage for a fatal current to keep flowing the amount of time necessary to cause heart failure.

As to your experience with the inkjet printer, there may only be picoamps flowing through the circuit but, as you hold a B.S.E.E., you know that's entirely irrelevent to a parallel circuit path. If someone applied themselves in parallel and they could easily have several milliamps running through their chest while the printer circuits still only carry picoamps. Of course, I doubt the DC-DC step-up has the power to keep the 20,000 volts up for any significant amount of time. The voltage would quickly drop and without the EMF, current would not be sustained.
 

VH2000

Senior member
Feb 8, 2000
431
0
0
Originally posted by: iluvazngurl902
am i missing something cuz i dont see the HOT deal


It's not a "Hot Deal", but many people got in on a Hot Deal in the past buying the Kodak DC5000 camera, including myself.
So, this heads-up on the recall is important to many people in this forum. :)
 

Devistater

Diamond Member
Sep 9, 2001
3,180
0
0
Originally posted by: Harvey
Player -- Yep, but without sufficient voltage, no current will flow through your body. You can safely touch both terminals of a nine volt battery to one finger, and nothing much will happen to you. If you're dumb enough to stick it in your mouth while wearing braces, you'll probably "taste" the electric reaction, but I doubt that you would be hurt. (Kids -- especially with braces -- Don't try this at home!)

Eh, I remember sticking my tongue on the contacts on a 9v when I was really small, like 5 years old. I wondered for a long time why it tasted funny.
:)

BTW, the usual disclaimer if anyone is harmed for trying this at home, I'm not responsible :)
 

OpalFrost98GT

Senior member
Aug 4, 2001
527
0
71
Current is what kills. Don't believe it? Grab the terminals on a 250Amp 5Volt PS and if you live to tell me how it felt I will believe you.
 

Player

Member
Jun 18, 2001
92
0
0
Originally posted by: OpalFrost98GT
Current is what kills. Don't believe it? Grab the terminals on a 250Amp 5Volt PS and if you live to tell me how it felt I will believe you.

High enough voltage is neccessary to induce fatal current. How is this a difficult concept to grasp?

For instance, a typical automobile battery is capable of delivering over 80 Amps at 12 Volts and yet there is no standard label warning of electric shock (and otherwise jumper cables would be illegal!). Just because a power supply is CAPABLE of delivering a 250 Amp current does NOT mean it will necessarily deliver 250 Amps when ANY load is attached or even a fatal current for that matter.

This is really very simple. Charge carriers need to expend energy to pass through an object (i.e. a persons torso). The more energy per charge carrier (definition of voltage) the more charge carriers will pass through at any one time (definition of current). Only with enough voltage will there be fatal current.

On another note, too high a current is not as fatal. The most dangerous range is roughly between 6 mA to 200 mA.