Ouch !!!

[GStueyXR]

Got the worst belt of my life today!

Okay, so i installed a new lighting circuit, took power to a 24 way grid switch and radiated out from there. Over 100 downlights controlled in banks of 6 by electronic dimmers.

1 faulty transformer, so i just turned off it's dimmer and proceeded to change the tranny.

Removes the tranny and drops the live terminal screw after I had backed it off too much. And so as you do, I inserted the screw with my index finger and thumb. After 3 or four half turns I finds myself on my backside at the foot of the ladder gasping for breath!

Now I checked the circuit was dead, there was no-one at the grid switch, so how can I have had such a nasty belt?

Any way, the spark I am working with comes over and checks the circuit.... DEAD. But then as he is inserting the live side of the tranny, lovely blue arcing appears! WTF..

Anyway, I re-learned a valueable lesson! ISOLATE THE CIRCUIT PROPERLY!

 

[GStueyXR]

and now I feel like I have been weight-lifting for 24 hours solid!

 

[rocker]

Maybe some kind of capacitor in the transformer? I duuno. We-ird!

 

[derek preece]

I thought a capacitor is used to improve power factor in inductive circuits like ones with transformers; I'm still learning so please don't flame

 

[rocker]

No you're probably right, I'm thinking about the application of capacitors in things like camera flashes, the likelyhood of this being in in lighting trasformer is pretty much nil.

 

[brucelee]

hope you ok mate
your right check and double check next time

 

[GStueyXR]

Maybe some kind of capacitor in the transformer? I duuno. We-ird!

No mate... The tranny was disconnected. The shock was from the 230v side.

Dunno whether it was some problem with the push button dimmer that I used in the grid switch.

Whatever it was, it was the worst shock i ever had because I had hold of an open JB and provided a return path with my other hand.

Seriously though lads... dont be lazy like me, Isolate every circuit you work on at the DB!

 

[BigBreakfast]

Indeed GStueyXR, safe isolation every time! Been at the receiving end of a belt a couple of times when I was younger and it's something you don't forget in a hurry.

 

[nickblake]

its one thing i always drum into youngsters ,test test test , even if you can see both ends of the cable still test as you dont know if anything has been joined in the wall and plastered over ,i have found live wires even when the main switch on the cdu is switched off , so test and doublle test and some of you do most of you dont LOCK IT OFF and keep they key in your pocket when working on it then you can go wrong and no one can energise it whilst you are working on it , a lock off kit is £45.00 very little to pay for your life

 

[AlanWirral]

Voltage stick they get slated by everyone but they have saved my bacon a few times

 

[Farmelectrics]

what are the best locking off devices which ones have you been using and do they do all consumers

 

[Deleted member 19807]

Voltage stick they get slated by everyone but they have saved my bacon a few times

I use a volt stick before opening a box and a voltage tester once the box is open.

 

[rocker]

Just had a thought - you say grid switch, is it possible one of the lines have come out of the terminals in the grid, come into contact with the earthed surround and the belt you got was actuallt off the now-live earth?

 

[Deleted member 19807]

Just had a thought - you say grid switch, is it possible one of the lines have come out of the terminals in the grid, come into contact with the earthed surround and the belt you got was actuallt off the now-live earth?

the mcb/ rcd would have gone with an earth fault, in fact why did the rcd not protect you, it was being installed to 17th ?

 

[rocker]

Good point, but not necessarily RCD protected; could be like-for-like on a 16th install, cables could be surface or correctly protected in wall, could even be a faulty RCD.

I reckon, though, if he had a really nasty belt like he said, and was holding cable in one hand and tranny in the other, that he used his arms and torso to connect line in his left hand to neutral in his right, thus becoming part of the circuit proper and not tripping the RCD. Straight across the heart - it's bloody nasty!