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High Voltage Electric Safety Precautions
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High Voltage Electric Safety Precautions |
General Information
We hope that you can enjoy and experience the experiments and ideas that are presented. However, it is extremely important that everyone who works with high voltage, high frequency, and other electrical equipment understands the dangers involved. We are not responsible for any injury or property damage that may occur as a result of ideas presented on this site. The following precautions should be memorized.
Household voltages are lethal.
The 15kv power lines outside your house are bare metal and don't have any insulation on them.
High voltage is defined as anything over 600 volts.
Electricity travels at the speed of light, 186,000 miles per second, and is always looking for the easiest path to ground.
Sweat can change body resistance from 100,000 ohms to under 1,000 ohms.
Large currents are lethal.
Large currents can create arcs that burn from 6,000 to 8,000 degrees and can melt metal and can overheat equipment and can cause explosions that cause fragmented metal to fly in all directions.
Some Basic Precautions
Do NOT assume anything without checking it yourself.
Do NOT take shortcuts
Do NOT ask someone else if the power is on.
Do NOT work alone.
Do NOT assume that anything is grounded.
ALWAYS wear eye protection.
ALWAYS wear shoes.
ALWAYS work with one hand if the power has to be ON.
ALWAYS watch for signs of overheating equipment or arcing.
If you get confused, then STOP moving.
If you feel a tingle, then something is definitely WRONG.
Advanced Precautions
Do NOT swap HOT and NEUTRAL because they are DIFFERENT.
Do NOT touch the case or the legs of a running neon sign transformer (NST) because you WILL be electrocuted.
Do NOT touch the core of a running microwave oven transformer (MOT) because you WILL be electrocuted.
ALWAYS discharge capacitors TWICE, tap out all transformers, and any other inductors and capacitors.
ALWAYS assume that a soldering iron is hot.
ALWAYS use pliers or a suitable clamp for small soldering jobs.
ALWAYS turn the power OFF when connecting meters into a circuit.
ALWAYS attach meters and THEN power up an experiment.
BEWARE of distribution transformers, especially when the kind with one ear.