Why I write about electricity!
The day I accidentally stopped and restarted my heart…
Everyone,
I want to share everything I know about electricity, and would love to double the number of subscribers to this newsletter in the next few months. And I’m not really worried if these are free or paid subscribers. I just want my RVelectricity safety and DIY articles, videos and podcasts (coming soon) to reach as many RV owners as possible.
But lots of my readers and seminar attendees ask me how and why I became interested in teaching electrical safety, so here’s my story…
Why do I do this?
Well, I started experimenting and teaching myself electricity when I was 4 years old (really, I did). And by the age of 14 I was designing and building my own tube amplifiers, big speaker cabinets and sound mixing boards for my band. So by the time I made it to my 20’s I was getting pretty brazen around electricity since I had been working around live high-voltage circuits for the last decade, and rarely been shocked.
Then something went very wrong…
I was building a big tube power amplifier which had a 600 volt DC power supply and a lot of storage capacitors. But, being an indestructible 22 year-old I was doing everything wrong.
I was working on a live high-voltage circuit all alone
I was most of the way through a 6-pack of beer since I didn’t want to be too tense while working on live voltage
And finally, I was leaning my bare left arm on the metal chassis of the amplifier chassis, and reaching into the live circuit with a screwdriver using my other hand
How I nearly killed myself
My hand slipped onto the screwdriver shaft and I made contact with the big capacitor bank charged up to 600 volts DC. So I took a hand-to-hand shock through my heart that blasted me backwards out of my chair. The last thing I remembered was everything going black and I was knocked out!
Don’t let this happen to you!
Sometime later I woke up in the corner of the room, and felt like I’d been kicked down a flight of stairs. That 600-volt shock made every muscle in my body contract at the same time and stopped my heart for a second, which caused me to black out. But lucky for me this was 600-volts DC, not AC. And DC voltage is what’s used by a defibrillator to restart a heart. Yup, I had stopped and restarted my heart at the same time. Had this been 600-volts AC I would have died on the floor. But instead I learned a very important lesson about electric shocks.
A shock can kill you!
Oh yes, it most certainly can. And it doesn’t take 600 or 240 or even 120 volts AC. The lower threshold of death by electrocution is around 40 volts AC if your hands are wet and you get a good grip in an energized object. And AC voltage is much more dangerous than DC voltage since 60 Hz is just the right frequency to interrupt your heart rhythm.
Never work on live voltage alone!
Unless you’re properly trained you should never work on circuits with live voltage at all. Unfortunately, for troubleshooting circuits you often need the power to be on. But be super careful when doing so and don’t let anyone distract you.
Don’t use both hands, ever!
One of my master electrician colleagues taught me to keep my unused hand in my back pocket so I don’t touch anything with it. And don’t be standing in water while plugging into shore power.
Know your meter, and use it!
We have a saying in the live sound business that every mic is an open mic. And I treat every circuit as electrically live until I can triple check it myself. In fact, there’s a procedure called a Live-Dead-Live test that I was trained on nearly 50 years ago. Basically, you need to confirm that your meter and test method is actually working. I think that topic needs its own video, so watch for it!
I’ve been writing for the RV industry since 2010
But I started this daily newsletter 18 months ago, so I’ve already published 700+ of my RVelectricity and NoShockZone articles, and I’m still on track to post 300 articles per year.
I write a lot, and there’s lots to write about. This knowledge can help you repair your own RV, troubleshoot pesky problems that the dealer can’t solve, and keep you alive. That’s right, always remember that electricity can kill you. I came really close to electrocuting myself 48 years ago, so learn from my mistakes.
Please share this newsletter
This is a labor of love and I really want to spread this information. Please invite me on your own video blog, or share one of my articles, or even contact me about teaching an online or onsite seminar for your RV group or rally.
And if you can help by joining as a paid subscriber that would be fantastic. But I really want to grow my free subscriber base so I can save more lives. That’s my primary mission…
Let’s stay safe out there - Mike Sokol
Thank you for doing what you do, Mike!
Mike, thanks for sharing the story of your early experiences and history with electricity. Mine is similar. My dad helped me build a “crystal” radio when I was 4 and I’ve never stopped being curious and experimenting with electronics since then. Reading your articles is an extension of what started when I was a child, although I got my education and had a 40 year career as an electronics engineer in between. Much like you my greatest pleasure now comes from helping others and my focus is on helping middle school students from rural communities pursue their interests in engineering and science. Your desire to increase your subscriber base makes me wonder if there are ways you could reach a younger audience by offering mini-seminars to middle school students to get them interested? They love hands-on demonstrations and you are great at this. Maybe some of your friends or readers are middle school teachers and would be interested in helping you make connections at student events such as science fairs? I believe there have to be a lot of young students out there who are curious about electricity and would love to be exposed to your material in an appropriate form and forum. Go for it!