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Author Topic: 900 volts, 1 finger ,and a trip to the emergency room  (Read 58488 times)
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W2INR
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« on: April 09, 2008, 10:18:31 AM »

Just a simple reminder  Voltage and the human body do not go together.

So I am working on my newly aquired FT 102. I had just finished replacing all the relays and I was beginning to do some of the modifications to the rig. After each mod I was firing the rig up to test the mod.

I had the top off of the final (mistake number 1), I had the rig plugged in and ON ( I didn't know it was on but - - yep mistake number 2) and yes finaly I put my finger where it should not have been put ( my mother always warned me about that!!)  ZAAAAAAP!!!!!

I woke up on the floor, I don't know how long I was out but I knew I hurt. I had a good lump on my head from hitting the floor, my finger was blistered on one side and had a hole on the other. I guess the good thing was the finger took the whole hit but I was having chest pains and trouble breathing. Now I figured great, I was taken out by a rice box, no diginity. I drove to the emergency room where after an EKG was performed it was determined I had a myocardial infarction ( mild heart attack). 7 hours in the hospital and then 3 days bed rest.

I found it amazing the damage done by 900v dc. The finger still hurts after 4 days!! Anyway the pics below are 4 days after the event but I think you can get the picture.

Stay tuned as I am going to start working on the rig again!!!

G







* 900V in.JPG (86.06 KB, 922x692 - viewed 987 times.)

* 900 V Out.JPG (85.98 KB, 922x692 - viewed 1045 times.)
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G - The INR


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« Reply #1 on: April 09, 2008, 10:24:59 AM »

Wow, that sounds like it was a nasty experience that could have turned out much worse. Glad you are OK and recovering! Try not to get on Action News today!

73,

Rob W1AEX

(The FT-102 is a great rig and as you know, it sounds great on AM when modified. I had great fun with mine for 20 years before finally selling it last year.)
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« Reply #2 on: April 09, 2008, 10:33:33 AM »

Yeah G, don't being doing that stuff! Equally glad to hear it was a sobering, but not deadly experience.


Stay tuned as I am going to start working on the rig again!!!


That's the spirit! Nothing like getting back on the horse that threw your ass onto the ground. At least now you'll be more methodical and cautious, with more favorable 'final' results. Not that you weren't before, but....we all know how that goes.

Losing Elvis was bad enough. 


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« Reply #3 on: April 09, 2008, 10:55:03 AM »

Gary,
        I hope all is ok. Even a mild heart attack is nothing to fool around with. Be carefull!!

I have 1 cardinal rule around here: Dont muck with high voltage when you are tired!!
I broke it one night a few years ago and got a very big reminder!!

I was working on my G-76 one night after bringing it home from a fester. (you know, you just gotta hear it play!!) I had the cabinets off of both the radio and the base station power supply and both units sitting on their sides on the bench. (on the base powr supply the plate voltage is always on amd swithced by a HV relay)
The power supply started to fall over, heading for my lap. My first instinctive reaction was to grab it before it fell into my lap. I grabbed that bastard right by the HV relay!! I got nailed hard!! I then threw it up into the air to get it out of my hands, as it was coming down I grabbed it again, and right by the relay again!!
this time I just let it fall onto the bench as I jumped back. After getting nailed twice in a row by the 650v high voltage, everything on my body was hurting pretty good, especially both arms. After I regained my composure, I must have invented at least 12 new cusswords!!  I was madder than a turpentined cat!

I now sit back and laugh about it, but it taught me to "practice what I preach!!"
Like my mother used to say when I was a young JN and she was about to beat the hell out of me: "If ya dont listen, yo gotta feel"!!

Take care of yourself and remember we aint gettin no younger!!

                                                                      The Slab Bacon
   
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« Reply #4 on: April 09, 2008, 11:49:41 AM »

G,

glad your ok. Give yourself a few days rest before you get back at it. I took 3 days rest from the Gonset because of battle fatigue. Going to get back to it tonite sometime. Sometimes you just have to take a break or your head will flip around 180 degrees and you'll flip out.


