Thank you so much for writing these articles. They ARE life saving. I had similar experience of being shocked while in the Army at age 21. I was in the Signal Corps as a 31M (radio relay attendant). We were trained on radios that were all tubes, and the radios had several drawer like pull outs so that you could access the tubes inside. One day as I was troubleshooting the setup, my dog tags (around my neck) fell into the drawer. I must have been holding on to the metal case or had a screwdriver in there when this occurred. I have no idea of the DC voltage that these operated on but, I also woke up on the other side of the room. No damage done, except i was really sore all over for several days. I read almost all of your articles except the most technical as it’s over my head. In the last 5-10 years, I have encountered two occasions where we had a hot skin on the RV. One early on in my daughter’s RV which ended up being a problem with their pedestal. I had just begun to read your articles at that time and knew just enough to un plug it and call management. The second time was on my RV while checking tire pressures at home in a covered, dry shelter. I got a pretty good jolt. I got my NCVT and picked up voltage from about a foot away from the wheels. From the articles you had written, and your book which I read, knew instantly that I had a bad ground somewhere. Sure enough I had a loose ground that was connected by a screw in the inside back of my pedestal. After tightening this screw, Powered it up and checked again with NCVT and problem solved. Thank you! Thank you!! Your articles ARE life saving! I’m sharing your info as much as possible with other campers. Again, thanks!
Back when I was a teen, I was working on our lawnmower and got it running, but it wouldn't shut down. So...I tried to pull off the spark plug lead while holding onto the metal handle. It felt like someone hit me in the chest with a hammer! Fortunately, it did no permanent damage and served as a major wake-up call when dealing with electricity
Around 6 or so, I decided to try to start a model airplane engine that my uncle gave me. I knew the glow plug needed electricity, so I took the bulb out of a table lamp and stuck the cylinder of the engine in it. That one didn't hurt me, but it blew a fuse and my parents were none too happy about it!
Mike, this is exactly why I wear my low voltage insulated rubber gloves rated to 600 volts when using a meter to test hot circuits or doing any work inside a energized electrical panel. There is a large selection of gloves on line for $100.00 or less and should be used with a leather protector glove over them. While working for an electric utility it was always said that the safety rule book is written in blood because someone was seriously injured or worse. The process was always to wear your gloves until it was determined that the system was under lock-out and was verified by testing your meter on a known hot circuit, testing and verifying the circuit your working on is dead, and then retesting your meter on the hot circuit (HOT-DEAD-HOT process). Insulated gloves are a very cheap insurance compared to the alternative.
Thank you so much for writing these articles. They ARE life saving. I had similar experience of being shocked while in the Army at age 21. I was in the Signal Corps as a 31M (radio relay attendant). We were trained on radios that were all tubes, and the radios had several drawer like pull outs so that you could access the tubes inside. One day as I was troubleshooting the setup, my dog tags (around my neck) fell into the drawer. I must have been holding on to the metal case or had a screwdriver in there when this occurred. I have no idea of the DC voltage that these operated on but, I also woke up on the other side of the room. No damage done, except i was really sore all over for several days. I read almost all of your articles except the most technical as it’s over my head. In the last 5-10 years, I have encountered two occasions where we had a hot skin on the RV. One early on in my daughter’s RV which ended up being a problem with their pedestal. I had just begun to read your articles at that time and knew just enough to un plug it and call management. The second time was on my RV while checking tire pressures at home in a covered, dry shelter. I got a pretty good jolt. I got my NCVT and picked up voltage from about a foot away from the wheels. From the articles you had written, and your book which I read, knew instantly that I had a bad ground somewhere. Sure enough I had a loose ground that was connected by a screw in the inside back of my pedestal. After tightening this screw, Powered it up and checked again with NCVT and problem solved. Thank you! Thank you!! Your articles ARE life saving! I’m sharing your info as much as possible with other campers. Again, thanks!
Awesome mike
Back when I was a teen, I was working on our lawnmower and got it running, but it wouldn't shut down. So...I tried to pull off the spark plug lead while holding onto the metal handle. It felt like someone hit me in the chest with a hammer! Fortunately, it did no permanent damage and served as a major wake-up call when dealing with electricity
I did exactly the same thing when I was 10 years old. Like you, it felt like I was hit in the chest with a hammer and slammed to the ground. ⚡️⚡️⚡️
Around 6 or so, I decided to try to start a model airplane engine that my uncle gave me. I knew the glow plug needed electricity, so I took the bulb out of a table lamp and stuck the cylinder of the engine in it. That one didn't hurt me, but it blew a fuse and my parents were none too happy about it!
This is starting to sound like Dumb and Dumber!
Mike, this is exactly why I wear my low voltage insulated rubber gloves rated to 600 volts when using a meter to test hot circuits or doing any work inside a energized electrical panel. There is a large selection of gloves on line for $100.00 or less and should be used with a leather protector glove over them. While working for an electric utility it was always said that the safety rule book is written in blood because someone was seriously injured or worse. The process was always to wear your gloves until it was determined that the system was under lock-out and was verified by testing your meter on a known hot circuit, testing and verifying the circuit your working on is dead, and then retesting your meter on the hot circuit (HOT-DEAD-HOT process). Insulated gloves are a very cheap insurance compared to the alternative.