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Topic: Share your worst electrical nightmare!

Tony Bandiera Jr
Film God

Posts: 3067
From: Moreland Idaho
Registered: Apr 2004

posted 08-07-2004 01:04 AM

Stephen: "Mythbusters" recently did a piece about pissing on the third rail. Do you have any pics of those old mercury arc rectifiers? They would be a sight to see indeed.

Bobby: Jeez indeed. How big are those LED signs? ANd is that 38 amps at 120v or 240v?

Tim: Tease. [Big Grin]

Do share some of your electric exploits with the masses.

quote: Matthew Bailey
I had several 120 volt hits during my childhood years& aldo probably during those years a 20 kilovolt hit fom a TV vacuum tube rectifier.

Sticking pins in the sockets, eh? [Big Grin]

And TV's are the worst for shocks. That's why I never work on 'em.

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Chris Hipp
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1462
From: Mesquite, Tx (east of Dallas)
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 08-07-2004 01:11 AM

I got a little shock from a Switching suitcase power supply tonight. The power input (quick disconnect) shorted out and when I touched the casing it shocked me.

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Jason Black
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1723
From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 08-07-2004 01:24 AM

Micheal,

Like YOU have room to talk about someone's picture????

Pullleeezzzze.

[Roll Eyes]

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Josh Jones
Redhat

Posts: 1207
From: Plano, TX
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 08-07-2004 02:31 AM

15KV @ 120ma

thats my record. Neon sign transformer feeding a home made salt water capacitor.....OUCH

Josh

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Tony Bandiera Jr
Film God

Posts: 3067
From: Moreland Idaho
Registered: Apr 2004

posted 08-07-2004 03:05 AM

quote: Josh Jones
15KV @ 120ma

thats my record. Neon sign transformer feeding a home made salt water capacitor.....OUCH

And what evil experiment was young Josh attempting here?

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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 08-07-2004 03:32 AM

quote: Jason Black
Micheal,

Like YOU have room to talk about someone's picture????

Pullleeezzzze.

Jason, I am targeting you too. I just have to find a suitable picture of Cher for the Separated at Birth? thread.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 08-07-2004 03:47 AM

My worst electrical nightmare was back when I was working at UA. We had a bunch of power fluctuations and some really bad storms that evening and lost power to sections of the building. I was in the electrical room trying to see if we had any breakers that needed resetting when one of the main panels started to smoke. So I pulled off the cover with fire extinguisher ready and the thing burst into flames in my face, followed immediately by another panel being blown off of the box. It was then that I heard Phil Hill screaming like a little girl in the background as John Pytlak walked calmly into the room and handed me a piece of paper with a link written on it. The rest is sketchy. I don't remember dreams all that well, but I guess that's about my worst "nightmare". [Razz]

In all seriousness, I've only gotten zapped by 220V AC before. No big deal.

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Phil Hill
I love my cootie bug

Posts: 7595
From: Hollywood, CA USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 08-07-2004 04:06 AM

quote: Brad Miller
I don't remember dreams all that well, but I guess that's about my worst "nightmare".

Thank God for John's and my sake it wasn't a wet dream! [beer]

>>> Phil

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Stephen Furley
Film God

Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002

posted 08-07-2004 06:31 AM

Ignoring high voltages from things that can't source much current, I've had 415V a.c. (from mains) and 100V (dynamo on showman's engine) and 200V d.c. (supply to old lift motor) once each, and 240V a.c. (from mains), probably about ten times during my life, I used to do worryng things with the mains as a child. None of them very pleasant, but none did any permanent damage.

Can xenon ignitors do real harm? I don't know how much current they can supply. Xenons still worry me, I've never used anything bigger than 2.5k, but I don't like handling them.

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Jeff Stricker
Master Film Handler

Posts: 481
From: Calumet, Mi USA
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 08-07-2004 06:44 AM

I received a 440V shock in machinery lab when my lab partner accidently energized the circuit I was hooking up. Seems he had difficulty with English (not his native language) and confused my instruction to leave power knife switch OFF. That knocked me on my kiester and gave the professor a scare, too. Following that, I instructed my lab partner to keep his hands in his pockets and I would operate all the equipment.

