Nah, but the litle ones can pop, sounds like a 22 rifle. And those little 6mm or 7mm or whatever they are guys can pack a punch. I had one go off once and it blew the can up against the top cover of the amp. Bent a couple of the vent slots.
Closest I ever came was I was working over an open chassis, when one went off. It sailed past my ear at high speed. I don't know if it actually nicked my ear, but I at least felt its breeze as it sailed by. Seems like a long time later I heard it come back down to earth in the far corner of the shop.
Closest I ever came was I was working over an open chassis, when one went off. It sailed past my ear at high speed. I don't know if it actually nicked my ear, but I at least felt its breeze as it sailed by. Seems like a long time later I heard it come back down to earth in the far corner of the shop.
I got lit up bad from my Stealths filter caps the the 47uf 450v ones I almost died dude had the amp out chassis was checking bias and just visual inspection of components and I got careless and my arm got too close to the edge of PCB there's a trace for the main filter caps about half inch from edge of the pcb on right side well **** grabbed me man held me there for about 10-12 seconds finally let go I slumped to floor man almost black out so yea that **** can kill you it hurt like hell too I still have a burn mark on my arm its just amazing how lucky I am if that **** would of went across my chest no doubt it would of stopped my heart and that trace has at least 3 of the big 47uf 450 caps tied into and a few smaller 100v caps so god only knows how much I got zapped with like I said I don't know how I am still alive after that
I threw in the air an old Hangstrom when touching the strings ,
being attached to an old Dynacord .
The caps were soon replaced with some 68uF caps from an Epson printer.
Later, they were downsized because I didn't know of the characteristic
of the rectifier tube at the time .
I'm not a musician, but that Dynacord is the most musical thing I have at
home...amazing female vocals (& acoustic guitar )
being attached to an old Dynacord .
The caps were soon replaced with some 68uF caps from an Epson printer.
Later, they were downsized because I didn't know of the characteristic
of the rectifier tube at the time .
I'm not a musician, but that Dynacord is the most musical thing I have at
home...amazing female vocals (& acoustic guitar )
When I was at college many years ago we used to make fun and jokes in the electronics class. Once we wired two minilab power supply's in series to get 80v DC and we had a big Siemens capacitor about the size of a Coke can that we connected to the power supply's. We then took an empty ferric chloride plastic container and placed it over the capacitor. We actually wanted to see how high the cap would shoot the container into the air. We waited for quite a while when the tutor suddenly entered the classroom and he went straight to the workbench leaning on it with his back to it. There was no way to switch the power supply off. Suddenly there was a morose big bang with lots of smoke and stinking smelling goo all over the place ! Over the tutor as well. He jumped with straight legs right over a table and out of the classroom he went. Luckily there were a stopsign at the end of the college, otherwise he would still have been running today ! We got a final warning but never tried it again. The cleaning against the ceiling was the worst. Have to admit, it was fun !
Well I don't know. Been zapped numerous times, across the chest too, but no marks just a 'higher vision of things' and a lasting impression in my mind. Shocks were kind of fun* for me I have to admit and not really painful. OK I remember one that put bad words in my mouth. Anyway I was younger, now that I know what shocks are about I have no desire of getting shocked anymore.
Some people have died messing with a computer power supply - you never know when your time will come. So called professionals die of shocks too. It is too stupid to die in such a fashion anyways, I guess I deserve better. True, I long for a cardiac arrest but close to my loved one not messing with electronics. Well, anything but cancer.
* Hey, this is a new strange feeling.
Some people have died messing with a computer power supply - you never know when your time will come. So called professionals die of shocks too. It is too stupid to die in such a fashion anyways, I guess I deserve better. True, I long for a cardiac arrest but close to my loved one not messing with electronics. Well, anything but cancer.
* Hey, this is a new strange feeling.
I know that mark! I made one on each hand - in one hand and out the other. Wasn't a tube amp, but very similar, an old Graphlex flash unit at 450V and 2000uF (200 Watt/second flash). Pow! Knocked me off the chair. I suppose I didn't get all 200 joules, as there was still enough juice left to weld the screwdriver to the terminals when I recovered.
Stored high voltage is no fun to play with.
I was age 13, and trying to graduate up from testing tubes at the corner store and replacing them. Year was 1963, and there was no internet. I had a 6 V supply Ford Car radio with the bottom cover off, and a $5 VOM from Radio Shack. I had a schematic for a 12 V car radio that the 59 Ford car should have had, I think that radio must have had space charge tubes (12 v plate) and the Ford Shop manual had no warnings of any kind in the electrical section. ZZot!!. It had 400V at 20 uf in there for the tube plates. Was a 1956 radio with a vibrator AC power supply. I had the door closed and my parents were kind enough to not bother me until mealtimes. I could have died if it hadn't been a thumb to finger short.
Kids get their kicks now with jumping skateboards down stairs and athletic stuff with swings and ponds and minibikes and stuff. I had enough adventures with tubes and changing transmissions in cars etc. My father did carpentry and concrete for hobbies, my mother sewed and knitted, I was totally headed for outer space on my own. The Radiotron handbook,at the library in those days, didn't have a warnings page, either.
