Evening Wayne,
>I was aware of everything you said, ......... I simply did not deduct
>that anyone here would be working with some of these things.
Well someone may have either written about AC colloidal Silver Generators which
infers high voltage, or maybe they had a dual power supply (AC rectified into
DC to be used in place of batteries) when I quickly perused the list.
I have seen other posts referring to converting Microwaves into Colloidal
Silver Generators and Gold Generators elsewhere on the internet, so I couldn't
keep silent in either case. The subject is bound to come up.
You cannot talk about Safety too early. Working on High Voltage Devices can
make the incautious unconscious. Or worse
(Although High Voltage usually means over a Kilovolt)
>I have been shocked with 750 VDC. Only once, I did not stay
>connected long, it knocked me all
>the way across the room.
That happened to a friend of mine, he reached to turn on an electrical switch
on a Tube Amp he was repairing and inadvertently discharged a electrolytic
filter capacitor. He was knocked over a five foot glass display case, and
behind the counter. He only remembers reaching for the switch and the picking
himself up off the ground.
>True indeed. I have some new capacitors, rated at 5000 V I
>think, and others that are the largest I have seen, other than
>coupling capacitors for power systems.
I have worked only with 600V Capacitors, although I have stacked them to make
higher voltage and lower Cap Values. I've worked 1000+V Coupling caps but at
lower voltages than 1000V;I use over rated parts in my work.
>Likely you have seen them, Capacitor Rooms, ........ a room full
>of capacitors that make your hair stand up, even at the door. Not
>for the faint hearted.
Yes, very briefly, I rather walk in to a room full of Cobras; at least you can
get anti-venom. (Grins).
>Many do not understand that, of course.
>Now, ......... how many Step Down Transformers, with the
>intended primary of 480 VAC,
have you seen, that was connected backwards ?
>The 480 was connected to the secondary.
>This made the turns ratio reversed. Instead of the 480 being
>stepped down, it was in fact, stepped up.
I have not seen wired backwards unintentionally, I have actually wired two
identical transformers one back to back with two transformers to make a
composite isolation transformer, or to use one lower voltage and to use the
"backward" transformer for a B+ that I then used with a voltage doubler.
Transformers can be used either direction depending on what you are trying to
do.
>That is a gosh awful situation. A man that worked for me, not as
>knowledgeable as he should be, tried to measure the output,
>not knowing that the voltage was several thousand volts.
>Of course the meter melted down, and went up in smoke. The man was
>lucky.
I had only one meter melt down on me. I was working with a transformer that had
wrong specifications, 32 Volts AC but the amperage was higher than rated on its
specification sheet, (it was actually 12 amps) over the rating of my DVM.
On the higher voltage that needs to be tested I use insulated probes on my HP
VTVM (Vacuum Tube Voltage Meter). Its rated to 1000V & higher Amps than many of
the conventional VOM or DVM you can buy at a Radio Shack.
>Always beware of the people there before you.
Too true.
>I am not afraid of any of them. I did not say, ...... I have no >respect.I
>have high voltage probes, rubber gloves ( with leather on >top of the rubber )
>and have serviced and calibrated high voltage >test equipment.
Maybe I was being melodramatic, I work with circuits (but not into the
Kilovolts) lets say I have equal respect for AC & DC, but I respect more DC as
I work in higher DC voltages than AC. Either could injury the inattentive.
>I stand on a rubber mat, touch nothing with the power applied, and I
>do discharge capacitors.
An extra layer of protection is just that, it helps but isn't 100%. Just trying
to eliminate another path to ground. Beats the Air Force method of "Grounding"
your "probe" arm by physically making contact with a surface.
>I connect services, with power on, directly from the pole. I did not
>say I like to do this or that I do it often. Only in rare cases, do
>I get backed into the corner.
In our part of California, they make the electric company switch of the power.
Inconvenience is better than liability. The Electric Company's line, "We had to
turn off someone else power to install yours."
>You could have made the most important statement about them.
>They offer protection from the Power Wire ( called HOT by some ) to
>the neutral, but offer
>zero protection from the power wire to ground.
A very good point, which I omitted in my haste, along with "Don't bet on a GFIC
to protect you in every instance.
>They could do both. Not sure why they are not designed to do so.
I don't know the answer to that question, either. Maybe the design engineers
thought in the applications involved, that another ground path would be present
and didn't bother. (Water to a metal water pipe.)
>I have installed many of these in mission critical applications. Yes,
>I know the specifications of the devices.
>
>Still, I built my own tester for GFCI's. Recorded the results of >every one.
>And I looked forwarded to the day in court when I could make some
>attorneys look stupid.
Not hard to do in the case of electrical and electronic circuitry and
attorneys, at least Patent Attorneys. Maybe they should teach Ohm's Law in Law
School.
I can cite over a dozen public domain circuits from the mid 1950's that were
submitted by an individual to the US Patent Office and after Prosecution
(inspection by the US Patent office) these were granted as Patents.
>I could add one more..........
>
>If you do not understand "Ohms Law", ........ "do not play with
>Ohms Law gadgets"
Very Good Rule to LIVE by.
>There is a big difference as we know, between Intermittent duty and
>Continuous Duty.
>That is another world and another book.
Continous and intermittent duty are interesting points, so is design maximums.
>But I will proceed to prove, a resistor or a diode can blow up your
>car, burn your house down,
>kill you in many ways, crash an airplane, or sink a ship.
>You would think I should say, "or the failure there of" but that
>is not always true. Normal ( or nearly so ) operation can be >hazardous as
>well.
The best designed part is only as good as the circuit design it is inserted
into.
Best Regards,
Steve Foss
