Author Topic: High Voltage Electrical Help  (Read 11272 times)

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McRat

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Re: High Voltage Electrical Help
« Reply #15 on: December 17, 2009, 11:50:30 AM »
PS - I spent 2 weeks in the ICU burn ward at UCI med center from playing with electricity, so take anything I post on electricity with a grain of salt.

Offline bbarn

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Re: High Voltage Electrical Help
« Reply #16 on: December 17, 2009, 01:50:22 PM »
PS - I spent 2 weeks in the ICU burn ward at UCI med center from playing with electricity, so take anything I post on electricity with a grain of salt.

I'm glad to see you "qualified" your advice, I wish everyone that gave me free advice did so with such candor!  :-D
I almost never wake up cranky, I usually just let her sleep in.

McRat

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Re: High Voltage Electrical Help
« Reply #17 on: December 17, 2009, 02:29:20 PM »
PS - I spent 2 weeks in the ICU burn ward at UCI med center from playing with electricity, so take anything I post on electricity with a grain of salt.

I'm glad to see you "qualified" your advice, I wish everyone that gave me free advice did so with such candor!  :-D

Stupid Walmart "UA Approved" extension cord box blew up in my hands due to a mfr defect, and that was just 120v.  Luckily I had med insurance, the bill was $175,000 before I got back home.  I should have plugged it in the wall last, not first, at least the first time I used it.

I've been doing commercial wiring for my own business for 16 years, most of it 230v 3ph.  None of it has ever failed (knock-on-wood).  All my issues have been failures attributed to others who were "qualified".  :-D

Offline jimmy six

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Re: High Voltage Electrical Help
« Reply #18 on: December 17, 2009, 04:32:26 PM »
Being a Hi-Voltage (130DC to 500,000 VAC) electrician for 42 years... It's best left to ones who know what they are doing. McR knowing what his was doing still had an unforseen problem not of his doing.

Good luck..........and be safe first.........JD
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Offline sockjohn

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Re: High Voltage Electrical Help
« Reply #19 on: December 17, 2009, 05:06:58 PM »
If you are going to be throwing away any computers, that power supply gives 12v and 5v (for running engine sensors) and about 150-500w total usually (10amp+).

IIRC, some of those outputs don't like to be unloaded, and the outputs will go unregulated if they are.

I think many people have simply put a big power resistor on those outputs as a workaround.

Worth looking into to find out before hooking up to expensive equipment.

Offline 4-barrel Mike

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Offline Dean Los Angeles

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Re: High Voltage Electrical Help
« Reply #21 on: December 17, 2009, 05:34:00 PM »
Quote
Being a Hi-Voltage (130DC to 500,000 VAC) electrician for 42 years...

It's funny that we normal folks think of low voltage as the 12 volt battery in the car and 120VAC as high voltage.
Jimmy, straighten me out here if I'm wrong.
120VAC is low voltage. So is 480VAC.

600VAC and up is high voltage according to NEC code.

Unless you are working in the power distribution industry and then it's still low voltage.
To those guys up on the pole 1000-35000 volts is medium voltage.
Well, it used to be Los Angeles . . . 50 miles north of Fresno now.
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Offline desotoman

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Re: High Voltage Electrical Help
« Reply #22 on: December 17, 2009, 06:11:32 PM »
PS - I spent 2 weeks in the ICU burn ward at UCI med center from playing with electricity, so take anything I post on electricity with a grain of salt.

I'm glad to see you "qualified" your advice, I wish everyone that gave me free advice did so with such candor!  :-D

Stupid Walmart "UA Approved" extension cord box blew up in my hands due to a mfr defect, and that was just 120v.  Luckily I had med insurance, the bill was $175,000 before I got back home.  I should have plugged it in the wall last, not first, at least the first time I used it.

I've been doing commercial wiring for my own business for 16 years, most of it 230v 3ph.  None of it has ever failed (knock-on-wood).  All my issues have been failures attributed to others who were "qualified".  :-D


If you are around or use that wall outlet you plugged that extension box cord into I suggest you check the breaker and make sure it is a 15 or 20 amp, and that it works. What happened to you should never have happened, something had to be wired wrong,(besides the extension box cord) or the breaker had a failure.

I am always amazed at how many electrical panels I have been in only to see much larger breakers being used, with the wrong size wire, and devices. When I ask the person why, they say they did not think putting a number 12 wire on a 50 amp breaker would make a difference as long as it worked. That is what gets people severely burned or worse yet killed.

Tom G.

« Last Edit: December 17, 2009, 06:20:17 PM by desotoman »
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McRat

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Re: High Voltage Electrical Help
« Reply #23 on: December 17, 2009, 06:43:49 PM »
...
If you are around or use that wall outlet you plugged that extension box cord into I suggest you check the breaker and make sure it is a 15 or 20 amp, and that it works. What happened to you should never have happened, something had to be wired wrong,(besides the extension box cord) or the breaker had a failure.

I am always amazed at how many electrical panels I have been in only to see much larger breakers being used, with the wrong size wire, and devices. When I ask the person why, they say they did not think putting a number 12 wire on a 50 amp breaker would make a difference as long as it worked. That is what gets people severely burned or worse yet killed.

Tom G.



You wouldn't think an extension cord could throw a foot of flames out the end.  Certainly caught me by surprise.  It even had an integral circuit breaker in the device, it was one of those cord reel thingies.  3rd degree burns all over my hand.  I flinched for a year every time I plugged something in.:-D

Offline desotoman

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Re: High Voltage Electrical Help
« Reply #24 on: December 18, 2009, 03:24:53 PM »


It's funny that we normal folks think of low voltage as the 12 volt battery in the car and 120VAC as high voltage.
Jimmy, straighten me out here if I'm wrong.
120VAC is low voltage. So is 480VAC.

