old wives tales (or cowboys tales)about electricity - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: siliconmix
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2012, 08:13:34 pm
content: anyone got any old wifes tales about electricity.i knew someone who used to turn all the mirrors in his house to face the wall when it was thunder and lightning

author: SgtRock
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 21, 2012, 08:38:48 pm
content: Greetings EEVBees:--How about old Cowboy tales. I have read that on the plains, Cowboys would hide their guns and other metal objects under blankets and other non-metallic stuff during electrical storms. Golfers also have some beliefs in this regard. I.E. "drop that 9 iron" and do not stand under a tree. Possibly these rituals have merit."There are two possible outcomes: If the result confirms the hypothesis, then you've made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery." Enrico Fermi 1901 1954Best RegardsClear Ether

author: siliconmix
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2012, 08:43:38 pm
content: what do golfers know.the mirror thing .at least the flashes won't seem as bad.

author: Excavatoree
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2012, 08:58:36 pm
content: The one I always hate to hear is "It's not the volts that kill/hurt you, it's the Amps."That's like saying "It's not the height from which you fall that hurts you, it's your speed just before you hit the ground."

author: 8086
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2012, 09:03:15 pm
content: Quote from: Excavatoree on January 21, 2012, 08:58:36 pmBut these are both trueWhat if you have a parachute or a glider?

author: siliconmix
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2012, 09:07:23 pm
content: Quote from: 8086 on January 21, 2012, 09:03:15 pmyes ha ha. i don't feel dc volts til about 22 vdc

author: PeterG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2012, 09:32:41 pm
content: Hi All'Dont kink the power lead because you will stop the power' is one that i have heard a bit.Regards

author: Lightages
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 21, 2012, 09:43:37 pm
content: Don't leave wires unconnected because the electricity will leak from the ends"Put take over battery terminals so their charge doesn't leak out into the air

author: G7PSK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2012, 09:57:15 pm
content: Its not the falling that hurts or kills you it's the stopping. My grandmother used to cover the mirrors and draw the curtains during a thunder storm,she also believed that the world would end if man landed on the moon.It is remarkable what some will believe, I have just been reading something about a man called Bedini, from what I could make out from the references he recons to have discovered a source of free electricity which had been covered up since Tesla's days.came across it via ebay and someone selling a circuit that is supposed to de-sulphate lead acid batterieshttp://stores.ebay.co.uk/Courtiestown-Marine-LtdI am not sure that I believe that it would work , my experience with lead acid cells is that the chemicals sold to de-sulphate work to a small degree but milking an individual cell is best (that's charging the single cell at a rate that causes the electrolyte to go white with bubbles) or scrapping the plates on large cells that dismantle. I was going to post this as a separate post but the it just seemed to follow on here.

author: Rerouter
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2012, 09:58:11 pm
content: another one is about coiling power cords,now i realise this would form some level of inductance, but being how the neutral is next to active, inside each individual wire, should it not effectivly cancel it out (current in cancelled out by current out) or atleast make it negligiblenow i know the other factor is temperature, but for a full 10A load, the wire size has to be AWG 10 (2.5mm^2) (1 milli ohm per foot/ 3.3 milli per meter) which for copper wires is only 0.33W per meter of wire heat, which even if bundled up, comes to only 3.3W of heat for the normal 5m leads, (nuetral is also a wire producing heat)and ok, i'll do the math for say the shitty chinese leads that use only 1.5mm^2 wire (AWG 14), its 8.3 milli ohm per meter, it comes to 0.83W per meter, and this would be more likely to have propigated the story, as for the norm 5m lead, comes to 8.3W,please note that the math was based upon copper wires under the australian standards, where only a 10 degree rise is allowed, and the chinese leads sometimes use the 35 degree rise standard,

author: siliconmix
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2012, 10:07:56 pm
content: Quote from: Rerouter on January 21, 2012, 09:58:11 pmreminds me of these long range metal detectors that can find gold a couple of hundred meters away.sorry to all the greek and amercan members on this forum but most are american and greek

author: G7PSK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2012, 10:14:00 pm
content: In the large extension leads its about cooling they will melt if used on full load while coiled I have seen it happen at quite low loads.

author: siliconmix
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2012, 10:23:32 pm
content: G7PSK i'll try that might make a good vid.i might just do away with the fuse alltogether just to give it a fair go.where's th harm

author: 8086
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2012, 10:24:44 pm
content: Mythbusters did it already. They made some nice smoke

author: siliconmix
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2012, 10:31:28 pm
content: i'll take look on youtube for that episode.ta

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2012, 11:21:24 pm
content: Quote from: PeterG on January 21, 2012, 09:32:41 pmFor high speed data or RF, it's partly true. A sharp bend in a cable could cause an impedance mismatch.

