[Amps] HV SAFETY QUESTION

[Jim Homer]

My policy is - be triple careful.  I like Rich's suggestion of a resistor
on a "deadman" stick.You can seldom count on electrons
limiting themselves to around 30 milliamps!

I have an old Ham acquaintance that can testify to 8 inches of a
medium-weight
plastic-handled screwdriver being reduced in length by about 3 inches
while using it to ground a 40 ufd 6.6 kv HV power supply that had an open
bleeder string.

I saw the results... balls of sputtered metal all over that shack.  He ended
up
on his posterior, too.  One fragment of molten metal imbedded itself in his
plastic eyeglasses - clearly would have been in his eyeball!

And, he said his ears were ringing for days.


Jim Homer W6JNG




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Turner" <wrt at dslextreme.com>
To: <stevengrant98 at yahoo.com>
Cc: "amps" <amps at contesting.com>; <k7fm at teleport.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2004 5:38 AM
Subject: Re: [Amps] HV SAFETY QUESTION


> On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 17:39:34 -0800 (PST), Steven Grant, W4IIV wrote:
>
> >this can be found out quite easily......measure the resistance of your
body...hand to hand (wet your fingers).....take that resistance and put it
in series with an ammeter....hook it across the capacitor bank....note the
current read....anything over 30 mills can kill you (maybe even
less).....steven W4IIV
>
> _________________________________________________________
>
> I'm not sure this method will give valid results.  Years ago, I was told
> the human body is a highly variable resistance, and an electrical shock
> will cause an immediate drop in resistance.  In other words, when you
> initially contact the HV your resistance may be high, but it quickly
> drops (sweat?) and the current rises.
>
> An ohm meter reading may well lead to a false sense of security.
>
> --
> Bill, W6WRT
>
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