27 Apr
2005
27 Apr
'05
3:56 p.m.
People here play with power in the form of higher
voltages, also in
the form of high energy. Some of those computer supplies designed
to pump out dozens to sometimes hundres of amps of power posess
the capability to melt off a ring (and the encircled finger), watch
Good point... Classic computer PSUs will often supply over 100A on the 5V
line (that's only 500W, after all), and that is enough to melt jewellery,
etc.
High voltage, high current is, of course, the worst. A place I worked at
had a very nice bench PSU that could output 0-300V, 0-10A (no, that's not
a typo). It was very useful for sorting out SMPSUs, because you could set
the current limiter low enough to prevent major damage if the chopper
went short-circuit or whatever. But that PSU had enough power behind it
to do serious damage to you if you weren't careful with it.
or cause a splatter of melted metal in the eye. Trust
me, I have
been been to 1500volts and back due to fools around me and their
pointing fingers. I've also seen what an 80amp regulated power
When working on high voltages, I am torn between working alone (and not
having someone to switch the power off if I do something stupid), and
having somebody there to turn the power off in an emergency, who is,
alas, more than likely to be the cause of said emergency.
I might add that something "grounded" can be
more unsafe until your
sure there is NO POTENTIAL differences. I got dinged in NYC one
fine day due to a mere 65vac differential in grounds between the
That sounds like about half mains voltage. It wasn't that one of the
grounds was disconnected, and you got that voltage from the mains filters
of all your hardware acting as capacitive dividers, was it?
12th and 14th floor. And they couldn't understand
why the RS232
drivers were being fried all over the place. Seems equipment
ground wasn't.
Electrons are our friends, they have a dark side too. Always play
nice and use proper technique. Failure to do so really can take
the fun out of it.
I've seen the same thing said about fire (a problem if you're stuck in a
burning building, a great help when used for heating, cooking, running
heat engines, etc), friction (normally regarded as a waste of energy, but
without it, screws and nails would fall out, brakes wouldn't work, etc),
electrcial resistance (again often thought of as a waste of energy, but
without it, you could have no votlage differences, so electronics would
be impossbile), etc.
-tony