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Rick K5IAR
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« Reply #5 on: April 09, 2008, 11:52:50 AM »

Gary.. please, take your time getting back on the horse, it will still be there when you're ready.  Some things we can get along without, buy YOU are not one of them! 

Be well..
Rick
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« Reply #6 on: April 09, 2008, 11:55:32 AM »

Man! Am I glad your o.k.

Did almost the same thing while building and testing a 10 meter transmitter (6146's) years ago.  Was pinching the final pi net coil to get resonance since Cout was too high.  Somehow B+ got across the coupling cap or finger was in wrong place. A brilliant purple ball of flame rose out from behind the panel.  My finger was instantly crisped at the edge of the fingernail and cauterized at the same time.  That nail has an ugly growth to this day, permanently marred. Have to keep cuttng and fiing it away.

You are very lucky.

On the bright side (if there is any in situations like this) you posted this for everyone's benefit.  We Never can get too many reminders.    

...and hey,  "I was taken out by a rice box, no diginity"; it was a hollow state zorch in attempted AM service, several notches higher than the alternatives.
You "still got class" Gary.
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« Reply #7 on: April 09, 2008, 12:17:17 PM »

When ever I work on HV I sing this little song......"come a little bit closer your my kind of guy", just to remind myself.
I just had a similar conversation with K1KBW Sunday at lunch about the hit he took.
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« Reply #8 on: April 09, 2008, 12:38:26 PM »

When ever I work on HV I sing this little song......"come a little bit closer your my kind of guy", just to remind myself.


 Grin That's a good technique, Frank....

by Jay and the Americans? 

"Come a little bit closer
You're my kind of man
So big and so strong
Come a little bit closer
I'm all alone
And the night is so long"


G, did this just happen or is it the big zap from a coupla years ago?

For what it's worth your left-hand  burned middle finger is a common  standard ulnar loop -  and the index is a whorl pattern fingerprint, somewhat rarer... :-)   The middle COULD be an accidental, the rarest of all, but the scar is hiding a critical delta ID.

T



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« Reply #9 on: April 09, 2008, 12:47:58 PM »

Hi Gary,

Sorry to hear of your incident, but thankful that you are ok!  Thanks for sharing the reminder that we all need to be extra careful, especially as we get older.  I remember vividly the time I had a headfone jack in an old ARC-5 transmitter for metering the plate current, and it was in the B+ circuit, not the cathode.  I remember touching the metal meter case and the chassis at the same time, and got a jolt of over 600 volts.  Ever since then, I think about that whenever I work on HV stuff.  I built a 4-400 rig with 3.5 KV in my barracks at Davis Monthan AFB, and I had to take extra precautions there due to all the other troops that were potentially exposed to the danger. 

I spent the last two weeks troubleshooting a 32V2 I am restoring, and I am so forgetful that I have to remind myself to double-check that the plug is pulled and the HV is shorted before going into it.  Last night it made 100 watts to the RF, but mod bias was off.  I fixed that, then applied all the HLR mods to the audio.  Turned it on and smoke leaked out of the 2.2k resistor in the driver dropping resistor, due to an additional electrolytic in bass akwards.  Fixed that and everything worked.  So now I need to align it, and get the antenna switching working and I will be able to join the group.  Will work with PW for a while before getting the KW rigs on the air. 

When you get back to work on the current project, take your time, have fun, and be safe.  The carpenters always say measure twice, cut once.  I revised that to say double check for voltage safety before jumping in. 

Best regards,
Rick, W8KHK
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Rick / W8KHK  ex WB2HKX, WB4GNR
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« Reply #10 on: April 09, 2008, 12:48:27 PM »

G:

Hope you recover 100%.

I sold a HB 4-1000 amp as I was not confortable kaving 4kv around the shack.

I remember being bit hard with "only" 350v.

Dan
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« Reply #11 on: April 09, 2008, 12:49:34 PM »

Thanks for the comments,

I am always careful around the big stuff, 3kv and 5kv on the 21E, I had my guard down on that little rice box and it bit me.