600VAC and up is high voltage according to NEC code.

Unless you are working in the power distribution industry and then it's still low voltage.
To those guys up on the pole 1000-35000 volts is medium voltage.


Dean,

In the Electrical Industry you have a classification called Inside Wireman. Typically these Electricians deal with voltages under 600 Volts. These Electricians also are the ones who wire Residential, Commercial, and Industrial Buildings. They typically deal with 480 Volts 3 phase down to 120 Volt 1 phase. Low Voltage to them would be anything under 100 volts, such as door bells, some furnace control wiring, yard low voltage lighting, intercoms etc. Occasionally you would run across 4160 Volts and DC power supplies, but only at plants like General Motors, and it would be mostly coordinating the work between cable splicers and wiremen.

Then you have a Electricians like JD who work for the utilities and work with all voltages. There are many classifications for those wireman the one I am familiar with is a Lineman, who climbs the poles, replaces transformers etc. I am sure JD could add more about this side of the industry.

Tom G.  
« Last Edit: December 18, 2009, 03:26:59 PM by desotoman »
I love the USA. How much longer will we be a free nation?

Asking questions is one's only way of getting answers.

The rational person lets verified facts form or modify his opinion.  The ideologue ignores verified facts which don't fit his preconceived opinions.

Offline jimmy six

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Re: High Voltage Electrical Help
« Reply #25 on: December 19, 2009, 08:45:33 PM »
Everything over 600 VAC is considered High Voltage; where I work but we have alway considered everything over 600 up to 20 KV+ medium. My low voltage "hot gloves" are rated at 1000 volts and I use them when I work 480 hot which is not very often. My high voltage gloves are tested at 10,000 VAC and mostly used at 4160 VAC. Glove testing is every 6 months and air tested before each use.

I test hi-voltage with what we call a "hot-sticK" I also don a 50 cal protective suit. I'll give you a clue. I rather sit in my -20 for an hour than be in this suit for 10 minutes. I'm usually in one each week when entering hot 4160 cubicles when meggering motors. (that's an insulation test for those of you not in this choosen field)

When working with any 480 motor control centers I wear a nomex long shirt. Many in the refinery trades know what these are. My son and I also have coveralls made of this and use them when warming the car especially when using nitro.

My son Patrick is a Troubleman for SCE now nearing 20 years in the business. You earn this position by being an expert lineman. He is a first responder to problems with customers. He works alone and has uses either his insulated bucket truck or by climbing. He is a hot tool expert. I was a lineman for 2 years before going into power plants.

I feel the most dangerous voltage for me is 277 VAC floresant lighting. I just don't like it and it hurts like hell. Just a few miliamps of any voltage can kill.

As a final fun thought. You can let go of alternating current 60 times a second but DC holds you until it's all discharged........................... :cheers:................JD

PS: it's 5:45pm Saturday my day off and where am I? At the power plant.

 
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Offline floydjer

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Re: High Voltage Electrical Help
« Reply #26 on: December 22, 2009, 09:41:50 AM »
Around age twenty I worked in a steel fab. shop.  One my co-workers moved a welder w/o disconnecting the power and yanked the plug off the cord. Same fellow re-attached same. Later that day,I dragged the machine to where it was needed and plugged it in. Amazing flash of white light, 2nd degree burns, pieces of copper wire embedded in my wrist/arm/face. Hmmmmm............Must be wired wrong. Seems "odd" the circuit is still hot. Throw the dis-connect/pull the cartridge fuse..................Piece of 3/8 hot rolled rod where the fuse should have been. F`n kids. :-o
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Re: High Voltage Electrical Help
« Reply #27 on: December 22, 2009, 01:02:38 PM »
And there's yet another reason why they invented lockouts and safety rules and inspectors and all of that.  3/8 rod for a fuse, hey?  Maybe at least it was made of magnesium so you got a really pretty light show, hey?
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Offline Dean Los Angeles

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Re: High Voltage Electrical Help
« Reply #28 on: December 22, 2009, 02:04:44 PM »
Ya gotta love those guys that keep the lights on. As a lineman you get sent to all the hell holes of the world when a disaster strikes. You're not going to see me working 32KV lines in the middle of a storm!

Have you seen World's Toughest Fixes? Great show with host Sean Riley, a rigger, going around the world for some incredible repair jobs.

Replacing the antenna mast on top of a 2,000 foot tower.

Installing a new engine and generator on a cruise ship. Not replacing, adding. Cut a hole out of the side of the ship and gutted what was there and found a way to get the exhaust stack out. Then "slide" in a new engine and generator.

Replacing a 50 ton rudder. Underwater.

All child's play to the "High Voltage Power Line" show. Worked on a 250,000 volt line replacing the wire. The power was shut off, but there was still power on the lines on the other side of the tower. Looked like maybe 50 feet away. So, how much voltage can you induce 50 feet away through the air? 15,000 volts at 8 amps. The lines had to be grounded before they could work on them.

And more nuts? He had to replace spacers between lines on a 500,000 line. Still energized. From a helicopter.
Well, it used to be Los Angeles . . . 50 miles north of Fresno now.
Just remember . . . It isn't life or death.
It's bigger than life or death! It's RACING.

Offline Dakzila

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Re: High Voltage Electrical Help
« Reply #29 on: December 22, 2009, 05:14:19 PM »
Out of all these post the one that sticks in my mind is the comment from McRat;

"I flinched for a year every time I plugged something in."

I've just can't get rid of that mental picture in my head!!!

That is a funny statement!      Glad it turned out okay McRat....

Buzz
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