3 ms·

The first (and last) electric shock I ever got was taking apart a Canon Powershot A50 when I was a kid. Turns out flash capacitors produce a hell of a kick....

by neom 3y ago

The first (and last) electric shock I ever got was taking apart a Canon Powershot A50 when I was a kid. Turns out flash capacitors produce a hell of a kick.... still get shivers thinking about that feeling, still have two dot scars on my index finger where it discharged. Pro tip: don't fuck with camera flashes. ;)

hilbert42 3y ago
You're lucky, I've worked with vacuum tube electronics and being 'bitten' by electrolytic capacitors is an occupational hazard. I'd guess I've been shocked hundreds if not thousands of times, one gets used to it. However, it's not the electrolytic capacitors that are charged to 250/350 volts that one worries about, if one works with high powered transmitters or similar equipment then their power supplies have capacitors that work at many thousands of volts which can remain charged after the equipment is switched off. Get across one of these and it's likely curtains, they're lethal. Special precautions should be undertaken to discharge them and to ensure they remain discharged. Just discharging them isn't enough as a capacitor's dielectric 'relaxes' after being stressed by the voltage and its dimensions change which partially recharges the capacitor. To avoid a partial recharge its electrodes are short-circuited with wire while doing maintenance. This too can be hazardous, failure to remove the wire afterwards can lead to much damage.
great_psy 3y ago
I also got shocked by one of those capacitors once… And then I proceeded to connect different wires to figure out how to recharge the capacitor and touch it with a screwdriver which proceeded to melt just so slightly that it got stuck to the lead. Good memories.
maxbond 3y ago
I got bit by a big capacitor trying to take apart a disposable camera as a kid. I immediately threw it across the room. I was being very dumb, I heard it charge (I was prying with a screwdriver and shorted something that caused it to charge) but didn't register the danger. The biggest jolt I ever got (also as a kid, I guess I must've learned eventually) was from a giant homemade capacitor I thought I had discharged fully after charging it with a van de Graaf generator. I fully grabbed both electrodes at the same time - very stupid, not as stupid as pulling the trigger on a gun you only think is unloaded but stupid in a pretty similar way. Must've created a circuit right through my heart. No idea what it's capacitance was, but it was made of I think about a foot of 2 inch PVC and aluminum foil, so not insubstantial. But I don't have any scars, so I guess I got off easy!

by neom 3y ago

hilbert42 3y ago

You're lucky, I've worked with vacuum tube electronics and being 'bitten' by electrolytic capacitors is an occupational hazard. I'd guess I've been shocked hundreds if not thousands of times, one gets used to it. However, it's not the electrolytic capacitors that are charged to 250/350 volts that one worries about, if one works with high powered transmitters or similar equipment then their power supplies have capacitors that work at many thousands of volts which can remain charged after the equipment is switched off. Get across one of these and it's likely curtains, they're lethal. Special precautions should be undertaken to discharge them and to ensure they remain discharged. Just discharging them isn't enough as a capacitor's dielectric 'relaxes' after being stressed by the voltage and its dimensions change which partially recharges the capacitor. To avoid a partial recharge its electrodes are short-circuited with wire while doing maintenance. This too can be hazardous, failure to remove the wire afterwards can lead to much damage.

great_psy 3y ago

I also got shocked by one of those capacitors once… And then I proceeded to connect different wires to figure out how to recharge the capacitor and touch it with a screwdriver which proceeded to melt just so slightly that it got stuck to the lead. Good memories.

maxbond 3y ago

I got bit by a big capacitor trying to take apart a disposable camera as a kid. I immediately threw it across the room. I was being very dumb, I heard it charge (I was prying with a screwdriver and shorted something that caused it to charge) but didn't register the danger. The biggest jolt I ever got (also as a kid, I guess I must've learned eventually) was from a giant homemade capacitor I thought I had discharged fully after charging it with a van de Graaf generator. I fully grabbed both electrodes at the same time - very stupid, not as stupid as pulling the trigger on a gun you only think is unloaded but stupid in a pretty similar way. Must've created a circuit right through my heart. No idea what it's capacitance was, but it was made of I think about a foot of 2 inch PVC and aluminum foil, so not insubstantial. But I don't have any scars, so I guess I got off easy!