Is this true?

rnln · 01-22-2016, 02:05 AM

I saw this on someone else facebook, not sure how to title this thread. Is it true the part that you have to keep your feet closed?

https://www.facebook.com/mrkuwait/videos/705083522959121/

M.D. Holloway · 01-22-2016, 03:51 AM

That line wasn't insulated so I'm thinking it was a guy-line but what do I know...and why does he roll up his window after he speaks to the girl? Why didn't he get a nose bleed when the air bag deployed?

1990C4S · 01-22-2016, 04:16 AM

That would have to be a very very high voltage line to create a voltage gradient that far away with enough potential to shock you through a pair of shoes.

Highly unlikely.

LEAKYSEALS951 · 01-22-2016, 05:25 AM

What SHOULD have happened:

The girl, after texting and causing the accident, gets out of her car, takes a selfie in front of the guy wrecked in the pole, and posts it to twitter/instagram/FB BEFORE going to check on him.

javadog · 01-22-2016, 05:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by M.D. Holloway

That line wasn't insulated so I'm thinking it was a guy-line

Transmission lines are not insulated.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1990C4S

That would have to be a very very high voltage line to create a voltage gradient that far away with enough potential to shock you through a pair of shoes.

It could easily be 10's of thousands of volts. I'm not going to test your theory. You can, if you want.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LEAKYSEALS951

What SHOULD have happened:

The girl, after texting and causing the accident, gets out of her car, flashes the guy wrecked in the pole, and causes him to jump out of the car. He gets fried, so she takes a selfie of the smoking carcass and posts it to twitter/instagram/FB before continuing on to the mall.

I fixed that for you.

JR

1990C4S · 01-22-2016, 07:12 AM

It is a wooden pole, which means it is likely limited to 70,000 volts (or it is where I live).

You don't need a lot of insulation to protect you from 1,000 volts, a decent pair of shoes would do that, and I don't see 1,000 volts as very likely across a 3' span.

You knock over a transmission tower and all bets are off.

Still, I would prefer to do a small test before I took a big step, as it is possible.

rnln · 01-22-2016, 10:01 AM

I was thinking about his shoes too. And also don't get it when you don't get shocked when feet are closed but do get shocked when 2 feet are wide apart.

BTW, what kind of voltage is at our starter when cranking?

Mark Henry · 01-22-2016, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rnln

BTW, what kind of voltage is at our starter when cranking?

12 volts

Hugh R · 01-22-2016, 10:13 AM

Its very much true. Its the differential in the voltage between the two shoes that gets you. They teach us to hop away on one foot.

oldE · 01-22-2016, 10:24 AM

True, the pole in the dramatization may not carry enough voltage to energize the ground for the maximum distance.
However. This is supposed to be a safety awareness video, not a documentary. I can easily imagine a situation in which there is saturated soil (a ditch, for example) and someone who has successfully exited the vehicle then taken a step and managed to complete a circuit with wet shoes and wet ground.
As Javadog said you can test your theory.
As one of the guys at the power station said, "Les. There's stuff there that can kill you."

Best
Les

rnln · 01-22-2016, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Henry

12 volts

No, I meant after the solenoid, after the voltage has cranked up

Hugh R · 01-22-2016, 10:48 AM

Still 12 volts, nominally. The solenoid uses little amps to control big amps.

widebody911 · widebody911's Garage

Back in my firefighter days, we responded to an incident where a guy with an end-dump trailer emptied it and hit a power line with the top of the bed. The current caught the rig on fire, starting with the tires, and when he jumped out, he had hold of the cab railing at the same time as he hit the ground (out of habit, I'm sure) and it nuked him instantly.

Mark Henry · 11:03 AM

12 volts.

Solenoid is nothing more than an simple light switch, it doesn't "crank up" anything, it just turns on (closes) a circuit.

Now the battery AMPS do make a difference, but even still 12 volts (not counting the ignition coil) doesn't have the power to hurt you by voltage alone.

Short out the battery and you can get a nasty burn and flame near a battrey can make it explode.
DC shock hazards don't happen till you are up to something like 40+VDC

This was Edison's big argument saying his DC power was safer than AC power. He electrocuted an elephant to prove his point.

rnln · 01-22-2016, 11:11 AM

Huge, Mark,
thanks. I was trying to imagine how it feel getting shocked by the power line. I was shocked my a starter once. It burned through 1/2 way a screw driver. It shocked me hard, felt much worse compare to other normal 12v wire in the car.

Mark Henry · 01-22-2016, 11:45 AM

An old electricians saying is "It's not the volts, it's the amps that will kill you".

You must have shorted the screw driver, then somehow you touched, were well grounded and became part of the circuit, all at the same time.

I've been shocked by a MSD (that sucks), been burned by hot wires and I almost burned down a car by shorting a battery once.
In almost 40 years working on cars I've never done what you did.