Today, I electrocuted myself.

[wolfie]

I get zapped all the time at work when dealing with the analogue phones and lines. Does not take much to be the ground if the previous people didn't do their job correctly.

Fun Fact - A regular phone line always has -48 volts DC on it. Enough to get your attention.
But it rings at 96 volts. Not enough current to do any damage, but dang! It'll wake you up on a Monday morning. BerZZEEERRRTTT!

B

Don't recall where, but I've read about a woman whose dog would start barking every time the phone rang - except he'd bark and THEN the phone would ring.

Turns out the ground rod wasn't making proper electrical contact with the soil, and the dog's chain was attached to the rod. When the phone rang, the voltage would give the dog a shock (hence the barking), he'd lose bladder control, and with the added moisture the ground was improved enough to allow the phone to ring.

Must have been the only documented case where pissing and moaning solved a problem.

[lineswine]

Many, many years ago I was working a a tech in the Air Communications bay at our friendly neighbourhood Royal Air Force base.
I was working on some kit of circa 1950's vintage (ARC 52/PTR 175 anyone?) that had a rotary transformer, that provided high tension to the valves (tubes) in this design - about 415 volts D.C.
I was wearing a ring on my little finger of twisted silver wire - I went down to measure a voltage at a test point, overdid it a bit annnnd....woke up on the Decca Navigator bench behind me, with the tech saying "Are you alright mate?"
You see, D.C. is a little different from mains A.C. in the fact that it makes you hang on or shoot off, depending on it's polarity with respect to earth (ground). If it had been the other way round, I'd have ended up hanging on to the thing.
We live & learn (hopefully...)

[SteeleDragon78]

i've learned alot about electricity. some through trial and error, some from books. the most important things ive learned is this. 110v @60hz hurts, 220v @60hz hurts alot, 440v @60hz will leave you asking where the truck is that hit you. that knowledge was great for working on normal installations like houses etc. then i got bit by aircraft power, not the dc stuff lineswine hit, but the APU power 110v @400hz that makes you speak in tounges and what ever touched it doesnt move for 30-45 min.

[tech_monkey]

My only experience with electricity was 11th grade Physics, simple thing really. Teacher turns off the main in the classroom, we go to the lab stations and the others in the group grab the Multimeter and check the voltage and resistance, noting them on the lab report. My turn comes around and i follow the instructions the same as the rest of the group and somehow end up with an arc between the probes. I promptly yank my hands back pulling the probes out of the outlet. The teacher comes over to see how that could have happened, he tests the outlet, all seems fine to him, i test and get another arc. *shrugs* Fiance was an electrician before she went to school for radiology tech. Before her Steele did the electrical work for me, i watched though.

[lineswine]

i've learned alot about electricity. some through trial and error, some from books. the most important things ive learned is this. 110v @60hz hurts, 220v @60hz hurts alot, 440v @60hz will leave you asking where the truck is that hit you. that knowledge was great for working on normal installations like houses etc. then i got bit by aircraft power, not the dc stuff lineswine hit, but the APU power 110v @400hz that makes you speak in tounges and what ever touched it doesnt move for 30-45 min.

Heh, I'm pretty familiar with the ouptput of Houchins, Pollouste, etc.
115 volts, 400Hz, 3 phase can knock you into next week, no problem.
The good thing is that aircraft attachments tend to be very safe, if they're not abused.
As for APU stuff, we rarely got close to it - although small (less than a metre), 110,000 RPM is a quick, one way trip to the mortuary - a place I've no intention of visiting.

Not ducking when doing a CB check on the 10th aircraft on the line & knocking yourself out on the VHF blade aerial? Been there, done that (9th Jan, 1984, for the date-afflicted).
I woke up with my oppo telling me to "Stop messing about", THEN he saw the blood & promptly got the Chief Tech & the ambulance involved.

Fun times, eh?

[SteeleDragon78]

Not ducking when doing a CB check on the 10th aircraft on the line & knocking yourself out on the VHF blade aerial? Been there, done that (9th Jan, 1984, for the date-afflicted).
I woke up with my oppo telling me to "Stop messing about", THEN he saw the blood & promptly got the Chief Tech & the ambulance involved.

Fun times, eh?

sounds like as much fun as walking into the trailing edge of a Cessna aileron, leaves a distinct pattern on your forehead, kind of like this ---<>----<>----<>---- . also pitot tubes do not give when backed into.. just sayin