ElectroBOOM sinking to new low in safety - what to do?

[EEVblog]

as it is, if ElectroBOOM now has 1 million subscribers,
his next stunts may be in the back of a fully kitted out stretch limo   

I'm afraid not, he'd only be earning about $50-60K a year from the channel.
The problem with growing your channel on harming yourself in pranks, is that you basically have to keep harming yourself in pranks to keep the ball rolling, likely in ever more spectacular ways. I really enjoyed his debunking episodes, I hope he does more of those, they were fairly popular.

[Augustus]

Dumb never dies, err, wait...

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/teen-youtuber-shoots-kills-boyfriend-video-stunt-n777851

[grumpydoc]

Dumb never dies, err, wait...

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/teen-youtuber-shoots-kills-boyfriend-video-stunt-n777851

She claims it was his idea and he talked her into it.

That's got to be a Darwin Award winner.

Clearly he hadn't heard of the concept of a "dry run"

[T3sl4co1l]

It's curious, because he starts the segment with a workable illusion:

He's set the camera low to the table, far back, and zoomed in.  You can see the ambiguity in the depth of field.

Then he waves his hands around the wires, and you wince -- but as a professional (well, YouTuber if nothing else), he could be acting that jump (i.e., where he touches one wire and gets a static shock).  He has to time it just right so his finger looks to be touching the wire, but it's actually far behind and he's reacting to nothing.  This would be easy to film in a couple of takes.

This would be the safe way to recreate the scene.  It's not entirely clear that he intended to shoot it this way -- if he did, for maximum effect he would've needed to create two Jacob's Ladder props, one exactly scaled down so it can be closer to the camera while taking up the same visual size.  The other is used for direct handling, when the power is safely off.

But this completely goes away when he builds and energizes the sparkler-tree.  That was, well, as dumb as he admitted, I guess.

Just to say that, if he had put a little more thought into it, he could've filmed the first segment safely.

(Also, it would get harder to fake -- to keep distance between hands and wires -- where he's striking the arc manually.  Still possible to do, though.  At least he used insulators that time.)

Tim

[edgelog]

If the 2 sides of the sparklers/Jacobs ladder didn't short together so quickly, burning out the alligator clips, as he grabbed them, IE 1 side in his left hand, the other in his right, he would have had a heart attack.

Just to be nitpicky: he would have had a ventricular fibrillation with circulatory arrest. Not a heart attack.

Sorry, couldn't refrain.

[buck converter]

I thing ElectroBOOM's intentions are clear. He tries to appeal to beginners to electronics & Electrical Engineers, but most of his subscribers are probably everyday people who just watch for the explosions and shocks. You can see that in some of his videos he does not do anything stupid, just talks about electronics. That is not what a majority of his subs want. I feel bad for him for having pressure from both sides.

[schmitt trigger]

"Experienced HV tinkerers like ElectroBOOM and Photonicinduction know how to put on a good 'risk' show"

That was the name of the individual I was trying to remember. He does have some weird, crazy and dangerous stuff on his channels.

They are not alone. There are some Russian videos doing absolutely dangerous stuff.

And these are ONLY the electrical-related channels. There are many more playing with chemistry that go boom. Plenty of channels creating -on purpose- runaway conditions on car and truck engines. Others designing their own jet engines and running them until the metal is yellow hot.

And let's not even talk about extreme sports. GoPro has created a bunch of maniacs here.

[Yansi]

Photonicinduction = Andy. (mentioned above).

[Red Squirrel]

Wow I figured this was staged/faked, crazy it was real haha.  That could have gone very wrong.

I had a few mishaps myself playing with high voltage (low current though).  I had a shock actually leave a mark, that's a first for me.  I forgot to account for arcing when touching an insulated connector.  Oops.

Another time was with a small transformer I wound myself, driven by a 555 timer.  Was just messing around making it light up CFL bulbs and accidentally had the wire slip and touch me.

[JPortici]

fuck, i just watched that video. my heart skipped a beat when the contraption fell over him

[Jeroen3]

I think he got seriously shocked this time, or he's a good actor. At 8:08 you can see his hands shaking.

[chriswebb]

I think he got seriously shocked this time, or he's a good actor. At 8:08 you can see his hands shaking.

