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Charged capacitor kills.
Oct. 12, 2012, 01:11 AM (This post was last modified: Oct. 12, 2012 01:16 PM by JJoe.)
Post: #1
Charged capacitor kills.
http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2012...-computer/

Quote:A teenager recently found dead at his Shawnee home died of electrocution while working on computers, according to police and coroner reports.

Quote:"revealed an electrical burn on the left chest," one of the forensic indicators of electrocution.

Quote:"it was a tower computer; he was stripping it out when he got into the power supply."

I can only imagine that he was bracing something against his chest. Maybe there was a pre-existing condition.

Anyway, everybody should know that vacuum tubes, cathode ray tubes (CRTs), and capacitors may store enough energy to harm us.

Edit: spelling
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Oct. 12, 2012, 12:24 PM
Post: #2
RE: Charged capacitor kills.
From that link: "capacitors that store electricity and can deliver a potentially lethal shock even when the power is shut off." Wow, I didn't know that and I was about to check my faulty,flickering, 3 year old Samsung monitors capacitors. JJoe, you not only have saved my pc from many issues over the years, you may have saved my life today! Smile! Thanks!
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Oct. 14, 2012, 04:30 PM (This post was last modified: Oct. 14, 2012 04:33 PM by sbk.)
Post: #3
RE: Charged capacitor kills.
Common advice is don't let your body complete the circuit (the loop of electrical current)
That also includes when there's a high resistance circuit, but your body would provide a new low-resistance path. Sad

I have not done this to a capacitor, but have done it prying inside electrical box Smile!

http://www.google.com/search?q=crude+dis...ht+bulb%22
The PSUs I have opened had been sitting for months. To verify discharge, I think i used a neon tester, then short piece of insulated wire.
http://www.google.com/search?q=electrician+"Neon+Tester"+Voltage+resistance+low+Current
http://www.doityourself.com/forum/electr...ester.html

edit: and I don't recall for sure, but I think I didn't know this when i was a teenager. I was wary knowing that electrical things are electrical, but may not have suspected something that had been unplugged...
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Oct. 15, 2012, 03:07 PM
Post: #4
RE: Charged capacitor kills.
we used to apply a reverse polarity to electrolytics and literally shoot them across the lab like a potato out of a plastic tube...

'course the "smell" sticks around for DAYS, if not WEEKS, lol...
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