How to light a candle

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inflater
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How to light a candle

Post by inflater »

Got bored again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysVXBxXZWHQ

There was an electron breeze coming from the red wire which was quenching the fire, until I got slapped by the static electricity/spikes it produced. So in case of no matches or lighters, you know what else you can try. :)
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Re: How to light a candle

Post by Love4Boobies »

I am sure Brendan really enjoys these posts :lol:
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Re: How to light a candle

Post by Troy Martin »

I'm sure that I do, this stuff is great!
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Solar wrote:It keeps stunning me how friendly we - as a community - are towards people who start programming "their first OS" who don't even have a solid understanding of pointers, their compiler, or how a OS is structured.
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Re: How to light a candle

Post by stephenj »

A friend of mine stopped playing with electricity after he ended up in the hospital... Well, that is where he woke up at least. His friend also got shocked, and apparently had an... unfortunate... piercing.

Just don't end up on the Darwin Awards.
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Re: How to light a candle

Post by inflater »

Tomorrow, or perhaps in Sunday: water electrolysis. :P

FYI stephenj, that current doesn't kill. It may burn your finger or throw you to ground, I've actually received a small slap at 1:19, but it was the static electricity it produced. You would need at least ZVS flyback driver or microwave transformers to actually get killed.
Last edited by inflater on Fri Jan 16, 2009 9:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: How to light a candle

Post by Troy Martin »

Tonight: primitive TSRs for my OS.
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Solar wrote:It keeps stunning me how friendly we - as a community - are towards people who start programming "their first OS" who don't even have a solid understanding of pointers, their compiler, or how a OS is structured.
I wish I could add more tex
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Re: How to light a candle

Post by Owen »

Erm, no. A flyback with a pathetic driver is more than capable of fibrilating your heart. Unfortunately, it's not capable of defribrilating it so if you did manage to kill yourself you would have to wait for the paramedics to arrive. Fibrilation takes just 1mA of current flowing through the heart to cause - or 60mA through skin.

But a much bigger issue with flybacks and other AC high voltage sources are RF burns. While RF may indicate radio frequency, they occur between 9kHz and 300GHz. And they are a major issue - because they cause no pain, but massive damage. Massive damage that you will first notice the next day when your arm looks very funny and is very sore.

By this time, your arm is dead. The RF burn has destroyed the nerve and muscle tissue within it. There is no treatment which can save it - and it has to be amputated because otherwise it will rot.

This, however, is not all the damage that HV can do to you. Another very important thing to consider is an arc burn - since arcs are electricity flowing through plasma, you can imagine that they are very hot. And they are. Many a HV engineer and experimenter has lost his fingers by accidentally putting them in arc range of two HV pins. This can completely strip all the tissue off your finger instantly - leaving a bloody mess with protruding, scorched bone. Arc burns don't cauterize, so with your finger left like that, you will bleed profusely.

Electricity is dangerous. It needs to be treated with respect. If working with a circuit above 48v is needed - and the unfortunate case in electronics is that it often is - at the very least keep one hand behind your back and the aperatus isolated. Make sure that there is absolutely no reason for the electricity to pass through you - and definitely make sure there is no reason to have it pass from arm to arm. If you need to move something and can't do it with one arm, turn the circuit off.

Don't be careless with your life. It's not worth it.
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Re: How to light a candle

Post by inflater »

or 60mA through skin.
300 or 500mA through skin with DC, get your facts straight. Every human has instinct and reflexes, after touching it you'll quickly let it go (imagine touching a bowl of hot water, etc), if the current is lower (lower than 15mA). I've been shocked by the 20 kV anode and I survived, but when working at it, you get those small static slaps everytime. ;)
Massive damage that you will first notice the next day when your arm looks very funny and is very sore.
That are symtomps for gangrene. You're mixing facts, altough you're true with the RF burns. The fact is, if the flyback wouldn't be rectified, it would output 20 kV at AC (20 kHz or so), so you were right - but that current travels only by skin because of it's frequency, it doesn't go deeper and damage tissues or anything (well if you would be holding the wire 10 seconds I'm not complaining, but you'll sense it anyway).
Another very important thing to consider is an arc burn - since arcs are electricity flowing through plasma, you can imagine that they are very hot.
Yes they are. So? I already tried to melt plastic and stick wood plates into the arc. And it did caught fire, like the candle on the video. A Nobel prize for discovering fire?
Many a HV engineer and experimenter has lost his fingers by accidentally putting them in arc range
Not with a flyback though, at least the transistor/555 driven one. You still could "drill a hole" in your finger from getting shocked from it, I'm not complaining, but I think those "HV engineers" do not work with flybacks. I think they're working with much higher currents - and if they would even try to touch the live wire, they're half-baken, or at least dead.
Electricity is dangerous. It needs to be treated with respect. If working with a circuit above 48v is needed - and the unfortunate case in electronics is that it often is - at the very least keep one hand behind your back and the aperatus isolated. Make sure that there is absolutely no reason for the electricity to pass through you - and definitely make sure there is no reason to have it pass from arm to arm. If you need to move something and can't do it with one arm, turn the circuit off.
Blah blah blah, these stupid nanny comments and warnings and all. I knew everything you listed here, in your post... you don't have to play smart.