Tom this was done Sunday evening. The hit I took a few years ago was with the Henry 2k3. But in that case it just threw me across the room and burned my hands. I got back up and continued right on.

Anyway yes I was lucky and I know we all get a little too confortable around this stuff and that is when trouble hits.

G
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« Reply #12 on: April 09, 2008, 01:00:17 PM »


Tom this was done Sunday evening. The hit I took a few years ago was with the Henry 2k3. But in that case it just threw me across the room and burned my hands. I got back up and continued right on.

G


Ouch!  Nothing like a recent one to shake ya up, huh?  Yep, the cut looks only a few days old, now that I look closer....

Yes, 900VDC can really do a job. We tend to underestimate it.

Back in 1972 (21 years old) on a hot sweaty summer day, I came across 800VDC from hand to hand. I couldn't let go since my chest and arms were paralyzed. My legs still worked - I got up and ran backwards and the cable ripped the unit out of my closed shut, paralyzed hands.

There was no blood, just coterized, 3rd degree burned, ripped open flesh sushi on my hands. It took months to heal and kept getting infected. I should have gotten stitches, but did not. I still have the scars today.  Nasty stuff.   So far have been spared any more SERIOUS events like that. That's what it took to smarten up. Still get my share of <110V type mistakes.

Glad you're OK, G,  especially the heart zap.

T
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« Reply #13 on: April 09, 2008, 01:07:44 PM »

Dude, be careful! Glad you're OK, that could have been a lot worse, even from a Rice Box, if it had gotten across the old thumper. 'Course the stored energy in the caps ain't so much, so getting thrown off it is probably a good thing. Every time I turn on big rigs, including BC stuff, I figure that one mistake might be my last. I don't work on them late at night anymore. However, I can see how its easy to get relaxed dealing with 6146s and sweep tubes and receivers, until you get a stabbing reality check like you got.

Yikes, Zorch......
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« Reply #14 on: April 09, 2008, 01:18:43 PM »

It makes me nervous because it's been so long since I've been nailed by anything more than 120VAC or so (last year, twice within a week). I'm very timid around any kind of HV, even the 230v outlet for the transmitter makes me focus. It would be easy to assume a 'healthy respect' for such things exists within me, but reading G's, JJ's, and others experiences makes me wonder if I'm really just long overdue?

Someone was just discussing this sorta thing on 80m over the weekend, too.

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« Reply #15 on: April 09, 2008, 02:19:47 PM »

Wow!  Most unfortunate, hope you're OK now, Gary.

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« Reply #16 on: April 09, 2008, 02:24:03 PM »

I can relate to your experience very vividly.  I joined the thousand volt jolt club late one night in November, 1960.  I remember the date well, because it was the night following the Kennedy/Nixon election and I had stayed up late listening to election returns on the radio while working on a transmitter.  It was about 1 or 2 AM when I was holding the microphone in one hand and reached over to tune the transmitter, and got zapped with the full plate voltage from arm to arm due to a shorted modulation transformer in an ungrounded amplifier I was using as a modulator. 

I couldn't let go of the microphone and was frozen to some part of the transmitter.  The only way I managed to get free was that I fell backwards and happened to yank the mic cord loose from the modulator by breaking the wire off from the microphone connector.  If the set screw had been a little tighter, someone would have found me hanging on the thing the next morning.  When I finally got free, both arms  retracted spastically and uncontrollably towards my chest, and I fell over backwards, busting a glass 6L6 that was lying on the floor with the back of my head.

I didn't feel any chest pains, but the next day both arms and my chest muscles were sore as hell, and I had serious burns on both hands and several fingers.  One thing that undoubtedly helped my quick recovery was being 18 years old at the time.

Before that incident, I was always getting zapped when working on the transmitter and thought little of it, but in almost 50 years since that incident, I may have seriously contacted high voltage once or twice, but only across one hand and never at that kind of voltage level.