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 21, 2012, 11:28:10 pm
content: Cables have to be awfully long for 50/60 Hz signals to have an issue with impedance mismatches, however (something like the distance from earth to the moon). Since the kink would be extremely small compared to the wave length, it would just result in a very slight change in lumped impedance of the cable. This is even true for many 'RF' signals, where wavelength may be in the order of meters.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2012, 12:26:27 am
content: The way i heard it was in a rhyme "Volts jolts, mills kills"

author: sonicj
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2012, 03:34:29 am
content: Quote from: G7PSK on January 21, 2012, 09:57:15 pmi have a thread that shows tests of a off-the-shelf desulfater product. its not scientific as i did not include a control, but shows interesting results nonetheless.https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=2388.0i need to repeat the tests with at least a pair of matched batteries, but personally, i believe there is some truth to the claims... regardless if it was the desulfater or just the float charge that added performance, there is no substitute proper maintenance & charge routines with LA batteries!-sj

author: caroper
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2012, 01:36:58 pm
content: Quote from: siliconmix on January 21, 2012, 08:43:38 pmIf you are caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of lightning, hold up a 1-iron. Not even God can hit a 1-iron.Lee Trevino

author: ivan747
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2012, 12:57:36 am
content: My grandmother used to tell me not to go barefoot inside the house during thunderstorms. She also made me turn off the TV during big ones, but that was close to what you have to do during serious thunderstorms and hurricanes. That is, unplug anything valuable from any sort of transmission line. I guess her advise was OK when TVs used real switches and indoor antennas.

author: amspire
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2012, 02:29:56 am
content: Quote from: ivan747 on January 23, 2012, 12:57:36 amIf you go back to the early 60's, the price of a good TV was about a quarter of the cost of a Ford Mustang car. You could buy a house for about 10 times the cost of a TV. Not using it during a thunderstorm was probably a very wise thing to do, given the price.

author: touchh
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2012, 03:13:20 am
content: That it costs 40 cents every time you turn a light bulb on and off, so its cheaper to leave them on.Not using the phone when its storming out, even if its a portable phone. Not using the computer or tv when its storming out, but still leaving them plugged in...

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2012, 03:49:15 am
content: Very few people in the 1960s ever turned the TV off during thunderstorms.The normal thing in those days was to to say,"Bummer! a thunderstorm,well,I guess I won't be able to do the gardening,so I'll stay inside & watch TV!"The reason for not using the phone was never about getting an electric shock,it was about high level transients being generated on the phone lines, & appearing as very loud "crashes" in the resultant acoustic output of the phone.(This would not necessarily be much better with a cordless phone.)Some people had apparently suffered hearing damage.-This came out as a news release from Telecom Aust in the 1970s,& the advice was repeated in the phone book for some years.By & large,people in the 1960s weren't as convinced that everything around them was an imminent threat to their life as present day folk are,& just went about their life.VK6ZGO

author: PeteInTexas
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2012, 05:06:07 am
content: 90 degree pcb traces

author: BravoV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2012, 08:22:53 am
content: Quote from: PeteInTexas on January 23, 2012, 05:06:07 amTo complement this, 90 degree pcb trace with rounded corner instead of sharp corner, when working at sub Mhz freq.Honestly I was somehow a believer at the rounded corner before the Amphour #77, shame on me.

author: G7PSK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2012, 08:53:16 am
content: The unplugging TV's most likely originated from the early days of radio when during a thunderstorm it was recommended practice to ground your aerial/antennae, which usually consisted of a very long length of wire, I have a few 1920's wireless books which tell you to do this.I always unplug the computers and modem during electrical storms having had two fax machines and an automatic gate plus a modem blown up by lightning strikes on power and phone lines, If you live in an area with overhead power and phone lines there is a high risk. Flash overs on the grid are pretty dramatic to watch (seen them a few times) but the resultant surge can also blow things.

author: westfw
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2012, 06:21:49 pm
content: There's one that I worry about. I used to read a lot books with electronics projects like "shocking joke box" where there would be a comment like "the limited current available from a typical battery prevents the output from actually being dangerous, but you shouldn't use this with an AC power supply."That was sorta Ok. But those were from the days of carbon/zinc cells, and batteries have gotten a lot better since then, with a modern AA battery being able to provide 5 to 10A of current (briefly.) So...

author: ivan747
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2012, 08:11:08 pm
content: Quote from: amspire on January 23, 2012, 02:29:56 amI think her family did had a TV back then. Many people from the block would come to their house to watch it because it was one of the few ones around.

author: ivan747
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2012, 08:13:19 pm
content: Quote from: touchh on January 23, 2012, 03:13:20 amThe first statement is true for electric motors in some situations (due to lost inertia). I have heard the second one before.

author: damo
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2012, 04:44:26 am
content: How about the classic one of covering the fuse with Al foil when it blows to get the thing working again? I've also heard of cowboys using fencing wire to replace fuses

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2012, 04:51:34 am
content: Not a good idea for mains fuses,or for permanent use in car electrical systems,but if you are stuck somewhere along a red dirt track in the backblocks of WA,it may be the only way to get you that 4 or 5 hundred km to the nearest cold beer!VK6ZGO

author: damo
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2012, 05:07:17 am
content: Agreed. I was referring to mains fuses including the old fuse box fuses (which have been replaced with CBs)

author: mobbarley
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2012, 11:43:04 am
content: a rusty nail is way more reliable than foil

author: G7PSK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2012, 12:06:18 pm
content: I have put mig welder tips into plugs to replace fuses as 13 amp fuses don't like the surge welding plant will give them a solid chunk of copper is much better for the job and there is a 32 amp trip on the ring main. Only used in the field as workshop is equipped with ceeform sockets at 16 and 32 amp both 240 and 415 volt