# Electrified rain gutter



## Yoyizit (Jul 11, 2008)

dave1123 said:


> got a jolt
> 90 volts to ground!


This problem has come up before. 

Why wasn't it 120 v? 
Was the jolt a "tingle" [~1 mA] or "painful" [over 10 mA]?
Were your hands dry? 
Were you wearing sneakers or leather shoes?

Thanks for any addt'l info. This will come up again, along with people being shocked in swimming pools.


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## del schisler (Aug 22, 2010)

Yoyizit said:


> This problem has come up before.
> 
> Why wasn't it 120 v?
> Was the jolt a "tingle" [~1 mA] or "painful" [over 10 mA]?
> ...


On the voltage the minus side wasn't a good ground . Like a copper rod down 8 feet or more for a good ground. I used to check my ground's on my ham radio antenna's. What i would do is use the plus or the hot leed and measure with a volt meter and see what voltage you get. I live in florida and sometimes a 8 foot wouldn't be enough to get the 120 volt's or what the voltage out of the wall outlet was. Sometime i would have to couple two eight foot copper clad rod's togother and drive them all the way down. Than the voltage was equal to the wall outlet. Probly what he was getting was very little amprage. More like a tingle . Now if you had a meter to measure the ma. That would have told you what the current was. I was in radio and tv repair so i know a little about shock's


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## Yoyizit (Jul 11, 2008)

del schisler said:


> I was in radio and tv repair so i know a little about shock's


And with flat screen TVs there is no more CRT 2nd anode to zap you!


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## del schisler (Aug 22, 2010)

Yoyizit said:


> And with flat screen TVs there is no more CRT 2nd anode to zap you!


you need a little zap once in a while . Just to let you know what not to do the next time. But those old metel pic tube's used in the rca was the worst ones even when you discharge them . they would still get you when you had to change the tube up in the tuner. Those were the day's Been retired for 20 ysr now But was in tv repair for 40 yrs thanks for the reply del


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## Jim F (Mar 4, 2010)

I can remember thinking I wanted to be a TV repairman when I was young. 
Even took a class offered in high school. Nowadays people just throw them out and buy new.


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## dave1123 (Jun 30, 2010)

The ground was only a chain link fence nearby. It was just a tingle, until I put my hand on the fence! Then it was enough for me to jerk back and go "What the hell?"
Hey TV guy. Do they use flat screens in radar displays yet? Those CRTs were nasty!!

Metalman


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## Yoyizit (Jul 11, 2008)

dave1123 said:


> it was enough for me to jerk back and go "What the hell?"


Well, ~20 mA is the 'can't let go' threshold so I guess you got around 10 mA.
90 V/0.01 A = 9000 ohms so you probably had dry skin but the voltage might have been lower because you might have been loading down. Maybe you got 30 V @ 10 mA @ 3 K skin/body resistance.
The concrete that the fence posts are sunk in, and the ground, and you, are semiconductors.

Some TVs used 5U4 rectifiers in the power supply and if you shorted the supply the plates would slowly turn bright red. Great fun! 

I might still have my RCA Tube Manual. My Knight Kit VTVM still works. . .sort of.


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## Tom Struble (Dec 29, 2008)

ok ok your getting way too excited...drink your milk and go to bed:yes:


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## Yoyizit (Jul 11, 2008)

tomstruble said:


> ok ok your getting way too excited...drink your milk and go to bed:yes:


OK, as soon as I get done singing along with my oldies on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sFy5_kmEi4
Or, if you like "Popera"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQKQdwowbok


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## del schisler (Aug 22, 2010)

Yoyizit said:


> Well, ~20 mA is the 'can't let go' threshold so I guess you got around 10 mA.
> 90 V/0.01 A = 9000 ohms so you probably had dry skin but the voltage might have been lower because you might have been loading down. Maybe you got 30 V @ 10 mA @ 3 K skin/body resistance.
> The concrete that the fence posts are sunk in, and the ground, and you, are semiconductors.
> 
> ...


I had so much fun going on a service call in the wenter when it was zero and than you needed to take the chassis to the work shop Sure was a bunch of fun. Like hell it was Done that for 40 or so yrs. Don't miss it . Retired and now work in the wood shop


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## Yoyizit (Jul 11, 2008)

del schisler said:


> now work in the wood shop


In '94 I found out the hard way that hand surgeons in DC charge up to four kilobucks per hour. They don't like sewing things up that they need a microscope to see. Keep the guards on.
For $50K my hand works, sort of. . .


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