I think you people are just too scared or something. I already know the theory, and if I don't, I do not attempt to build such a thing (not to mention that I even wouldn't know how to build it!). And I built it, I've succeeded at running it and repairing the thing. I know what can I do and what I can't, and I survived, and I'll survive, don't you worry.

You failed at the discouraging part. :P

To say the truth, I build these things and document them here for your opinions and all. Not for hearing those silly comments like "omg it'll kill you" and all. Like if I wouldn't know what it can do to you.

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Re: How to light a candle

Post by Alboin »

Don't they have any book clubs in your area? Those are..uh....nice.... 8-[

Do be careful now...
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Re: How to light a candle

Post by Owen »

300mA to 500mA with DC. But Flybacks are AC - they activate nerves. It only takes miliseconds for a heart to go into fibrilation when it's muscles have been pulsed at 20kHz - far beyond the capabilities of human reaction times. And yes, I have talked to someone who blew the tip of his finger off with a TV flyback running on a relatively low power driver.

But it is obvious from your attitude that you are willing to ignore all safety advice given. Your posts on your previous electronics experiments indicate otherwise with regards to your knowledge of electrical theory. Anyone who truly knew what they were doing wouldn't just cobble together stuff from random parts and hope it would work - they'd actually use parts which could, well, handle what they needed.

Anyone who hasn't got a serious knowledge of low voltage circuits - and I do mean serious - yet is playing with high voltage is a danger to themselves or others, even if they refuse to admit it. Your past posts here have shown you don't understand several important concepts in electrical design.

I'm sorry, but if any HV engineer acted like you do, he would be fired on the spot and never be able to find a job in the industry again. If you acted like you do among any of the HV communities on the web, you would be banned immediately. To be honsest, both to prevent others from killing themselves, and to help you realise just how boneheaded you are being, I seriously think the mods should remove your threads on your electrical experiments.

I have had safety discussions with people before - both regarding high current and high voltage designs. The thing is, this is the first time that I've seen a person do something unbelievably stupid (Such as hold two connectors at a 20kV potential difference, one in each hand) and effctively respond with a "f*ck you."
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Re: How to light a candle

Post by pcmattman »

Every human has instinct and reflexes, after touching it you'll quickly let it go
Correct - but touch it at the wrong spot and the current will cause your muscles to contract (and become uncontrollable by you), which generally puts you in a situation with a hand that you can't control that's stuck to an electricity source. Reflexes aren't fast enough in this situation to avoid it (that's why you generally get told to touch with the back of your hand, so when your hand contracts it'll pull away rather than towards).

One day you're not going to wake up to tell the tale unless you start actually thinking about what you're doing, and actually taking safety into consideration.

EDIT: Also, I don't think it's "cool", I don't think it's "smart", and I think you're an idiot to be doing stuff like that. My 2c.
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Re: How to light a candle

Post by Brynet-Inc »

pcmattman wrote:EDIT: Also, I don't think it's "cool", I don't think it's "smart", and I think you're an idiot to be doing stuff like that. My 2c.
Nah, he's just an idiot in general... inflater, you have fun now.. ;)
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Re: How to light a candle

Post by Alboin »

Brynet-Inc wrote:
pcmattman wrote:EDIT: Also, I don't think it's "cool", I don't think it's "smart", and I think you're an idiot to be doing stuff like that. My 2c.
Nah, he's just an idiot in general... inflater, you have fun now.. ;)
A little survival of the fittest in action, eh?

I wouldn't trust him inflater... 8)
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Re: How to light a candle

Post by Love4Boobies »

pcmattman wrote:Correct - but touch it at the wrong spot and the current will cause your muscles to contract (and become uncontrollable by you), which generally puts you in a situation with a hand that you can't control that's stuck to an electricity source. Reflexes aren't fast enough in this situation to avoid it (that's why you generally get told to touch with the back of your hand, so when your hand contracts it'll pull away rather than towards).
Was going to make the same comment. You know, inflater, since everyone's telling you the same thing, they probably know what they're talking about. It's just like when a newbie comes along on OSdev.org and everyone's telling him to RTFM and STFW (including you) and he doesn't listen... Except this is way more serious...
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Re: How to light a candle

Post by inflater »

