VERY GOOD POINT, Pete! I should have mentioned that - always keep the
blade of the screwdriver solidly grounded to chassis BEFORE AND WHILE
touching it to the HV line.
The safety advantage of a proper HV shorting "stick" is that the metal
probe/point is solidly connected to chassis by an insulated wire and
healthy alligator clip or similar ground.
Thanks for the reminder & 73, Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Pete Smith [SMTP:n4zr@contesting.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 1998 11:33 AM
To: amps@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [AMPS] RE: Pencils and fiery inch-long arcs!
At 11:00 AM 7/22/98 -0600, Richard W. Ehrhorn wrote:
..
>Then FIRST THING after opening the cover, short the HV line to chassis two
>or three times with an HV-shorting stick, or at least with a long,
>well-insulated screwdriver, before touching anything! NEVER TRUST YOUR
LIFE
>to switches, relays, cover interlocks, crowbars or the like - even with a
>well- designed commercial amp, the stakes are just too high to take
>chances.
Amen. Many years ago a friend got one hand on a ceramic standoff that was
used as the HV input on a surplus amp - maybe a BC-610 - and the 2KV
knocked him cold, threw him across the room and left a huge divot in his
thumb. I was told while still a pup that, when double-checking that your
caps have discharged, you should always be sure that the blade of the
screwdriver is in contact with ground before you bring it near the +B.
Make sense?
73, Pete Smith N4ZR
In wild, wonderful, fairly rare WEST Virginia
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