3 ms·
> One thing I learned as amateur EE is to always use just one hand to probe the device under test if there is any high voltage or AC involved. I remember in so
by dmoy 3y ago
> One thing I learned as amateur EE is to always use just one hand to probe the device under test if there is any high voltage or AC involved.
I remember in some EE course, the prof randomly stopped in the middle of a lecture and said roughly
"Ok now that you all know this theory, I need to remind you that you should not go do your own home electrical work, because you will get ahead of yourself and die from some kind of electric shock"
The implication being:
1. You're trained, but for EE not electrician work
2. You'll think you know what to do, even if you don't it'll cloud your judgement
3. As an EE you will make enough to pay a real electrician to do your electrical work
Needless to say in the real high power EE courses (t lines, grid, etc), this wasn't even mentioned, because it was just implicitly known that all that stuff was in the realm of "Don't physically touch this stuff in the real world ever because it will kill you and it will hurt the whole time you're dying".
- onetimeuse92304 3y agoI did not mean doing home electrical work. That I do leave to professionals. But there are times I have a device on my bench that is consuming 230V AC. I have a 3kVA separation transformer set up, which makes it safer for me to work with the device (there is no potential between the DUT and the ground). Technically, even without the transformer the residual current protection should kick in and prevent you getting killed between device and the ground. I have tested mine couple of times to check whether it works. But I somehow still feel better with a separation transformer. But there is still the problem that I could touch different parts of the device that are at different potential and then I could get zapped this way. There is not much protection there. Solution -- If you must, don't ever touch more than one place at a time.