But Flybacks are AC
Every color TV from 1990 onwards and all PC (CRT) monitors have a flyback in epoxy and with a rectifier diode glued in, that means, with DC output... And I'm using the DC one. Only old black and white TV's from 1960's had flyback with AC output, or a special 8kV flyback + multiplier cascade. (This was used in old color TV's, 1982 or so. Tesla Color 110ST, the one I disassembled, has this combination).
If an AC flyback is used, the rectifier diode is separated from the flyback itself (or the voltage multiplier is used) but still, DC flows into the CRT screen.
That shows the result of your electricity knowledge. Bravo. =D>

// The dates I mentioned may differ in U.S. and everywhere else. In Czechoslovakia we had black-and-white television broadcasting from 1956 or so, color TV broadcasting was available in the mid 70's or 1980. //
It only takes miliseconds for a heart to go into fibrilation when it's muscles have been pulsed at 20kHz - far beyond the capabilities of human reaction times.
Pure bullshit, the high frequency current travels only by skin, it doesn't go deeper and it won't kill you, smartass. Altough I'm using the rectified one, so this doesn't apply.

[quote="Wikipedia on "Electric shock""]Generally, higher frequency AC current tends to run along the skin rather than penetrating and touching vital organs such as the heart. While there will be severe burn damage at higher voltages, it is normally not fatal.[/quote]

And the AC or DC flybacks produce max. 5 mA at 20 or 30 kV, fool... (I'm not counting the zero voltage switching driver in this case, that *can* be dangerous.)
I'm sorry, but if any HV engineer acted like you do, he would be fired on the spot and never be able to find a job in the industry again.
Don't copy Brendan's posts, if you do not want to respond any further, it's tiring to read all this babble. And I'm not going to work with HV as a professional. It's just for fun. ;)
both to prevent others from killing themselves
Their fault, I've already given warnings on my site and even in the previous thread. And again, transistor driven flyback doesn't kill...
...,I seriously think the mods should remove your threads on your electrical experiments.
Blah blah blah...
I have had safety discussions with people before - both regarding high current and high voltage designs.
I don't care about you and all your pathetic warnings, because
(Such as hold two connectors at a 20kV potential difference, one in each hand) and effctively respond with a "f*ck you."
you've saw too many idiots who played smart. Do you think I would do such a thing? ;)
And if you think that flyback is a high-current device, you deserve a well placed slap-in-the-face and 24 hours of 500 people laughing at you, not to mention you shouldn't be able to find a job in industry again.
Correct - but touch it at the wrong spot and the current will cause your muscles to contract
Bullshit at currents lower than 10mA at AC...

"EDIT: Also, I don't think it's "cool", I don't think it's "smart", and I think you're an idiot to be doing stuff like that. My 2c."
"Nah, he's just an idiot in general... inflater, you have fun now.."
"A little survival of the fittest in action, eh?"

Again, blah blah blah... pathetic. Go learn the basic theory, fools. Especially flybacks, their types and maximum currents driven at their resonant frequency by 555/mosfet or transistor drivers. If you want to argue with me, do not mix up apples with oranges. ;)
they probably know what they're talking about.
No they do not, all these posts are delusional. No way a 20kV, 20kHz flyback at AC driven at it's standard parameters could penetrate into muscles and touch vital organs. 20kV at 5mA, even DC, will kill only heart-sick people and 70 year olds, plus I don't even try to go near the live electrodes when it's live. [How many times must I repeat this sentence for all those boneheaded minds?] The neutrality here is disputed, all posts are facing against me, so all of you who complain, go learn the theory, because all your warnings are pathetic as I already know them, plus they do NOT apply in this case. I post the results here for your opinions, not for your silly pathetic warnings and all. I don't care. If you don't have something creative to say, don't post. Rookies should not attempt to build this, as I have given enough warnings even on my site, and in the previous thread. And if you think that I'm a noob at this, think whatever you want and don't post. As I said, I don't care about your warnings. You're not skilled enough to argue with me with this case. I do on my own. ;)

In short...
1.Currents 5mA or lower through skin are not lethal at standard conditions (body resistance in ohms/kiloohms). 5V, 12V, 230V, 400V, 20 000V.
In fact, if you would had a supply that could output even 450 000mA at 12V (like a re-wound microwave transformer), it wouldn't kill you, because there's just too little voltage to "breach" through the skin.
2.The "cannot let go" current that causes muscle contractions start at 15mA through skin.
3.1mA can be fatal only when it's applied *directly* on the heart's muscle. That means cutting you open.
4.Fibrillation starts at 50-60mA at AC, 300-500mA at DC.
5.These points apply only when there is enough voltage to "breach" your skin, so that you can feel the shock and the current can travel through the body parts (50V and more).
6.Frequency does matter on the lethality. Don't mix up direct current and alternating current.
7.A standard 20kV flyback (AC in B&W televisions, DC in modern TV's and monitors) does NOT output more than 5mA when driven by standard means.


If you want to argue even more, especially on high-voltage high-frequency currents and their lethality, do so. You'll be slapped with proves so fast that your head will spin.

I have the required knowledge to build these things, and I already knew all the warnings. Period.

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