A not so gentle reminder - HV is unforgiving

[David Fouchey]

Hey Dave I'm just glad thats all the more serious it was. Hell of a wake up
call isn't it? Closest to that to have happened to me was getting knocked
out of a phone booth while looking for noise on a dispatchers wire line
when lightning hit the pole line about 3-5 poles away from me. Hurt like a
mother let me tell ya. That and the time as a teenager when I built a
jacobs ladder outof a neon sign transformer and used a screwdriver to start
the arc....god protects fools and little children, at least sometimes.<G>

73's
Dave Fouchey
wa4emr

At 11:04 AM 11/27/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi Steve,
>Thanks for your note, I have received many thanking me
>for posting my experience - (I realized that to do that would
>be showing my own carelessness).But as many have commented,
>there are a lot of fellows working with the older gear now who
>have no experience with tube gear and/or HV, and we who do,
>have been known to let our guard down.
>... I did want to clarify something. As I stated in my post, the
>top shield WAS ON, the only place that one could get in contact
>with HV was through a narrow 1 inch slit on the right side at the
>bottom of the unit where the underside of the PS circuit board is.
>It was through this opening that my little finger slipped. For any-
>one else -( I have no small children in the house anymore), to do
>this, they would have had to work at it.  BTW - I have a master
>power switch which kills the entire bench which my wife knows
>to throw if for any reason (called to work, etc.) , the stuff needs
>to be turned off.
>..So what I had on the bench running was a buttoned up SB-200
>which just needed to be slid back in its case - the 200 has no
>HV interlock, and the only HV present was under the unit and
>only accessable through a small opening.
>  The mental shock and confusion that followed completely
>blocked out any memory of how I even came in contact with
>the HV, it was only later that I remembered sliding my hand
>on the case and figured out what I had done -- still my fault,
>but not as careless a scenario as you pictured Steve.
>=== Oh yes, to the Heath people who may be
>more concerned about the amp[just kidding],I have
>so far found 5 of the 6 bleeder resistors open, the
>1 ohm 5 w res open, 2 runners open. The meter
>I was able to straighten the pointer and it seems ok
>(oh yes - the meter had pegged backwards.)
>-at least on rel pwr function.  I have all of the parts
>needed, leftover from my SB-220 update with Harback
>stuff, so hopefully I may soon have the amp that almost
>did me in, up and running.
>... Makes me wonder how my finger was conductive
>enough to cause this much damage. The currrent flow
>was from the tip of my finger to a point near my hand.
>Yes, I only had one hand on the unit - or I wouldn't
>be relating this.
>The next time you 200 owners have your amp out of
>its case - check this out.
>--
>73, Dave - W3NP
>Ft. Ashby, WV
>
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