Safety is item number two.

On a sunny day (12 Jan 2016 01:32:09 -0800) it happened Winfield Hill wrote in :

That with the flash capacitor happend to me just recently when trying to repair my Canon:

the unit with the flash cap is in front. It bit me three times before I had it open and knew what points to short to discharge it.

Will report back when it works again (waiting for a part).

Hey this picture is taken with an other A470 :-)

Checking the soldering iron is hot by holding it up to one's nose - don't get distracted or careless. I was really surprised how long it takes for nose skin to heal. Not recommended.

How did you get Larkin's approval to videotape him ?>:-} ...Jim Thompson

-- | James E.Thompson | mens | | Analog Innovations | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | San Tan Valley, AZ 85142 Skype: skypeanalog | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at

| 1962 | I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

I always do the upper lip test. Never full tested to see if that area really has snake tongue like temperature sensitivity, but it seems to work fine with soldering irons. Anybody else do that?

I had a friend in High School who got bit by a PS capacitor from a Marshall guitar amp. 600V! Ow! He said when he woke up he wondered why he was sleeping on the garage floor. Then the pain across the chest hit him. Lucky it didn't kill him.

"Did you hear about the logger who was found to be an Islamic Terrorist? His name was Imsawin Binloggin."

Sorry, having trouble typing with tears running down my face! Even though it was a total setup, very funny!

Jon

He had one about electrical pain vs frequency that was linked to here before.

Kinda interesting, George H.

Re: upper lip test--it's really true that you can feel small amounts of heat that way. Try passing your hand across your face with your eyes shut. Then do it again, but with your other hand in front of your mouth. For me, the difference is pretty obvious.

For soldering irons, get a Metcal and then it won't be an issue. ;)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

I can feel the radiation from my LED flashlight. On the order of 0.1W total optical output, I suppose.

Tim

--
Seven Transistor Labs, LLC 
Electrical Engineering Consultation and Contract Design 
Website: http://seventransistorlabs.com

The nose is also quite useful tool for checking for overheated components in new designs. Inhaling draws the warm air into the nose. Checking one circuit, my nose touched the mains (230 V) transformer primary tap.

Of course this was painful, but the scary thing was that driving a car immediately after that and it was hard to keep the car in the lane, requiring full concentration.

On a sunny day (Tue, 12 Jan 2016 10:50:16 -0800 (PST)) it happened George Herold wrote in :

Mostly I think it is just a small sub-set. I can tell you about my experiences. One day I was in some other shop repairing a TV. Normal practice is that there is an mains isolation transformer, as chassis is always live, and that is a legal requirement.

Anyways, this place did not have one, one of those f*cking aliens .. So, at some point I had the chassis in my left hand (240 V) and the antenna cable connector in my right hand (grounded). There was nobody else around. I could not move my arms anymore, they muscles were cramped and shaking.

So, a second maybe the neural net finding a solution, quick check, I could still move my legs and knees, went through my knees and jumped backward into a pile of TVs. That broke the connection. Pain? NO!! Did see a flash of white light.

Was severely pissed, shorted the antenna against the chassis, that blew the mains fuse and the guy came to look. I said goodbye.

The time before that, and maybe that experience help me keep cool in this case, I was stuck with my hand in a radio, and got a deep cut and burn in my hand, could not move either, told the guy next to me 'please pull that plug'. Maybe I was too cool, had to ask twice. The shaking hand curt transformer connection in my skin. Pain? Not that much. Black meat, carbon...

I could test a 4.5 V battery on my tongue for 'still some juice there',

9 V was less fun, add 22 V not recommended.

The flash capacitor did hurt, but then I am so used to being bitten,

25 kV spark to my leg, also 25 kV from a HV connection on a color CRT it was still charged, I did not even drop the CRT (would have imploded, keep your cool).

So that video is not worth shit as 'science'. IMO.

Maybe he should work for the CIA in that free Cuba hotel. And I think self-mutilation is a mental illness?

Anyways, now let me tell you about my experience on a warship. no better not, but as you may have guessed I survived it, the guy with me almost passed out about whet happened to me but.. just move on.

Did you know, well at least in those days, they bridge all fuses in a war situation? I was later told that is because it sucks if your guns do not work due to a blown fuse, shorts (due to hits) must burn out. Maybe with MS windows controlling those ships and 'live updates" or 'reboot now to reload?' things are different,. I see it like the moon shots and returns did not need // well you get it, And now with all that crap people are lost in their own city if the GPS battery is empty.

Carefully lower the back of your hand over the iron, avoiding direct contact. Works every time.

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Les Cargill

On a sunny day (Wed, 13 Jan 2016 03:19:34 -0600) it happened Les Cargill wrote in :

I don't get it, mine has a huge LCD temperature display, bought around year 2000 or so:

The bar on the right shows how hard it is working to maintain temperature.

Even if your nose burns how do you know if the temp is right for the sort of work and solder you use?

It is all poppy-c*ck.

In the replay you can see the capacitor swelling up :)

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  \_(?)_

yeah, stop as soon as you see, smell, or hear anything unusual.

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  \_(?)_

But if I have *two* metcals, which one is turned on?

The nose injury was self-inflicted using a Weller TCP by the way.

I have no complaints about the Metcal irons but the stands have caused me to swear more than once, when I though I had put the iron away securely and it fell out and chased me as soon as my hand let go of it.

I just wanted to check it was on. Yes I have other means to do that but I was a bit absent-minded, probably thinking of what I was working on. Also this was well before the year 2000, and that 1950's vintage Weller TCP still works nicely when I have cause to use it, so I'm not chucking it out. I bought a good stock of elements and switches before the prices went silly.

On a sunny day (Thu, 14 Jan 2016 00:57:27 +1100) it happened Chris Jones wrote in :

It was not meant to attack you, but more to stare that guy is . .well.. maybe people do the strangest things for attention on youtube, but he needs a head check.

Sure, in the old days I also did hold the weller close to my face (nose?) to check, and before that with much more unsofisticated soldering equipment.

Still usually I tested simply if it melted the solder... When I had the repair shop the weller went on in the morning and off in the evening when we left (with the power I think). So it was usually hot enough once I got around to using it. I am more environmental friendly now :-) I am really glad I got this soldering iron, and the the weller away,

Grin... Hi Jan I mostly agree with you about that. It would have been better if he had done a bit more research about what others have done... I'm pretty sure someone has subjected animals to all sorts of AC.

I've had fewer personal experiences than you. Installing lighting in an office.... (age ~20) "Is this 240 line turned off?", I ask. "Yes", "bang" I find myself thrown across the room, in a heap in the corner.

From then on I always check... I don't mind hot wiring stuff, as long as I know it's hot. (I did some "illegal" hot wiring at the university.)

I did get several kV of DC across my finger... unplugging a current meter that was floating and hot.. I can still see (in my minds eye) the arc going through my finger... It wasn't really all that painful.

George H.