Got zapped testing a headlight motor!

[John Tipps]

Both my 66 motors were bad and thanks to you guys help I repaired one, this one starts and stops and gets warm during the test with the ark happening, today when testing with the Power Probe the thing actually zapped me- I un soldered the necessary wires to move the plate up and looked down into it as best I could and didn't see anything grounded against the case- has anyone had this problem?

 

[kiwigtx]

Both my 66 motors were bad and thanks to you guys help I repaired one, this one starts and stops and gets warm during the test with the ark happening, today when testing with the Power Probe the thing actually zapped me- I un soldered the necessary wires to move the plate up and looked down into it as best I could and didn't see anything grounded against the case- has anyone had this problem?

You got zapped by 12 Volts ?

Are you made of ice-cream.....or connected to a Life-Support machine?

What sort of testing device is this "Power Probe"?

 

[WileE]

You got zapped by 12 Volts ?

Are you made of ice-cream.....or connected to a Life-Support machine?

What sort of testing device is this "Power Probe"?

Maybe he flew into it ?

 

[kiwigtx]

Maybe he flew into it ? View attachment 1972819

I just spent 10 minutes in the garage holding the terminals of a 12 Volt battery and nothing happened.

What am I missing here?

 

[WileE]

I just spent 10 minutes in the garage holding the terminals of a 12 Volt battery and nothing happened.

What am I missing here?

If you used jumper cables from the battery attached to certain "delicate" parts of your body, you'd feel something more dramatic. Battery notwithstanding.

 

[kiwigtx]

If you used jumper cables from the battery attached to certain "delicate" parts of your body, you'd feel something more dramatic. Battery notwithstanding.

Thanks for the tip.....I'll try not to test electrical items nekkid from now on.

 

[dadsbee]

Maybe the power probe was a TENS unit..

 

[kiwigtx]

Sounds to me like the OP needs an anti-static mat for a start.... and tell us exactly what and how he tested this unit.

 

[WileE]

Thanks for the tip.....I'll try not to test electrical items nekkid from now on.

... that's the key word here ...

 

[dadsbee]

In all seriousness... is there a capacitor inside the headlight motor??? I've never taken one apart, but I sure loved charging those to 300 volts in grade 12 electricity, leaving them on the benches and waiting for the grade 9 class to be told "not to touch anything without asking" !

 

[kiwigtx]

In all seriousness... is there a capacitor inside the headlight motor??? I've never taken one apart, but I sure loved charging those to 300 volts in grade 12 electricity, leaving them on the benches and waiting for the grade 9 class to be told "not to touch anything without asking" !

Sounds like when I was an apprentice, and we had a box full of capacitors that regularly got charged with a wind-up 500 Volt Megger.

Had to be careful when grabbing one - was like playing Russian Roulette.

 

[Don selleck]

In all seriousness... is there a capacitor inside the headlight motor??? I've never taken one apart, but I sure loved charging those to 300 volts in grade 12 electricity, leaving them on the benches and waiting for the grade 9 class to be told "not to touch anything without asking" !

thats what i was wondering too. we used to charge up condensers and tell your buddy, hey catch, that was always good for a laugh.

 

[twecomm]

No capacitors in these headlight motors. Even if there were, with a 12 V charge on a capacitor, you would not feel anything. It is possible to get a small shock off the windings of the motor though.. When an inductor, in this case the winding(s) of the motor has voltage applied and them removed the instant the magnetic field collapses creates "back EMF " and you could get a slight shock from this, but not too bad.
After all, that's how your ignition coil works although the winding ratio is much greater in that case. When the ignition coils 12 VDC is disconnected via the distributors points opening up. Or, in the case of electronic ignition, switched off by the ignition control box transistor. The hi voltage sent to the spark plugs is created by a much greater winding ratio in the ignition coil, and thus a significantly greater back EMF, like thousands of volts !
By the way, we did the same with hi voltage charged capacitors back in my school days. Fun, but we threw them so someone would catch them...

 

[Charles Cook]

I just spent 10 minutes in the garage holding the terminals of a 12 Volt battery and nothing happened.

What am I missing here?

Grab the coil wire while you turn it over.

 

[kiwigtx]

After all, that's how your ignition coil works although the winding ratio is much greater in that case.

Except the coil is a mega transformer and creates a lot more energy to discharge.

12 Volts on its own or even generated from a motor winding will not shock you.

 

[HEMIB]

Mate touched a 24 V forklift battery after washing down the food manufacturing machinery with a light mix of chlorine he was flung across the room ended up with a broken elbow & eye popped out recovered OK ,chlorine makes the skin highly conductive.
We had an Italian apprentice who was touching the 3 phase 415 VAC fuse terminals i asked what he was doing he said he was checking to see if there was power ,I asked what he felt he said just a slight tingle i asked what would happened if he touched 2 phases at the same time to which he plugged in a test lead & grabbed 2 phases then let go nothing happened high skin resistance i guess.

 

[kiwigtx]

Mate touched a 24 V forklift battery after washing down the food manufacturing machinery with a light mix of chlorine he was flung across the room ended up with a broken elbow & eye popped out recovered OK ,chlorine makes the skin highly conductive

 

[OneWheelPeel]

You got zapped by 12 Volts ?

Are you made of ice-cream.....or connected to a Life-Support machine?

What sort of testing device is this "Power Probe"?

Been messing with these things for a long time and was never shocked by 12v, until the Coronet. Happened messing around the fuse box, I can only guess something in there had capacitance.

 

[kiwigtx]

I can't recall anything under 150 Volts doing me any harm.

Now 230 and 400 Volts is a different story.

 

[Davefinan]

In my forty year career working in the electrical trade I got hit with 277 volts a few times . It’s a pretty extreme shock. A coworker got hit with 480 on his hand and it blew it open. He recovered over time. I can’t figure how you would feel a shock from 12 volts, but if the man says he did , I guess he did.