I remember my first valve project a pre amp at college.
Built it up and it didnt work, so turned iit off and grabbed a component.
Got a big shock.
Tutor informed me that valve amp caps can hold a high voltage long after turn off and that I should discharge cap through a resistor.
So next time I carefully discharged cap through a resistor.
Touched circuit and got a big shock again.
Forgot to turn it off !
Amazingly that was 40 years ago and I am still alive.
Built it up and it didnt work, so turned iit off and grabbed a component.
Got a big shock.
Tutor informed me that valve amp caps can hold a high voltage long after turn off and that I should discharge cap through a resistor.
So next time I carefully discharged cap through a resistor.
Touched circuit and got a big shock again.
Forgot to turn it off !
Amazingly that was 40 years ago and I am still alive.
You should see all the tape bombs on the wiring that gets evicted after the police have been assisting naughty farmers with there harvesting.
I once saw a real butcher-job on a turntable.
The tonearm-to-cartridge wires were 4 pieces of Romex.
I guess some silly idiot that reads too much on the internet thought that signal loss through Romex would be less restrictive.
The tonearm-to-cartridge wires were 4 pieces of Romex.
I guess some silly idiot that reads too much on the internet thought that signal loss through Romex would be less restrictive.
I misread that earlier as the anode cap of a valve😱
I did that in my 20's once, on a valve in a radio from an ancient car , seem to remember it was a vibrator PSU too.
I didn't do it again 😛
😛Wiseoldtech said:
I had to look that up , what's wrong with that 😀😉
I seen a lot of real bodge jobs on the internals of TV's over the years. Shorting one side of a failed mains switch was probably one of the most common.
High voltage focus units that were a chassis mounted part and contained thick film resistor networks were another and these used to arc and leak to chassis... so just wrap in a couple of PVC docket wallets and shove it in the corner of the set 😱
Fizzing and arcing final anode caps covered in half a tubes worth of silicon bathroom sealer.
Wirewound resistors not soldered but just 'wrapped' in place.
I've seen it all...
Remember VHS VCR's with 6 heads on the drum? The diy that went wrong had some of those wires break off from the lower drum. What was the 'fix' they attempted! they used thin mains lead (yes mains lead cores of the brown, green, blue variety) to thread through the upper drum and soldered these to the heads. I don't think they even appreciated the drum had to spin which it couldn't with this lot jamming it all up.
What else (LOL) It can't be faulty madam, its just the newness wearing off 😀
Squeeking mechanism and you've no oil. Well I've heard of techs coming back into the house carrying the dipstick from the car. Or... "have you got any washing up liquid 'luv" I just need to clean something.
Silver foil in fuseholders. Even the worst techs shied away from that one I suppose knowing what the consequences would be but I've still seen it.
High voltage focus units that were a chassis mounted part and contained thick film resistor networks were another and these used to arc and leak to chassis... so just wrap in a couple of PVC docket wallets and shove it in the corner of the set 😱
Fizzing and arcing final anode caps covered in half a tubes worth of silicon bathroom sealer.
Wirewound resistors not soldered but just 'wrapped' in place.
I've seen it all...
Remember VHS VCR's with 6 heads on the drum? The diy that went wrong had some of those wires break off from the lower drum. What was the 'fix' they attempted! they used thin mains lead (yes mains lead cores of the brown, green, blue variety) to thread through the upper drum and soldered these to the heads. I don't think they even appreciated the drum had to spin which it couldn't with this lot jamming it all up.
What else (LOL) It can't be faulty madam, its just the newness wearing off 😀
Squeeking mechanism and you've no oil. Well I've heard of techs coming back into the house carrying the dipstick from the car. Or... "have you got any washing up liquid 'luv" I just need to clean something.
Silver foil in fuseholders. Even the worst techs shied away from that one I suppose knowing what the consequences would be but I've still seen it.
Found this yesterday …..
I like how he managed to fully install the wires on the earth but live and neutral didn’t seem to matter that much ….
The incoming cable had slipped out of the cable clamp so these dodgy connections were all free to rotate
I like how he managed to fully install the wires on the earth but live and neutral didn’t seem to matter that much ….
The incoming cable had slipped out of the cable clamp so these dodgy connections were all free to rotate
Attachments
Yes, I've "been there" and have seen it all as well.
Decades of servicing have shown me that we have among us in the human population a select bunch of dangerous individuals.
Got a problem with your VCR or CD player?
Just spray half a can's worth of WD40 in the loading slot, that'll loosen up the works.😱
VHS tape stuck in the machine?
A big fat screwdriver or a coathanger will get that thing out.😱
And lest we forget the children's innocent contributions....
Peanut butter and jelly sandwich loaded into a VCR.....
Lego toy pieces too....sunglasses... etc...
Mom's earrings...
Lordy, I could go on for days!
When I was doing my PhD on Field Emission which is basically what you get when you have a really sharp tip and a flat anode and a few kV in a vacuum chamber.... Yup,I felt it a few times, good thing the current is limited at a few mA. Or else I would be listening to the big speaker in the sky.....
Oon
Oon
When I was a still-crawling baby I had apparently noticed the two-pronged things that got stuck into the wall.
When some keys on a safety(!) pin landed within reach, it seems I decided to experiment, and into the wall went the keys....Grandma woke up when the baby bounced off the wall next to her, and screamed.
Dad came in to find one key still in the socket, the pin burned, and the baby alternately laughing and crying his head off.
Ain't been right since.
When some keys on a safety(!) pin landed within reach, it seems I decided to experiment, and into the wall went the keys....Grandma woke up when the baby bounced off the wall next to her, and screamed.
Dad came in to find one key still in the socket, the pin burned, and the baby alternately laughing and crying his head off.
Ain't been right since.
I had a pair of speakers built with KEF B139, B110 and T-27. The port was 2" PVC pipe. When I decided to repurpose the drivers I found Lego's and Construx in the cabinet.
Yep, I've seen that too!
Even a dead mouse that happened to take residence in a speaker.
I was 7 or 8 when I got my first shock. I was trying to plug an electric train transformer into a cheap “cube tap” extension cord. Plug wouldn’t go in right - so if it jams, force it - right? Both fingers straight onto the prongs, resulting in paralysis. Mom grabbed me and got the same. Eventually my sister yanked the cord out of the socket to stop the madness.
That's one reason why they started making the new "wide flange" style "safety" plugs which are now on everything.
In my case I was 3 or 4 years old when the paper clip met the wall outlet. It started a long fascination with electricity. I played with nearly everything that would make a spark.....but like most junkies a bigger fix is needed every time to reach the same high. I was about 10 when the kite string and aluminum cooking foil met the 14.4 KV 3 phase distribution wires on the pole near my house.
I won't go into the rest of my experiments, but like he said, Ain't been right since.
Alright alright!..... I wasn't gonna spill my guts about this..... but....
When I was a kid, maybe around I guess 7 years old, I vaguely remember putting a steak knife blade into the wall receptacle.
I think the tingle might have jarred loose my brain.
When I was a kid, maybe around I guess 7 years old, I vaguely remember putting a steak knife blade into the wall receptacle.
I think the tingle might have jarred loose my brain.
Here some bright sparks use thin enamel coated wire to fly fighter kites, because the opponents have glass powder coated strings. So they win a few bouts, and boast about their magic strings...
Fatalities, a few every year, are common, as the distribution transformers are 11kV.
Wire meets conductor, and finds ground through the body...
Reduced a bit since they went for underground HT for the most part, and insulated LT (440V 3 phase)...
Oh, and "China copper" has come in winding wire: steel wire coated / plated with copper, and enameled insulation.
Common in small motors and transformers, occasionally tube light chokes. Hard to catch out because it is in a magnetic housing.
Fatalities, a few every year, are common, as the distribution transformers are 11kV.
Wire meets conductor, and finds ground through the body...
Reduced a bit since they went for underground HT for the most part, and insulated LT (440V 3 phase)...
Oh, and "China copper" has come in winding wire: steel wire coated / plated with copper, and enameled insulation.
Common in small motors and transformers, occasionally tube light chokes. Hard to catch out because it is in a magnetic housing.