General > General Technical Chat
The "All American Five", & more dangers!!
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TimFox:
When the AA5 sets were first designed before the War (typically 12SA7, 12SK7, 12SQ7, 50L6, and 35Z5), there was still domestic power distribution of 110 V DC in certain parts of the US, especially in the northeast.  Consolidated Edison in New York finally ceased DC distribution totally in 2007.  With the transformer-less “AC-DC” circuits, the radio could work with either supply. 
I have a classic E H Scott merchant-marine receiver that has a more complex AC-DC circuit, since DC was common on such vessels during WW II.  The DC within the box was (almost) isolated from the metal chassis, and hermetic “bathtub” capacitors bypassed the cathodes, screens, grid returns, etc. to the chassis.
james_s:

--- Quote from: GlennSprigg on April 29, 2020, 01:59:03 pm ---Now though, all light sockets must have an Earth wire present, whether used or not!, in case it is ever changed to say a metal bodied Fluoro fitting. And I see/review countless relatively 'modern' videos on Youtube etc, where they are still using/connecting 2-pronged plugs/cables to countless pieces of equipment. Correct me if I'm wrong, please, but it seems that 110-v is just considered 'bitey' there, as opposed to our 240-v, even today??  I know it's not, but even today they don't SEEM to adhere to the same Earthing standards we do???   :(

--- End quote ---

Yes 2 prong (non-grounded) cords are still common here, I don't recall ever seeing a lamp with a grounded cord. 120V can and does occasionally kill people but it's pretty rare. I've been bit by it numerous times and I'm still here, but it certainly can be dangerous. I'm actually not sure why lamps aren't grounded, even those with exposed metal parts. Years ago I had one of those halogen torchier lamps in my office and a wire had chafed where it passed through a metal nipple making the entire lamp live. I thought I'd felt a tingle from it on occasion but then one day I was moving a PC and the end of the VGA cable bumped the post of the lamp and BANG. After that I disassembled the lamp and realized what had happened.
16bitanalogue:

--- Quote from: james_s on April 27, 2020, 08:13:35 pm ---
--- Quote from: rrinker on April 27, 2020, 06:25:51 pm --- As for "Unsafe At Any Speed", don't get me started on Ralph Nader. There was nothing inherently wrong with the Corvair, that same swing arm suspension had been is use for decades in VW Beetles and Porsches, among others.

--- End quote ---


The Corvair was a fascinating car, and extremely innovative for GM when compared to everything else that was coming out of Deteroit at the time. They were really thinking outside of the box with that one, it had some unusual handling characteristics compared to the American land yachts of the time but I'd argue that they were no less safe than countless other small and inexpensive cars of the era.



--- End quote ---

This goes beyond the Corvair itself. Nader's book sparked the safety revolution in the automotive industry. No one could reasonably argue that what has happened since was for naught.

Per Peter Kohler (retired GM engineer from the video):

"If you know what you are doing you can drive a Corvair." That right there is a red flag that such a car should not be a daily driver. Not only should I have a license, but like Hagerty I should be a race car driver to "know what I am doing." Peter goes on to state that other cars share the same type of suspension and implies that it is not that big of a deal. Sorry, but they are different cars that will have different handling capabilities. Per his own comparison of Corvair vs Porche. This sounds like a bitter, old man yelling at a cloud. These statements are immediately followed from Jim Musser, Head of GM Engineering at the time, "The problem was too much weight transfer to the rear axle...causing oversteering and eventually go out of control."

Hell, at the end of Hagerty's video he states:

"I think of the Corvair as a sacrificial lamb that motivated Nader to write a book that got the industry to make some initially painful changes that ultimately proved necessary."

Oof. Personally, I would not die on this hill.
bob91343:
I agree with much of the above.  I recall being irritated on the freeway by a jerk driving a Corvair.  He was tailgating me at one point and I slammed on the brakes.  He reacted quickly but due to the piece of garbage he was driving, immediately lost control.  His vehicle started to spin out and, while he didn't hit anyone, I suspect his adrenaline level took a big jump.

The hot chassis of the AA5 presented some safety issues but I have never heard of a case where someone was electrocuted by 120 Volts.  My first radio was a one-tube regenerative broadcast radio with a resistor line cord that kept me warm on many a winter night.

I have been around the block a few times and have many stories to tell, although very few are interested.  The number of times I have been zapped by 120V and more, rf burns, and other stuff is so many that I lost count long ago.  Inhaling solder fumes and paint spray, grabbing the wrong part of the soldering iron, I could go on.  I have made it to nearly 88 years and am still healthy and active and still have all my fingers and both eyes.
themadhippy:
A bigger risk  than the lack   of earthing in lighting circuits is the existence of the ES lamp base
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