I'm glad we are both still here to tell about our experience.
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« Reply #17 on: April 09, 2008, 02:40:15 PM »

Mend quickly G. My thoughts and all that....
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« Reply #18 on: April 09, 2008, 02:46:01 PM »

Gary: Be sure to use the shorting stick before installing the 872's I sent you!!!
Skip

Frank: your description of Gonset juggling cracked me up. Could you post the video on U-Tube??
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« Reply #19 on: April 09, 2008, 04:05:52 PM »

Gary,
Glad you are OK.

Ive had a few- which is why I have tended to low power. Blew myself across the room working on the GK 400 with a move that was so stupid I refuse to tell the story.

Frank,

Sunday was one of those days where nothing went right. I was working on a sluggish meter for the 813 rig and had it out of its case. I kept trying to adjust the bearing and then would test it out using about 300VDC  (It would have been a 0-3000 VDC scale)

Anyway after about 30 minutes of adjusting and testing, adjusting and testing, I was not paying attention and turned on the voltage while cradling the meter in the other hand. (Both terminals touching my palm- DUH) It took off across the room like something Daisuke Matsuzaka would have thrown. Needless to say I am in the hunt for a new 0-3,000 VDC meter

About a year ago I had a rcvr on its side on the bench and my 10 YO daughter came in. She is fascinated by the stuff and reached up to touch something in the circuit. I instinctively barked at her and then explained that "One could get really really hurt if you were not careful." She hung around and not 5 minutes later I brushed the 300VDC. Not bad but I had a typical dramatic reaction.

"Oh she said, I see what you were talking about"

I sometimes feel way to Darwinian around B+
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« Reply #20 on: April 09, 2008, 04:53:55 PM »

About 7 or 8 years ago I was building a linear.  It was late at night and I'm tired but kept plugging along with the project.  I had just finished building the 2kV power supply that would power it and decided to test it by powering the thing up.  I tested it without a load despite the bleeder to see what it was putting out.  I had the chassis laid wide open and for some stupid ass reason I decided I wanted to move a wire to make the wiring look neater.  The AC was removed and not paying to the possibility that the filter caps were still energized I reached in.  I took a jolt right across the palm of my hand which was touching the chassis and my thumb that brushed up against the + terminal of the filter cap.  I didn't wait long enough for the bleeder to bleed down the capacitor bank and based on the dischared time I figured I took a hit of about 1600 to 1700V across my thumb and hand.  A light bleeder.

If anyone has seen a pickle with electrodes and 110VAC voltage applied to it, my thumb looked like that pickle for the brief moment before reflex disconnected the circuit. It was a flash and a flame shot out of the end.  I ended up with a 1/8 inch hole in the thumb that turned black and like Tom became infected. I didn't suffer any heart palpitations or anything like that but man was my left arm sore. I felt like I dislocated a shoulder. Later, I had to have the scaring and infection lanced when it was apparent it wasn't going to heal normally.

I have used this lesson in the construction of my 813 rig.  Not matter what I do the shorting stick gets used when I go behind the rack and rig.

Gary,
You're very lucky and I'm glad you're still here to talk about it.  Rest up and get back on that horse but please be very careful.

And this applies to everyone else too!

Bob



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Bob
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« Reply #21 on: April 09, 2008, 06:14:10 PM »

Glad ur OK, OM!
It isn't any fun getting bit.
Don't do that again!
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« Reply #22 on: April 09, 2008, 07:04:45 PM »

 Shocked thats a shocking message!
glad to hear your ok, I was just asking Bill WTK last night if he had heard from you.




* b13478.jpg (42.17 KB, 500x375 - viewed 843 times.)

* PDB09013.jpg (5.78 KB, 170x154 - viewed 815 times.)
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« Reply #23 on: April 09, 2008, 07:22:06 PM »

Ah jeez, G, I'm glad you survived that!  I remember you gettnig bit from a Henry leenyar some years ago.

We want your melodious tones on the air for years to come.
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« Reply #24 on: April 09, 2008, 07:26:10 PM »

I wonder what the hospital staff thought when you "displayed" them your middle finger? Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked
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