Re: Inside power supplies: Where are the shocks?

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Warren Ernst writes ...
> 
> In article <6l89pj$1jns$5@lynx.unm.edu>, buggie@capella.unm.edu says...
> > Having written this essay, its now inevitable that I will be electrocuted
> > on my next venture inside of a power supply.  The "hubris" guarantees this
> > humiliation.     Steve Buggie
> 
> Steve,
> 
> 200 volts aren't gonna kill you. Heck, I repair arcade game monitors,
> where the annode can hold a charge of 19,000 volts, and no one on
> rec.games.vodeo.arcade.collecting has been killed yet, despite quite a
> few stories.
> 
> I would expect that 1 hour would drain any caps on the power supply, but
> then I wouldn't go and stick my tongue on the cap terminal pads on the
> board either.
>

     Slurping electrolytic caps is definitely bad form. Lots of
batteries in a string can be hazardous, too. Years ago my dad brought
home a bunch of used 7.5V batteries-- the kind with neat screw-on
terminals. So, naturally, I started connecting them in series to see how
much Real voltage they would put out. Somewhere around battery 17 or so
I reached into the rats nest of connections to straighten things out--
maybe holding bat 17's free lead with my teeth. It's hard to be sure
because there was a sudden 'gap' in time and I was on the floor feeling
turned inside-out with a really strong metallic taste in my mouth.  



Rubywand