Kids get their kicks now with jumping skateboards down stairs and athletic stuff with swings and ponds and minibikes and stuff. I had enough adventures with tubes and changing transmissions in cars etc. My father did carpentry and concrete for hobbies, my mother sewed and knitted, I was totally headed for outer space on my own. The Radiotron handbook,at the library in those days, didn't have a warnings page, either.
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Way back in 1976, I was sent to Guayaquil, Ecuador to install a 50,000 watt AM transmitter. It was a used RCA Ampliphase transmitter.
Everything went smoothly until I shut the transmitter down and opened the front door to the high voltage (16,500 volts) power supply cabinet. That should have caused the high voltage capacitors to discharge. They didn't. As I moved my hand into the cabinet to feel for hot spots, the hair on my arm bristled. I pulled my arm back out and discharged the capacitor bank with a grounded (Jesus) stick. Since then, I have never failed to discharge the capacitors before touching anything.
Everything went smoothly until I shut the transmitter down and opened the front door to the high voltage (16,500 volts) power supply cabinet. That should have caused the high voltage capacitors to discharge. They didn't. As I moved my hand into the cabinet to feel for hot spots, the hair on my arm bristled. I pulled my arm back out and discharged the capacitor bank with a grounded (Jesus) stick. Since then, I have never failed to discharge the capacitors before touching anything.
I remember when I was just a kid, one of the bigger high voltage electrolytic caps went bad in my Fender Twin Reverb (all tube) guitar amp. As usual, I could find a replacement but it was the wrong physical size. I have no idea what possesed me, but for some reason (after the amp was turned off) I put my finger and thumb across about 600 volts. It just felt like it was super hot and it burned a groove the size of the wire where I touched it, with a little sizzle and the familiar smell of evaporated me!
Oh Boy,
I think I posted about this in the past, I forget how long ago.
Back in the late 60's for a science fair project my partner & I built a prototype Liquid Pulse Laser.
Inspired by a magazine article we set out to make one 100% from scratch.
My fathers company specialized in defibrillator service & sales which came in handy for parts sources.
In short, we built a strobe circuit to fire a high intensity flash tube to excite the liquid laser tube.
We got a couple caps from a defibrillator and built a supply around them. Several Joules in fact, I forget the exact values.
Despite our safety switches for the triggers, what we thought was fool proof was not child proof.
In a nutshell, my partner said, hit the flash button, I did,
He flew across the room backwards, hit the wall with enough force to cave in the drywall and ended up sitting humped over dazed for about 2-3 minutes.
This was one of those real lucky to be alive moments!
We did win our fair, but we never attempted to fire the unit again, my father removed several components and replaced them with dummies for the dummies.
I honestly thought my best friend was dead!
I think I posted about this in the past, I forget how long ago.
Back in the late 60's for a science fair project my partner & I built a prototype Liquid Pulse Laser.
Inspired by a magazine article we set out to make one 100% from scratch.
My fathers company specialized in defibrillator service & sales which came in handy for parts sources.
In short, we built a strobe circuit to fire a high intensity flash tube to excite the liquid laser tube.
We got a couple caps from a defibrillator and built a supply around them. Several Joules in fact, I forget the exact values.
Despite our safety switches for the triggers, what we thought was fool proof was not child proof.
In a nutshell, my partner said, hit the flash button, I did,
He flew across the room backwards, hit the wall with enough force to cave in the drywall and ended up sitting humped over dazed for about 2-3 minutes.
This was one of those real lucky to be alive moments!
We did win our fair, but we never attempted to fire the unit again, my father removed several components and replaced them with dummies for the dummies.
I honestly thought my best friend was dead!
not filter caps but much more dangerous.
A.
Toasting a slice of white pan bread on a metal fork at the bars of an electric heater.
Touched something that made me tingle/jump ! I was quite young and over-worked Mum was not looking just at that moment.
B.
Volunteered as a 12 year old, to "repair" the damaged flexible cable where it entered the back of the cylinder vacuum cleaner.
Went and got a screwdriver.
Unplugged the socket from the Cleaner. Removed the cover and started to unscrew the wire terminals securing the three core cable. My "pinky" touched the Live while I was undoing one of the others. Jump !!!!! I had forgotten to unplug at the Mains end.
This one may be the reason I push Safety so much on this Forum.
pinky = little finger opposite the thumb (in the UK)
A.
Toasting a slice of white pan bread on a metal fork at the bars of an electric heater.
Touched something that made me tingle/jump ! I was quite young and over-worked Mum was not looking just at that moment.
B.
Volunteered as a 12 year old, to "repair" the damaged flexible cable where it entered the back of the cylinder vacuum cleaner.
Went and got a screwdriver.
Unplugged the socket from the Cleaner. Removed the cover and started to unscrew the wire terminals securing the three core cable. My "pinky" touched the Live while I was undoing one of the others. Jump !!!!! I had forgotten to unplug at the Mains end.
This one may be the reason I push Safety so much on this Forum.
pinky = little finger opposite the thumb (in the UK)
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