@Arkturos saidWhat is it about boys and electricity? One of my brothers B electrocuted himself by connecting a wire to a live light fitting. Mum saved his life by pulling the wire from his hands as he was temporarily paralysed. Brother A asked my mum what the hissing was when he dropped a plugged in iron into a bath of water. Another brother C liked peeling apart old batteries.
When I was a little kid, I used to stick knives in the wall sockets (so I have been told).
I'm guessing they must have been butter knives.
I also learned that putting one's tongue on terminals of a 9V battery would give one a nice little zap or tingle, but one of my younger brothers took to that more than I did.
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@Drewnogal saidInteresting. Maybe there is some kind of correlation to be investigated.
What is it about boys and electricity? One of my brothers B electrocuted himself by connecting a wire to a live light fitting. Mum saved his life by pulling the wire from his hands as he was temporarily paralysed. Brother A asked my mum what the hissing was when he dropped a plugged in iron into a bath of water. Another brother C liked peeling apart old batteries.
One of my brothers became fascinated with batteries and electronics.
As for me, I did get lightly electrocuted when I was a teenager and we were living in St. Pete (Florida, not Russia).
One morning it had rained more than usual overnight, which had soaked the ground enough that our house's grounding wire couldn't help, so our back yard was somewhat electrified and our poor dog (Muffin) was yelping because of that.
My (dear but now late) Mom sent me out to bring Muffin in, and I myself also exclaimed when I set foot upon that ground. I did bring Muffin in and we both survived, but (sorry about this, Mom!) at the time it seemed Mom's primary concern was "what will the neighbors think?" re: my own yelping. 😉
@Arkturos saidSounds worrying 😫, as kids we often got electric shocks off a panel of 8 metal switches in our hall. We soon learned that you had to flick them on or off very quickly. Must have been the humidity and it was a big, old house. Those days you just got the cooker earthed - thankfully. Static shocks happened when emptying nylon laundry bags in hospitals. We had scissors on a metal chain, tucked into our nurse dress breast pocket - ouch!
Interesting. Maybe there is some kind of correlation to be investigated.
One of my brothers became fascinated with batteries and electronics.
As for me, I did get lightly electrocuted when I was a teenager and we were living in St. Pete (Florida, not Russia).
One morning it had rained more than usual overnight, which had soaked the ground enough that our house's gr ...[text shortened]... the time it seemed Mom's primary concern was "what will the neighbors think?" re: my own yelping. 😉
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@Drewnogal saidNot childhood but youth. A friend showed me how to “jump” a car battery. Years later I had to “jump” my car and apparently I erred in my technique (cable connecting sequence) shearing off the top of my friend’s battery.🫢😲
Sounds worrying 😫, as kids we often got electric shocks off a panel of 8 metal switches in our hall. We soon learned that you had to flick them on or off very quickly. Must have been the humidity and it was a big, old house. Those days you just got the cooker earthed - thankfully. Static shocks happened when emptying nylon laundry bags in hospitals. We had scissors on a metal chain, tucked into our nurse dress breast pocket - ouch!
@Great-Big-Stees saidOh dear!! Lucky you weren’t injured. Horrible story this one ….. we’ve always one more tragic …. my brother’s mate was working on an electricity pylon, not sure exactly what doing but somehow the current arced and went through his hand right through his body. He died a day later in hospital. One of his fingers was completely black. My brother explained that the power surge would have burnt a channel right down through his body, poor man.
Not childhood but youth. A friend showed me how to “jump” a car battery. Years later I had to “jump” my car and apparently I erred in my technique (cable connecting sequence) shearing off the top of my friend’s battery.🫢😲
@Drewnogal saidElectricity is spooky; you can't see it, only feel it.
Oh dear!! Lucky you weren’t injured. Horrible story this one ….. we’ve always one more tragic …. my brother’s mate was working on an electricity pylon, not sure exactly what doing but somehow the current arced and went through his hand right through his body. He died a day later in hospital. One of his fingers was completely black. My brother explained that the power surge would have burnt a channel right down through his body, poor man.
@Drewnogal saidOh! That is horrible.
Oh dear!! Lucky you weren’t injured. Horrible story this one ….. we’ve always one more tragic …. my brother’s mate was working on an electricity pylon, not sure exactly what doing but somehow the current arced and went through his hand right through his body. He died a day later in hospital. One of his fingers was completely black. My brother explained that the power surge would have burnt a channel right down through his body, poor man.
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@Drewnogal saidI had what could only be described as an electric epiphany, age 5, wandering down the street, come across a garage with open door, music coming from inside.
What is it about boys and electricity? One of my brothers B electrocuted himself by connecting a wire to a live light fitting. Mum saved his life by pulling the wire from his hands as he was temporarily paralysed. Brother A asked my mum what the hissing was when he dropped a plugged in iron into a bath of water. Another brother C liked peeling apart old batteries.
A radio sits on a stool, no case, tubes glowing, remember them? So ATT they designed transformerless power supplies where one of the 110 volt wires goes to the power supply parts, the other to the metal chassis.
If the electric wires are wired neutral to chassis, no problem, but if the power plug was reversed, the chassis itself would have 110 volts on it, radio doesn't care about that physics crap, it plays just fine.
So here I am, hearing the music, nobody there, I see all those glowing tubes, ?????
