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Kale
Nobel Prize Winner
Canada
795 Posts |
 Posted - Jul 23 2003 : 2:38:37 PM
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What's the biggest electrical disaster you've ever had?
I forgot to ground the gates on the FETS on an H-bridge I was working on designed to switch 10 amps. I got a short to ground (probably close to 100 amps since I was using a low-V high-I supply) and one of the transistors exploded and the circuit traces on the board peeled up off the board. I also toasted the fuse in my multimeter. It was a credit to the manufacturer that the fuse actually saved the meter; it still works fine after I replaced the fuse...
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YS
Nobel Prize Winner
USA
1132 Posts |
Posted - Jul 23 2003 : 8:55:13 PM
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Well, when I was in middle school, I accidently shorted 220V mains with 1A germanium diode in metal case... the germanium was evaporated and cold-welded metal case of the diode exploded.. The explosion was terrible - well, it was just in front of my face - so I was blind for several seconds and could not hear for several minutes.. As for broken multimeters.. everything starting with blowing it forgetting to set it in voltage mode after mesuring current and ending with dropping a good big power transformer on the face of precision instrument..:)
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BEatonNo1
Nobel Prize Winner
USA
1133 Posts |
Posted - Jul 24 2003 : 01:44:26 AM
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well I'd have to say that you all have me beat by a pretty wide margin...I tend to stay away from High voltage
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Kale
Nobel Prize Winner
Canada
795 Posts |
Posted - Jul 24 2003 : 09:57:12 AM
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One of my favorites was during my undergrad degree. My class was doing a power-line lab in the high voltage lab in groups of two. This pair of girls across the isle from me managed to short out the 240V circuit some how, striking a huge arc and making the entire room smell like ozone. They also managed to trip the entire breaker grid, so nobody had power, and some students (like me!) were right in the middle of taking readings!
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cirvin
Nobel Prize Winner
USA
1542 Posts |
Posted - Jul 24 2003 : 3:55:32 PM
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i was build ing a mock telegraph machine in my attic for my school play. i used low wattage bulbs to simoulate vacum tubes. i had forgotten to unplug the cord when i went to cut it to add another socket. i cut the cord and there was a large flash and the other bulb that was conected cracked. i blew the circut breaker. my little secret from my mom
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Kale
Nobel Prize Winner
Canada
795 Posts |
Posted - Jul 24 2003 : 4:18:59 PM
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Hehe... bet you never forgot to cut the power again! AC line voltage is not to be trifled with.
I was actually the set crew chief for my high-school for three years. Building props and sets was always entertaining.
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Aaron Cake
Administrator
Canada
6718 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2003 : 10:00:21 AM
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When I was very young, about 5 or 7, I decided I wanted to make a jet pack. I didn't have much of a concept of how jet engines produce thrust, so I piped a BBQ sized 20LB propane tank into two burners facing the ground. It was all mounted on a board that strapped to a person's back. No big deal, right? Wrong. I removed the regulator and use an "on/off" type valve. My plan was to open the valve, hit the ignitor, and take off.
Well, you can imagine what happened when I opened the valve. In about 10 seconds, 10 pounds of boiling propane dumped onto the ground all around me. Luckily, the "leg guards" on the device prevented much of it from hitting my skin, but I still ended up with some nearly frostbitten skin. Luckily, the ignitor did not manage to light the gas. I could only imagine what would have happened...
Edit...Oops, electrical. I misread.
Probably making the electric go-kart. Shorted the battery via #2 or #4 cable. Serious current, melting the cable and causing the battery to burst.
Edited by - Aaron Cake on Jul 25 2003 10:01:50 AM |
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Kale
Nobel Prize Winner
Canada
795 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2003 : 10:31:13 AM
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The propane jetpack was certanly amusing! (and scary). You're starting to remind me of that Sam Barrow guy who blew a hole in his sister's bedroom door with a tennisball launching potato gun powered by butane.
