like any new bench scope that will go boom if you touch the probe ground clip to a live wireWouldn't just the earth leakage breaker circuit/RCDO just trip?
like any new bench scope that will go boom if you touch the probe ground clip to a live wireWouldn't just the earth leakage breaker circuit/RCDO just trip?
What's that.... 30mA or so? Can that cause a 'boom'?
Did they have those in the 1960s...?
If your house is fitted with such a device maybe ... but it is basically a transformer + relay , so not very fast for protecting active components if you work in something non insulated from mains
But it's very easy to fit/retrofit ... snip snip
Yes, but that wasn't the question.
I wonder if this system would have detected the floating neutral.
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/cause-of-12yearolds-tragic-electric-shock-revealed-after-the-child-was-left-brain-damaged/news-story/8d60948c20675e647236b2bc2e9e5a3d
(edit: this maybe goes all way too far offtopic, but I am genuine concerned about peoples safety, god forbid your own child ends up in a wheelchair braindamaged due to electric shock from a neglected electrical system or a system that misses basic safety from the beginning, and of course lots of tinkerers here sometimes with a lot of knowledge, and sometimes less: invest in an isolation transformer when trying to repair mains appliences, preferably one that you can regulate voltage, helps with fault tracing )
I'm sure many people are but it was never my intent to use this thread to discuss safety. The problem is that it confuses people, causing them to equate the tests I have ran with safety. This IMO places the uneducated at a higher risk, thinking products are safe when they may not be.
I'm sure many people are but it was never my intent to use this thread to discuss safety. The problem is that it confuses people, causing them to equate the tests I have ran with safety. This IMO places the uneducated at a higher risk, thinking products are safe when they may not be.
It's not just the product, either. Owning the best multimeter in the world doesn't make the overall process "safe".
Even on household mains you should be wearing gloves & ear/eye protection if the wires are hot.
Don't even think of going near high energy equipment without somebody else standing by with a telephone in their hand,
etc., etc.
(tie a rope around your waist so they can pull you out...)
As little as I know about safety, I know even less about US law. The DMM is a safety device. I assume most working in this environment have the training and PPE to keep them safe regardless. So it may not get tested in the courts. Still.....
I think I wrote about a friend who's a master electrician who never believed in PPE. He an another worker needed to make some measurements, suited up, went in with their long poles, hooked up to the bus and the meter exploded in my friends hands. He figures the PPE saved him that day and he became a firm believer after that.
Your brain should be your first safety device then the PPE then maybe the meter. If your an untrained idiot, there's not much that meter is going to do to save you.
Many years ago, I had heard about an electrician that had gone near the transformers for a factory and was vaporized. I am not too surprised after hearing from my friends about this other worker they knew. Having a rope or stick may not be very effective for an arcflash.
I think I wrote about a friend who's a master electrician who never believed in PPE. He an another worker needed to make some measurements, suited up, went in with their long poles, hooked up to the bus and the meter exploded in my friends hands. He figures the PPE saved him that day and he became a firm believer after that.
I think I wrote about a friend who's a master electrician who never believed in PPE. He an another worker needed to make some measurements, suited up, went in with their long poles, hooked up to the bus and the meter exploded in my friends hands. He figures the PPE saved him that day and he became a firm believer after that.
I've seen a couple of videos where the worker making measurements put the meter itself on the end of the long pole in capture mode and then made the measurements at pole's length before retrieving the meter to view the reading. That seems to me to be eminently sensible.
Just so. A rope or stick won't be much use when you're working with intermediate or high voltages.
The highest energy systems I have to deal with at work are low voltage customer end, so 400VAC 3ph and generally fused at no more than 1250A.
A wooden stick is more a humorous reminder for people (mainly but not always apprentices) to be careful or I'll beat them even more senseless than the shock they get.
I hope I didn’t derail the thread - I probably should’ve mentioned the Heathkit IM28 is a mains powered meter - with really no insulation of the input jack. My thoughts was mostly the safety aspects of following that procedure and that back in those days they even ‘suggested’ something like that. But if you knew what you were doing it probably was ok to follow it. I sure hope though people at least used a suitable insulated screwdriver as 'probe extension'.
The IM28 design is from 1968 but I think my dad bought the kit in 1977 or so - it was sold here in Sweden by a small import company. The transformer could be configured for 240V but it wasn’t delivered with any EU style mains plug. The cord is three wire but the plug that sits on it now is 2 prong - so the meter is floating so to speak. I think it could steer clear of any safety norms as it was sold as a kit and could be considered a 'home built’ device.
It is still probably working fine but hasn’t been used for the last 30 years or so.
I hope this tread stays open - the safety talk is probably unavoidable - now i.e. with the 121gw's high voltage ranging problem - that is a safety problem for sure. AFAIK it has not been addressed yet - it's been 7 months now?
I want to say the above was a 4KV and the one I was told where the workers body was vaporized was also at 4KV. In that case where the worker was killed, a second worker almost lost their life as well from that arcflash.
I'm not sure with the case involving the larger outside transformers but imagine those are upward of 10KV off the pole. I really don't know. I heard there were two others with him but I was unable to find any details on what happened. I knew people that worked at that plant who had told me about it.
On your 400V lines, do you send your workers out with lightbulbs as Fungus suggests? I just don't envision workers with their lightbulbs and free HF meters even in these environments.
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