So touched the chassis, the epiphany started about 5 seconds after I yanked my hand away from touching the chassis, it turned out I had much better than average reaction times.
I doubt it lasted more than a quarter second but it was enough to invoke a lifelong interest in electronics, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT? kind of question in my mind ATT, so 79 years later, still into electronics and music🙂
@sonhouse saidYes, remember those. Thankfully you survived to tell your story! Most homes kept insulation tape then - the solution to any electrical idea like extending the wires on a table lamp or stereo speakers. My dad didn’t seem to worry about us kids changing 3 point plugs either. We often fused the lights. My husband was an electrical engineer who designed power supplies for fruit machines. He helped me out when the lights partially fused at a house where I was dog sitting, late one night explaining there had to be a second fuse box there. He never, ever touched any electrics in our home mind. He dabbled with plumbing but never electrics! He also taught me that when a light bulb blew inside a fridge freezer that the whole appliance could fuse giving the impression it had broken. All you did is remove the bulb then it starts working again 🙂
I had what could only be described as an electric epiphany, age 5, wandering down the street, come across a garage with open door, music coming from inside.
A radio sits on a stool, no case, tubes glowing, remember them? So ATT they designed transformerless power supplies where one of the 110 volt wires goes to the power supply parts, the other to the metal chassis.
If ...[text shortened]... ELL WAS THAT? kind of question in my mind ATT, so 79 years later, still into electronics and music🙂
@Drewnogal saidSo the gist there was to use LED lights but of course they were 30 years in the future🙂
Yes, remember those. Thankfully you survived to tell your story! Most homes kept insulation tape then - the solution to any electrical idea like extending the wires on a table lamp or stereo speakers. My dad didn’t seem to worry about us kids changing 3 point plugs either. We often fused the lights. My husband was an electrical engineer who designed power supplies for fruit ...[text shortened]... e giving the impression it had broken. All you did is remove the bulb then it starts working again 🙂
I had a serious incident with electricity, my ham rig had some kind of problem, no, remember now I was looking for a place in the circuitry I could add a probe to send the IF signal to another box to allow AM receive where my rig, a Collins KWA2A rig with tubes so an 800 volt power supply.
So I am probing around, and STUPID me, did not unplug the power. So ATT I had my little recording studio and ham rig in the same place together where I had built a wooden box about 6 feet wide, 5 feet high and 3 ish feet deep.
So I am futzing with the rig, looking for a place I could add some electronics to be able to listen to short wave radio which meant receiving AM but my KWA2 was a SSB only rig (Single Sideband.
A modulation technique with a near 10 times more efficient use of the the use of power, like a rig with 10 watts out with SSB would give the same range and such as a 100 watt AM radio.
So there I am TOUCHING the wiring. STUPID, and I connect with the 800 volt RF output and it froze me, 800 volts of RF going through both arms, and I could not let go.
So the only thing that worked on my body was my legs, so I pushed off with my legs and I flew across the small space in that room, hitting a bookcase and at that point at least I got away from being executed but I was lying on the floor with a bookcase on top of me, and the rig dangling by the power plug.
I had a burn on my thumb that had made it so stiff I could not move my thumb and I was thinking that ended my music career. it recovered in a couple of days though..
I was in a band ATT called Southwind and we had giigs all over LA and more. I could not move my thumb enough to play guitar and I thought that's it, no more music.
This time I actually unplugged the KWA2 after getting the damned bookcase off my tummy🙂 and put it all together and it was a testament to Collins that the rig itself was not broken so with that little education learning curve.
I was shaking for an hour or so thinking how frigging close I came to dying right there and then. A lesson that stayed with me for my entire field service career and later I got a job where I went to OJT {on the job training}.
I can't remember how many times I went to classes at Varian and the beast I worked on then was called an ion implanter, which was a room sized machine with a 200,000 volt power supply, too technical to go any deeper but I learned a LOT of respect which kept me from literally getting killed so that was a good lesson earlier which holds me in good stead to this day.
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@sonhouse saidMy husband could have explained all that if he were still here. He often mentioned an emergency shopping trip he did to your Silicon Valley back in the 70’s. It had been quite an adventure.
So the gist there was to use LED lights but of course they were 30 years in the future🙂
I had a serious incident with electricity, my ham rig had some kind of problem, no, remember now I was looking for a place in the circuitry I could add a probe to send the IF signal to another box to allow AM receive where my rig, a Collins KWA2A rig with tubes so an 800 volt power supp ...[text shortened]... literally getting killed so that was a good lesson earlier which holds me in good stead to this day.
@Drewnogal saidI have been a ham since I was 15, a few months back🙂 I had a double career, VERY high tech cleanroom chip manufacturing machines and my music, my band played professionally all over LA. I should have known better than to screw around with a transmitter that was plugged in and running. Of course that taught me a very valuable lesson...
My husband could have explained all that if he were still here. He often mentioned an emergency shopping trip he did to your Silicon Valley back in the 70’s. It had been quite an adventure.
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@sonhouse saidThe lesson I learned after attempting to be a plumber, electrician, furnace and AC technician and IT person is, “DON’T”. Take your phone and call in an expert.👍
I have been a ham since I was 15, a few months back🙂 I had a double career, VERY high tech cleanroom chip manufacturing machines and my music, my band played professionally all over LA. I should have known better than to screw around with a transmitter that was plugged in and running. Of course that taught me a very valuable lesson...