My favorite non-electrical disaster that I was involved in (though not the cause of) was the gassing of an entire chemistry class. This was in Grade 11 or 12. We had chemistry lab scheduled for that day, but the physics teacher was away on a meeting, so they pulled our chemistry teacher to go teach the physics class, and then for our lab we had a substitute. (standard proceedure in my old school I'm afraid) So we're there mixed up our chemicals and doing the lab, and all the doors and windows are closed. Suddenly some of the asthmatics in the lab start to have trouble breathing, and everyone else detects a faint burning in their nose, eyes and throat. I whipped out a pen and worked through the chemical equation to discover that the process we were doing liberated Cl2 in moderate amounts. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but with the entire class doing it at once we were generating substatial amounts of chlorine. Now for those of you who don't know your history, Chlorine gas is also known as Mustard Gas, I believe. Once I figured out what was going on, I went down the hall to the physics room and got our proper chem teacher, who came back and opened up all the windows and doors so the gas could dissipate. Luckily it didn't trigger an asthma attack in anybody, but it was close.
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cirvin
Nobel Prize Winner
USA
1542 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2003 : 12:20:38 PM
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the worst non electrical disaster was when i was working on my potato gun. i couildn't get it to ignite. i punt a scary amount of hairspreay in the device. after a couple of clicks of the ignier, i looked down the barrel to se if it was sprkiing. i guess you can tell what happened. i singed my nosehair and bolth my eyelids, and the left side of my head. that day, i learned that my igniter was not to be trusted.
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Kale
Nobel Prize Winner
Canada
795 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2003 : 5:41:17 PM
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I'm hoping you also learned to never look down the barrel of a weapon! A lot of people have gotten killed that way! Use a hand mirror!
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n/a
DELETED (Inactive)
10 Posts |
Posted - Jul 28 2003 : 6:44:08 PM
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So far the worst thing I've done was absent-mindedly plugging in a floppy drive to my computer while it was on. The drive started smoking, and was ruined, but nothing bad happened to the computer itself.
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cirvin
Nobel Prize Winner
USA
1542 Posts |
Posted - Jul 28 2003 : 11:36:00 PM
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Literally "hot swapping"
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Chamkeeper
Mad Scientist
278 Posts |
Posted - Jul 29 2003 : 02:09:51 AM
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Changing a 45hp AC VFD, some contractor in the plant turned the (locked out) breaker on, I droppped more power than your house will use in years to ground....
I was wearing safety glasses but it burned the hair off my arms, hands and parts of my face. It blackened my clothes from head to toe...
After my vision and hearing came back ( a few seconds), I turned to the breaker panel (where I had the safety equipment) I saw a guy with my safeguard in his hand....I ran towards him, with a malicious intent, and was tackled by a friend, that made certain, that was the last day in history, that guy or his Co. would be in our plant....
Man, that was close, I did everything right, and still came close to meeting my maker...
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Kale
Nobel Prize Winner
Canada
795 Posts |
Posted - Jul 29 2003 : 08:29:20 AM
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"We keep coming up with more and more foolproof systems, and the universe keeps coming up with better fools."
Man, after that I'd be disassembling the entire breaker unit before doing anything, then setting an alarm on the remaining leads and the pieces of the breaker.
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Epsilon!
Mad Scientist
Canada
276 Posts |
Posted - Jul 29 2003 : 6:31:48 PM
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This was told ot me by a mechanic....
there was a guy that changed his battery... as he was carying it someone called him.. he turned around and the battery fell..didnt fall on his feet or anything... but it did explode.. he got sprayed with the acid.. his whole face was burned. and his whole left side of his front...
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BEatonNo1
Nobel Prize Winner
USA
1133 Posts |
Posted - Jul 29 2003 : 6:51:48 PM
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your story reminded me of a sight I once saw...
ironically, once while I wasjumping my car off, this huge cloud of smoke rose up on the other side of the parking lot. It was another person jumping off there car, but they had reversed the cables, and they had gotten so hot that the insulation burnt off, and they had gotten molten insulation on their cars to
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Largest explosion