I worked with an enginer for many years who had a similar accident in college. His right arm and leg were about 75% paralized.

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Dennis Benjamin
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1445
From: Denton, MD
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 08-07-2004 06:53 AM

I got 1200 volts that knocked me across a room before....

But the worst thing was:

I was working at the Springhill 4 Theatre in Springhill, FL. A customer came out of an auditorium and said that the picture 'went out' during the movie. I ran upstairs to see what was going on. The Xenon wasn't on. When I tried to re-ignite the bulb - the rectifer made a hellacious noise. I stood there for a moment, scared to try again, but I did anyways. The rectifer blew up, shot flames everywhere - and caught my damn pants on fire. What a night! However, when I went downstairs - the customers had heard everything, saw my pants, and took thier rainchecks and went home - without a single complaint.

True Story....

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James B. Openshaw
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 106
From: Mt. Pleasant, SC, USA
Registered: Jun 2002

posted 08-07-2004 08:44 AM

2 of my worst electrical nightmares happened during my pre-projection days as an usher at the AMC Seven Hills 10 when I lived in Aurora, CO (Around age 16). Both of these experiences happened while theatre cleaning.

The cleaning lights for the auditorium were turned on and off by one of those switches with those thin slots where you need a key or something thin to switch off the lights. Since the theatre was too cheap to give all ushers a light switch key, we had to improvise. So I decided to remove my nametag and use the sharp pin to switch the lights down. As a result, I sure did feel a shock and my nametag pin was melted.

The other accident included using the electrical leaf blowers that we used to clean auditoriums after heavy crowds. One of the electrical outlets on the walls was slightly deformed and go figure I decided to use that outlet. The first time I plugged in the blower everything ran fine until about halfway finished the cord was snagged and I ended up pulling the plug of the outlet. When I went back to plug it in, there was a flash of light accompanied by sparks and concluded with black marks on my hand. This also resulted in all other wall outlets shutting off and we ended up using the traditional dustpan and broom to finish up.

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Tony Bandiera Jr
Film God

Posts: 3067
From: Moreland Idaho
Registered: Apr 2004

posted 08-07-2004 01:57 PM

quote: Dennis Benjamin
The rectifer blew up, shot flames everywhere - and caught my damn pants on fire. What a night! However, when I went downstairs - the customers had heard everything, saw my pants, and took thier rainchecks and went home - without a single complaint.

True Story....

So that would rule out the "Liar, liar pants on fire" rebuttal by any of the customers....since I've never met any liars whose pants were on fire [Big Grin]

I hope for everyone's sake you were wearing underwear...even if after that it wasn't clean! [Eek!]

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Stephen Furley
Film God

Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002

posted 08-07-2004 02:29 PM

Sadly, I never took any pictures of rectifiers, either cinema or railway ones. There are plenty of pictures on line however.

http://www.tigercom.dsl.pipex.com/gallery.htm
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/electricstuff/mercarticle.html
http://www.starfury.demon.co.uk/uground/belsize.html
http://www.electricstuff.co.uk/mercarc.html
http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/b/belsize_park_deep_shelter/index4.shtml

In some cases you need to scroll down to near the end to find the best pictures. These are small industrial units, similar to those found in some of the larger cinemas. Railway ones could be much larger, but the really big ones were always steel tanks.

This is a not very good picture of the works of a large 12 anode steel tank one, removed from its tank, at 'The Depot', the reserve collection store for the London Transport museum.

This beast is about 2 metres high, and 2.5 metres in diameter, when mounted in its tank.

Similar ones were used on the IND system in New York. The IRT and BMT both used rotary converters. There are some very good pictures of these in a recently-published book, available at the New York transit museum. The book is printed in China, and the quality of the reproduction is supurb, as is much else that's coming out of China these days.

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Phil Hill
I love my cootie bug

Posts: 7595
From: Hollywood, CA USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 08-07-2004 02:38 PM

While I like the looks of an operating Mercury vapor rectifier such as an 866, those big glass bulb mercury arc rectifiers scare the pants off of me! I keep my distance from those! Yikes!

>>> Phil

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