How am I not dead?

[WoodChuckDad]

I have been outside installing a trailer wiring harness for my Dodge Ram. 2004 1500. It came with a 4 pin so I bought the conversion adapter to 7 blade and I was running the brake wire and the hot wire. It's almost 90 degrees so I'm sweaty. I was under the hood putting in the 40 amp circuit breaker and wiring that in to the positive battery terminal I am using a 10 mm wrench...not a ratchet so it was taking a long time and I noticed that my left arm was tingling....I lifted up my arm to realize that for 30 seconds to a minute I had been leaning my left forearm on the negative and with the the left hand was touching the positive terminal to hold it steady while I worked the wrench with the right hand. I told my wife keep an eye on me for the rest of the day, in case I fall out. I should buy a lottery ticket today. I'm feeling lucky.

 

[Rustyiron]

I told my wife keep an eye on me for the rest of the day. I'm feeling lucky.

Hey Sparkey, she better keep an eye on you tonight you might still be energized:laughing:
Glad your OK!

 

[Threepoint]

I've had the exact same thing happen. The path of the current was just the thin layer of saltwater on the surface of your skin. That for sure will give you a tingle, more like a prolonged sting in my case. But it's not enough to paralyze muscles or disrupt heart rhythm.

When I was much younger, I watched an old electrician repeatedly test household circuits for live 120v current. He bridged the hot and neutral between his thumb and index finger. "Yep, that one's hot!" He explained that the current took the easiest path, so didn't even try to ground through the body. Never tried it myself, but made sense to me. :laughing:

 

[CalG]

12V is not enough to penetrate your skin "Control wiring" cuts off at 48 V which is what the safety guys feel your "personal insulation equipment" (skin) should be good for.

As far as the tingle goes, have you ever "taste tested" a dry cell battery?

 

[compact]

Its pretty hard to hurt yourself with 12V unless you short metal on a battery or starter post.

 

[sd455dan]

Its pretty hard to hurt yourself with 12V unless you short metal on a battery or starter post.

Yeah- like shorting a wedding ring across the + starter lug to a ground, Heard a story about a local guy who lost everything above the ring... After getting married I always removed my ring when working around starters and solenoids- that story stuck with me.

 

[buickanddeere]

Because here was not enough milliamperes traveling through your heart to either stop it or to cause arrhythmia.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

I don't know where you guys are getting your information about voltages, but it's wrong. 12v can kill you, if the conditions are right. Running across your forearm isn't going to do it, but it can be done. Get some good sweaty skin and get the path right, and you can get the needed current to stop a heart. It only takes about a quarter of an amp.

But then, getting 120v from one hand to the other should be fatal, but it isn't always. Ask me how I know!

 

[k0ua]

12V is not enough to penetrate your skin "Control wiring" cuts off at 48 V which is what the safety guys feel your "personal insulation equipment" (skin) should be good for.

As far as the tingle goes, have you ever "taste tested" a dry cell battery?

12 volts is pretty safe unless you made cuts in your skin and inserted probes into your "meat". I used to work around 48 volts and have gotten across it many times. No big deal, but that is about the most you would want to do, and there is some danger there. I have "taste tested" many 9 volt batteries, and a good fresh one in about all you would want to put across your tongue. It smarts some.

The biggest danger from working around batteries is getting burned from a piece a metal across the terminals. They can turn a wrench white hot pretty quick. Especially a 48 volt Central office battery pack capable of delivery thousands of amperes at 48 Volts. If you do the math, that is a bunch of watts.

 

[Threepoint]

[snip]

But then, getting 120v from one hand to the other should be fatal, but it isn't always. Ask me how I know!

When I was 11, I and an older buddy were standing in my dad's basement shop trying to find what was wrong with an old table lamp. I forgot it was plugged in and grabbed the hot wire, completing the circuit up my arm, down through me and my sneakers to the damp concrete floor. I remember being frozen in place, unable to move a muscle until my buddy saw what was happening. He reached up and unplugged the lamp. Thanks no doubt to him, I survived. As did the memory, quite vividly, to this day. :laughing: