Greastest dumbass moment ive ever had

sansoo24 · 04-13-2006, 09:57 PM

Ok this story makes me look like a complete idiot but i thought you guys might like it. Ive been away from carpc's and this forum for quite sometime now. Basically cuz sever electrical shock will make you question what the hell it is you are doing.

I grew up in BFE land out in the country and one day goin back out to my parents house i saw an electric fence. And i saw it was one of those cool solar powered ones. So i thinks to myself, "self why not disect that som***** and see if it could make a solar powered solution for always keeping your carpc on." Now if youre someone who knows about electrical engineering or are a genius or something this might not sound stupid. But i dont know any of this stuff. All i know is these style electric fences can pack a punch. (played with em as a kid) May explain somethings. Anyways i found an old one of these at my parents farm. Took it home and took it all apart. Not a whole lot in there. Thought it would be simple.

Here is the stupid part. I have no idea if they are AC or DC. I assumed AC by the ticking noise they make. And the fact this one could also be plugged in. (Probably shouldnt have been drinking while i did all of this.) The unit i had was missing the ground plug on the cord. I guess it broke off.

Anyways to shorten this story i had the electric fence charger, and inverter, and an old amplifier. Something went wrong somewhere and plugging the ***** in caused a blown circuit in my house, some odd smells, sparks, smoke, and it about knocked my *** out cold.

Therefore i present to why dumb country ****s like myself shouldnt play with electricity.

kyjoe · 04-13-2006, 10:56 PM

Now Thats funny right there....I don't care who ya are....thats funny..

senseless228 · 04-13-2006, 11:06 PM

wow, you made me ****ty month...that much happier, thank you

sansoo24 · 04-14-2006, 12:05 AM

i told you it was a dumbass idea of mine. But honestly i think if i wasnt half drunk the idea might have worked. And it could be awsome if i did a little research before the attempt.

glad so see it made some of you laugh

shotgunefx · 04-14-2006, 01:03 AM

Some things you learn the hard way.

I've always been wary of electricity, or rather since an incident quite some time ago.

I've been getting into electronics the last few years and getting a lot more comfortable, but AC still scares the **** out of me.

About 15 years ago, I had this strobe light that was broken. Turns out the bulb wasn't soldered right and one of the legs came out of the perf board.

So I try and push it back (like an idiot without unplugging it). In the process, my hand slips off the glass and onto the lead. Zap! My fingers clamp down and I couldn't let it go. It hurt like hell.

My girl totally freaks out, just screaming "Oh my God!" over and over, but not doing anything helpful like, I dunno, unplugging it?

It seemed like forever, but it was probably under 30 seconds. I concentrate with all my might to open my grasp, finally my fingers pay attention.

I was furious at her. The only time I ever yelled at her, but man I was ****ed.

84RegalRider · 04-14-2006, 04:40 AM

sounds like shes a winner.
haha
jk, she was probably just more scared then you were.

you got pretty luck that you could open ur hand.

shotgunefx · 04-14-2006, 04:54 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by 84RegalRider

sounds like shes a winner.
haha
jk, she was probably just more scared then you were.

you got pretty luck that you could open ur hand.

Oh yeah, she just freaked. I was only mad for a second.

It was extremely difficult to let go. I just focused it all up on the one action. I'd imagine it was the neural equivallent of screaming.

rudeboymcc · 04-14-2006, 06:32 AM

I thought it was DC that kept you there?...

shotgunefx · 04-14-2006, 07:16 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by rudeboymcc

I thought it was DC that kept you there?...

No idea... just know that it did. I haven't examined a strobe's inside since, so no idea if they're AC or DC internally, but I'd think AC.

Another good shock is working on telephone wiring when someone calls. That stings

shotgunefx · 04-14-2006, 07:18 AM

Guess it's both.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_shock

Quote:

'Let go' current

With sufficiently high current there can be a muscular spasm which causes the affected person to grip and be unable to release from the current source. The maximum current that can cause the flexors of the arm to contract but that allows a person to release his hand from the current's source is termed the let-go current. For DC, the let-go current is about 75 mA for a 70-kg man. For alternating current, the let go current is about 15 mA, dependent on muscle mass.

Peoples · 04-14-2006, 07:49 AM

i remember al bundy electricuting himself once, and getting stuck on the wire. Jefferson tried to pull him off....and got stuck too.

The only time I remember having a pretty bad experience with AC was when I was about 12-13 and thought that I could charge a 9 volt battery with AC.....with no charger. Used allegator clips on a lamp chord, pluged it in. Thing exploded instantly and shot its insides at my leg. I got a small shock.

shotgunefx · 04-14-2006, 08:02 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Peoples

i remember al bundy electricuting himself once, and getting stuck on the wire. Jefferson tried to pull him off....and got stuck too
...

That was classic. IIRC, same episode, Al has Jefferson holding a board in front of his head while he drills a hole through it.

psyrex · 04-14-2006, 08:22 AM

Hmm, shock stories... I got two:

1) My little brother went on a field trip when he was in elementary school. His teacher bought one of those disposable cameras to record the event. After he gets home, he hands me the internals of the camera and asked me to explain it to him. I showed him how the optics and the flash work, charging and discharging the flash several times. I was handing it back to him when my thumb accidentally touched and shorted the leads to the capacitor that held the charge used for the flash. All that power ran through my arm and made a few muscles spasm. The net effect was that I threw the camera up and smashed it against the ceiling.

2) I was changing a light switch and thought "It's okay if I don't turn off the power... I'll just be more careful." To this day I still don't know what I was thinking. As my screwdriver got close to the switch, it somehow sucked it in like a magnet and my arm just was quivering and wouldn't let go (same arm as above!). I was pretty lucid in thinking "Oh God, am I getting electrocuted? C'mon, pull the arm away... please, arm, move... move, dammit!". My arm would not respond and I just stood there for what seemed like hours, but was probably was just a few seconds.

And there you go, no need to be in the country to be stupid as you can find it right here, even after studying engineering in Berkeley.

-psyrex

anky1 · 04-14-2006, 08:57 AM

I was wiring a power switch for a PC and the wiring diagram was incorrect. i put everything together and plugged the puppy in.... huge sparks flew and i saw lights dim... luckily my hand wasn't involved. but from then on all the people at that job called me "spark the boy wonder".

Peoples · 04-15-2006, 09:33 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by psyrex

Hmm, shock stories... I got two:
As my screwdriver got close to the switch, it somehow sucked it in like a magnet and my arm just was quivering and wouldn't let go (same arm as above!).

magnetic tip screwdriver? hehe