Re: Inexperience was RE: Mad experiment or Re: PDT

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <dhmccauley-at-spacecatlighting-dot-com>


> Another example of the cavalier attitude about the danger of high
> potentials is prevalent is my current profession. I work in Commercial
> Kitchen Equip. Repair. I commonly work with voltages of 240 and 480 with
> supplies of up to 200A or greater! There isn't one time that I open a
> panel of 480/150A that I don't pause for the cause, but I watch techs
> poke and prod around live circuits like it's all made of 120/10A! I
> watched one trainee check a circuit with a Fluke voltage probe (the
> little ones that glow if voltage is present) find no indication and then
> promptly grab the lines and shock the smile right off his face!! He did
> not know that if you test with the Tester, putting it in certain places
> (i.e. directly between two lines) you'll get false readings. His
> inexperience cost him a couple of burns and a bruised ego. He was lucky!


Yes, 480VAC is very dangerous, however the voltages in a pole transformer
(PDT) are even more dangerous.  As you said with technician above,
getting hit with 480VAC you have a chance to walk the next day, however if
you get with a 14400VAC pole transformer which can output 500mA to 2A, you
ain't gonna be walking the next day.  If you're lucky, you'll be dead.  If
you're unlucky, your arms will be blown off and you'll live out the rest of
your life armless.

I've seen other people's pole transformer which are basically out in the
open during demonstrations etc..., however I plan on building a plexiglass
safety housing around mine to keep people (including myself) from
accidentally coming in contact with it.

Dan