View Full Version : I shocked myself today
I was installing a wireless network PCI card into my dads computer and then my finger kinda went dead. I thought I pinched a nerve or something on the side of the case so I stuck my hand in again and same thing. Like an idiot i stuck it in again this time trying to pull the modem out and then when I touched it my hand shot back at me and my fingers were all numbish like. I finally figured out I was being shocked and got an oven mit to pull the card out. Then I asked my sister to pick it up off the ground and nothing happened:eh?: .
I'm just wondering how this is possible, and also after I shocked my self the 2nd time I tried turning the computer on to install the network card, but nothing happened intill the modem was out.
Was someone playing a trick on me??? Do these last 2 paragraphs make sense or do I have to rewrite it???
ShiFtY2001
07-09-02, 08:17 AM
That is wierd, but it is unlikely you were shocked by the computer: the voltage on a mobo is only 12V at max, thats not enough to even feel anything. Try a 100V shock, you'll jump a metre in the air!
What is possible is the phone line: that has about 50V on it iirc. Enough to be annoying.
You *did* turn off and unplug the computer before operating on it????????
I especially like the fact you got your sis to be the guinea pig! ;)
Originally posted by ShiFtY2001
That is wierd, but it is unlikely you were shocked by the computer: the voltage on a mobo is only 12V at max, thats not enough to even feel anything.
If you're going to argue that it's not possible to be shocked by 12V, go play with the terminals on a car battery. ;) (don't)
This does seem kind of odd...what exactly were you touching when you got shocked?
Gravity Man
07-09-02, 09:03 AM
I'd bet you touched a capacitor, and it discharged though your finger. Depending on the cap, they can give quite the shock.
Mr. Chambers
07-09-02, 11:38 AM
especially when you blow one up by pumping 400 volts through it in electronics class :D lmao stupid classmates were dinking around and thought they'd see how high they could pass current through HUGE capacitor... my god, i've never seen or heard anything as loud as that thing blowing up at around 400... the light, the smoke.. the fire.. :) it was a sight for sore eyes.. lol
iggybaseball
07-09-02, 11:52 AM
i dont know about the shocking but i know that i used to have a modem that would prevent the computer that it was installed in from booting up.
stompah
07-09-02, 11:55 AM
Originally posted by ShiFtY2001
That is wierd, but it is unlikely you were shocked by the computer: the voltage on a mobo is only 12V at max, thats not enough to even feel anything. Try a 100V shock, you'll jump a metre in the air!
What is possible is the phone line: that has about 50V on it iirc. Enough to be annoying.
You *did* turn off and unplug the computer before operating on it????????
I especially like the fact you got your sis to be the guinea pig! ;)
Someone neds to stick their tongue to a 9 volt battery!
I alwasy thought it was the ampheres not the voltage that zaps you.
Gerst240
07-09-02, 12:18 PM
Originally posted by stompah
Someone neds to stick their tongue to a 9 volt battery!
I alwasy thought it was the ampheres not the voltage that zaps you.
exactly volts wont kill you but it matters how many amps it has the higher the amps the more you feel pain
it's both amps and volts that matter when you get zapped.
Car battery is 12V at many amps, so it will knock you around a bit. Or a stun gun is many volts, few amps- it still works you over. If BOTH are pretty high, well then you are dead for sure! :D
Enough amps at low volts can kill you. Enough volts at low amps can kill you also- it's all a measure of how many electrons are jumping up and down on your heart!:D
I like Gravity Man's suggestion- you are maybe discharging a cap right into your finger, ouch!
Garfield
07-09-02, 01:40 PM
You know, for all that I work on my computer and the whole bit, I have yet to get blasted by electricity. With all this talk, you guys scare me! I don't want to feel this! It sounds like it hurts! :( :) :D
::knock on wood x 3:: :D
13oots2
07-09-02, 08:46 PM
Originally posted by Gerst240
exactly volts wont kill you but it matters how many amps it has the higher the amps the more you feel pain
I was always taught by my father who was a telecommunicaton engineer, that its "Volts watts kills".
Actually, there's two ways a modem can shock you the way you described your steps.
One, a motherboard cap was shocking you (hint...it's electrically connected to the mobo that powers it).
Or Two, while shutdown, many mobo's will still keep power to the modem/pci slots to enable wake on lan/ring.
That, my children, is why your manual plainly states to "unplug or switch off the power supply while making any hardware changes, or working inside the case."
I know we're mostly male here, but someone's got to read the manual once in a while, if only for entertainment purposes.:D
Im pretty sure it was the modem that shocked me, since I had to take it out inorder for the computer to boot back up. The shocks were not that bad they felt like i had hit a funny bone, only in my hand. I duno how to really describe it, but it wasn't much of a pain, more of a "what the heck was that!" feeling.
If I would have grounded myself on the side of the case would this not have happened????
garwain
07-12-02, 12:32 PM
I've worked with computers, for several years, often not turning off the power, and have never gotten a shock off a computer. I have worked with other electronics and have received several shocks:
testing electric fence the quick way = vein in arm pulsing and a sudden impulse to let go
drilling through an extension cord = YOW! THAT HURTS, and needing to kick the thing out of your hand.
shorting small capaciters = WTF? I have often wondered what was discharging on me.
phone lines are not bad. You'll know that something is funny
arcing a 12V car battery, that one hurt too...
The powerline hurt, the battery was very annoying. The fence is more of a suprise than anything painwise, and the other, well I've gotten to the point that I don't even notice them any more
Breadfan
07-12-02, 02:22 PM
Yeah pretty sure its the amps...
Keep in mind a car battery is 12v, but they range from like 600 to 1000 amps...
Mike
Shadow рс
07-12-02, 04:34 PM
is the plug you're using grounded? if it's not, then the case it not, and that makes a lot of sense.
ALWAYS use a grounded outlet.
Penguin4x4
07-12-02, 04:43 PM
You OK Garwain? $hit boy, seems like you wanna get hurt! My grandpa has a ranch up north in the Panhandle, installed one of them hot wires across his fences. I unknowingly sat down on the fence and was pleasantly shot up about a foot and half into a cactus patch. Electricity hurts,:D :D. Watts are a product of Amps and Volts, so 13oots2is half right. Car batteries run around 600 ampsx12volts=7.2KW, :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
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