Could be adrenaline, but I noticed that too.  Either way it definitely does not seem staged this time...  Unless he's just that good of an actor.

[Cliff Matthews]

Don't think it was acting, he was alert and paused his grab reflex long enough to short it while dragging the mess to his right. Noticed the white clip come off the MOT core first. It must have felt like someone kicked his chest afterward.
So other than eat more popcorn, I guess folks are OK with him staying on our YouTubers List. I'll change the description to:"Craziness in engineering! HV risks, often too much to watch.." since some say they couldn't watch.

[ZeTeX]

Just wear thick electrician gloves goddamnit! it's 2kV at high current, not some stupid 220VAC stuff! this was seriously too much, the risk of him dying was much, much higher then your typical main shocks. I love his channel and I think he went too far.

[eugenenine]

ElectroBOOM reminds me when I was a 5 yro.  gave my Dad many sleepless nights,  so Dave, how is child safety at home ?.

I found Huxley sticking multimeter probes into a switched on power point a few weeks back.
Atta'boy 

Its only dangerous if he doesn't put the meter on Voltage first :p

[ZeTeX]

ElectroBOOM reminds me when I was a 5 yro.  gave my Dad many sleepless nights,  so Dave, how is child safety at home ?.

I found Huxley sticking multimeter probes into a switched on power point a few weeks back.
Atta'boy 

Its only dangerous if he doesn't put the meter on Voltage first :p

Not if its fluke 

[fubar.gr]

I hope he had some kind of RCD keeping him alive, because it seemed the full potential of a MOT went across his chest.

An RCD would be useless in that case. A MOT works just like any other transformer, isolating primary from secondary. Therefore, the secondary is not mains earth referenced and as far as the RCD is concerned there's no earth leakage.

[langwadt]

Photonicinduction = Andy. (mentioned above).

he follows a strict safety protocol https://youtu.be/EZBhiJq4TL4
pay special attention to the check list at around 2:10

[wasyoungonce]

Those transformers are extremely dangerous to humans.May be the tiny and flimsy wires saved him.Otherwise this really was a close call.

Also tossing about high energy capacitors used in Microwaves...now one mistake with these will kill you no second chance.

[Electro Detective]

I always wanted to give my smoke detectors a real test, thanks to Andy / Photonicinduction  I can get on to it asap 

What? no beer in this episode ?        Lose the effing smokes Andy, and buy beer instead, we need you in good health mate 

I hope he had some kind of RCD keeping him alive, because it seemed the full potential of a MOT went across his chest.

An RCD would be useless in that case. A MOT works just like any other transformer, isolating primary from secondary. Therefore, the secondary is not mains earth referenced and as far as the RCD is concerned there's no earth leakage.

If it's not an autotransformer and is isolated then ElectroBOOM must have a very fast acting resettable magnetic /thermal breaker of some sort, and a slightly higher rated fuse down the line too


Otherwise he'd be posting Youtubes from the 'other side'    from MANY videos ago

[Muxr]

Photonicinduction = Andy. (mentioned above).

he follows a strict safety protocol https://youtu.be/EZBhiJq4TL4
pay special attention to the check list at around 2:10

His neighbors must hate him.. all that EMI must wreak havoc with cellphones etc..

[Red Squirrel]

They probably see all the lights dim and think "he must be playing with his electricity stuff again!".   
 

[Don Hills]

They probably see all the lights dim and think "he must be playing with his electricity stuff again!".   

... or it turns to daylight outside, when he tested a 20 kilowatt lamp in the back yard...

[Red Squirrel]

They probably see all the lights dim and think "he must be playing with his electricity stuff again!".   

... or it turns to daylight outside, when he tested a 20 kilowatt lamp in the back yard...

Lol yeah that lamp was quite impressive.

[Yansi]

Those transformers are extremely dangerous to humans.May be the tiny and flimsy wires saved him.Otherwise this really was a close call.

Also tossing about high energy capacitors used in Microwaves...now one mistake with these will kill you no second chance.

The cap from the oven is not gonna kill you. Will store like 5J at best. That is one heck of boom to touch, but probably won't kill you.  Also, all the caps from ovens I have seen have had integrated discharge resistors in them. (it is usually written on them too and can be verified with your ohmmeter).