electrical shock with a nasty burn ?????

[RayBan GST]

hi all,

Well I am here now with a big problem in my hand not in my car

Here is what happened below is a picture of the area (I want to know what is exactly this tube is for? Its between the alternator and the oil dip stick and its going all the way down next to the oil filter (it was leaking oil so I decided to fix it)

I am wearing in my right hand a bracelet made of gold and while i was trying to reach that tube my hand got stuck between the alternator and the dip stick and there was a nasty electrical shot as my bracelet hit the alternator (The bracelets literally MELT and made a nasty burn on my right hand till now I am in pain is the alternator has that much power to do so ???????? its like an electirc SHOCK very very strong one. it melted the gold !!!!!

I just want to know what this tube is for and wanted also to share my story so it won’t happen to you

please note that this picture is not for my engine bay its just to show you the location.

 

[mobythevan]

Yeah, its amazing in this day and age to think back then that kind of public killing of animals was happening. I would say this guy is a good example of why a 48volt car system would be safer, or disconnecting the battery before working on it Sorry, but we do like to laugh at other peoples accidents as long as they are not seriouly hurt.

 

[thewombis]

Most of the above is correct, the volts are not "as" dangerous. Its the amount of current, or AMPS that can kill you. 1mA across your heart, and you are most likely dead.

 

[boostedorbusted]

yes stay away from the alternator and disconect battery next time. ## lucky.

 

[dylnwit]

OO ya i just did some more research(I am a Electrical Major ) and DC can kill you but at 12v on dry skin it is hard for it to push enough current through you fast enough. Lightning is DC and it kills alot. But the resistance of your body is around 1000 ohms and your car has alot more resisance so the voltage drop through your body should be small which in turn will make the current be low because voltage and current are related proportionally. The bigger the load the more voltage needed... You were a small load so you had less voltage...

V=IR, so it's an inverse relationship, the car took most of the amperage for 2 reasons. The car route has the lowest resistance (hot to bracelet to grounded engine which goes right to the battery's negative), and unless he was touching the car somewhere else at the same time, he was an open circuit, so some charge could have transferred, but it would not continue to flow. If he was touching the car, then it would have been a parallel circuit, so voltage was constant, and the path of lowest resistance takes the most amperage.

On a different note, the oil could have been coming from a loose oil filter, or just the gasket going bad which would could a spray in that direction, or possibly an oil line related to the turbo. Take your time and heal up before you back after it though.

 

[steve]

And since nobody else has brought it up, bracelets are for girls, gays, and harry guys from New Jersey.
This is god's way of reminding you of that.

 

[99gst_racer]

I wouldn't try that or you might end up dead 0.5A is certainly enough to kill you. Also note that just because something has the capacity to supply 0.5A means only that it shouldn't be able to supply more than that. The resistance of what the voltage is going across is entirely what determines the current. If you grab onto 10000V with dry skin it shouldn't cause enough current to kill you (about 10-20mA) but it's best not to take chances. If you touch with any of your wet bits or it penetrates your skin or something, you could be in trouble. Granted, it takes more current with DC, but let's not give people ideas

Yeah, I'm a bit rusty. I was going off of memory of the physics class I took about a decade ago...

And since nobody else has brought it up, bracelets are for girls, gays, and harry guys from New Jersey.
This is god's way of reminding you of that.

 

[big_d]

And since nobody else has brought it up, bracelets are for girls, gays, and harry guys from New Jersey.
This is god's way of reminding you of that.

 

[cheap90gsx]

Wow, that is so funny! Next time i think to myself 'no i don't need to disconnect the battery for this' I'm going to remember this guy.

 

[kottyking]

And since nobody else has brought it up, bracelets are for girls, gays, and harry guys from New Jersey.
This is god's way of reminding you of that.

. Lets see a pic of the bracelet!

 

[chico904]

. Lets see a pic of the bracelet!

Haha, please! And post up the wrist too!

 

[crimsondragon]

I thought it was Thomas Edison convincing the executionists to fry Death Row inmates using A/C, not animals.

Voltage is considered pressure. Current is flow. If flow or resistance increases, pressure increases.

 

[RayBan GST]

well i see that STEVE turned the subject to a funny STORY

i posted here not for you to laugh but in order for you to learn from my mistake and i do not agree on what you said that bracelet is for GIRLS or for GAYS , its a GOLD bracelet and its made by cartier for you INFO and its really not for girls or for gays unless you are better than the designer cartier which make these bracelets for men.


thank you all for you contribution and it turned out that i was really like to be alive




cheers

 

[MidShipCivic]

1gs are 80A and 2gs are 100A... you are right about it running to the fuse box but you are still gonna get alot of current... Esspecially if that fuse blew he had a straight 100A going through him,... The battery can produce 500+ cold cranking amps if the starter needs it... Even if the battery can only supply that amount of current for that small amount of time.... IF you short out a curcuit the source voltage and current total would be going through him....



Well small wire can carry alot of voltage and current too. It just burns up or gets really hot because the friction of the electrons being forced through such a small space... Your fuses are just really smal;l jumpers that are designed to melt when the current gets to high

This guy did not have anything need 500 amps go through him otherwise he would be dead.

A fusable is something designed to melt at a certain temperature.

 

[Jeff99GS]

hi all,

(The bracelets literally MELT and made a nasty burn on my right hand till now I am in pain is the alternator has that much power to do so ???????? its like an electirc SHOCK very very strong one. it melted the gold !!!!!

.

Haha how do you think a WELDER works? Its a Dead short causing EXTREME heat. I guess you figured that out the hard way.
You got to watch OUT for that terminal with the little red boot on the back of the alternator...That's High current 12v. And the dipstick is a good GROUND. So bassically your gold braclet was the welding rod.




Just a little info here.
The alternator gets its name from the fact that it generates alternating current (AC). The old OLD cars had generators that generated direct current (DC). The old generators needed to be running at a fast pace before they got up to 13 or 14 volts.

The (AC) alternating current output from our Newer style alternator is converted from AC into DC. The alternator has a unique feature in that it is able to generate a relatively high voltage while the engine is at idle. A Generator on the other hand needed High revolutions to make higher voltage.

So if your car was running you might get hit with some AC too.
My point is, you better watch where you're stickin your hand. Especially with jewlery on.

I doubt you could ever get zapped by the AC current from the alternator, but I just thought I would give some info on how an alternator works.