4 ms·
A good GFCI, safety equipment and respect go a long way. Especially the first one saved me more than a dozen times at this point. Yay for required-by-law GFCI
by zaarn 8y ago
A good GFCI, safety equipment and respect go a long way.
Especially the first one saved me more than a dozen times at this point. Yay for required-by-law GFCI on the house-level.
I also do recommend to get some Schuko (CEE 7/3 and CEE7/4) or UK plugs and sockets, even if you're in the US just so you can avoid the safety nightmare that is the US plug. (Thuogh I'm not sure if you can do them as permanent installs in the US... they're still neat for lab equipment)
edit: you should have respect for anything about 50V or so, after that point it can be quite dangerous. 120V is way above where i start using safety equipment.
- kosma 8y agoNo GFCI will save you on the secondary side of a transformer. My point is: working with standard 120/230V requires just following codes and guidelines. Tinkering with HV in non-standard setups requires understanding of how and why.
- zaarn 8y agoThe secondary side of a transformer can be a lot safer if there is no potential to ground. If there is the GFCI will trigger. But yes, working with codes and guidelines is the best option here.
- jacquesm 8y agoYou might get silly and insert more than one hand into a working device.
- zaarn 8y agoI don't get silly above 50V. edit: also, in case you put two hands in a device, it won't matter much if it's on the other side of an isolating transformer or not. The GFCI might not trigger in this case.
- jacquesm 8y ago> also, in case you put two hands in a device, it won't matter much if it's on the other side of an isolating transformer or not. The GFCI might not trigger in this case. That was my point.
- bluGill 8y agoThere is always potential for ground. The secondary side of the transformer has a much more dangerous potential: a unknown fault puts something at ground, and then thinking there is no ground you touch ground and the other side. Normally that would be harmless, but since there is an unknown ground it is deadly. In many ways mains power would be safer if there was no ground, and a lot cheaper. However a couple failure cases are even worse without ground, and they are the type you only find out about when somebody dies. Thus we put ground in houses.
- marcoperaza 8y agoYou almost killed yourself over a dozen times, but your advice to the inexperienced person above is a few safety tips, not much better “just be careful”. The only reasonable advice is to not even touch the stuff unless you’re an expert with plenty of training. Especially since there’s nothing to be gained except satisfying a useless curiosity.
- detaro 8y agoWhere do you see advice of "just be careful"?
- c12 8y agoWithout useless curiosity HN wouldn't exist...
- zaarn 8y agoI almost killed myself over a dozen times and yet I'm still standing. If you don't take advice about handling high electricity from someone who experienced it a couple times, from whom do you take it then? I will gladly touch stuff to change my lightbulb, I'm not gonna consult an expert for that. Or swapping fuses and other, similarly, simple procedures that are reasonably safe if you are "just careful". Useless curiosity is where the majority of human progress comes from.