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Joined: Oct 2000
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pg 66 of my 5th ed 1942 is an almost exact duplicate

i was apprenticed to two older electricians, both passed on now for some time, who taught me the'backhanding' technique

it was known that muscles contract when electrified, so testing for voltage with the back hand would have one's arm contract back at ones self, as opposed to moving forward into something live.


as one of these gents imparted to me " If you slap yourself, it's live!"

~S~

Joined: Jul 2007
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One of my favorite "old timer" tricks was driving a nail in HV cable to drain the sheided jacket by grounding out the nail. It don't work that well when the wrong circuit is shut off and the breaker that is being worked on is an auto reset type One of my instructors shared that story and to add insult to injury, they were in an underground vault... I still gringe then chuckle


"Live Awesome!" - Kevin Carosa
Joined: Feb 2002
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When I was a burglar alarm installer, my central office (CO) had a type of alarm system which used 130 volt DC. The CO would send out 130 VDC and it would run through the BA system and the CO would be able to tell if the negative side or the positive side of the alarm was broken. Anyway, when we got to the job site, we would have to get the telco guys to find our "BA" line. One day this guy was looking for our BA line by touching his tongue with a piece of wire and touching the telco terminals. We tried to warn him several times by reminding him that it was a BA line. When he found it, he let out a very loud scream and asked us what was on that line. That was when my partner told him that it was 130 VDC. He never looked for a BA line again that way.

Joined: Jul 2004
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A ringing phone line will light you up too (~100v @ 20 hz) I am surprised he would do that.


Greg Fretwell
Joined: Oct 2010
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The old timer I worked for in 1974 did that.. laugh laugh

Joined: Oct 2000
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Originally Posted by gfretwell
A ringing phone line will light you up too (~100v @ 20 hz) I am surprised he would do that.


i found that out the hard way ..... blush

~S~

Joined: Feb 2002
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Sparky,

Me too. I was hooking up some phone lines in my house dozen years ago when my wife decided to call home to see how I was doing. After getting zapped, hitting my head and hand trying to back away from the power, I answered the phone. Needless to say, it wasn't a good conversation. She has the knack to call me in the most inopportune times.

Joined: Dec 2002
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Apparently getting your ears between the uninsulated overhead phone lines commonly used here some years ago could be particulary uncomfortable.

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twh Offline
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Now that you mention telephones, a psychic dog can tell when a phone is going to ring.

(Blue links don't stand out very well on a blue background)

Last edited by twh; 02/17/13 07:01 PM.
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I have my Dad's 1953 NEC and couldn't find anything on this, but I do remember for checking spark on 60's vintage cars by pulling the wires off while the engine was running. I got knocked on my can once working on a school bus motor trying something similar!
Greg

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