Don't have a GFCI outlet? Get one! Almost died!

[Bbaz123456]

I have been a electrician for over 30 years of my life. Not a wire puller and a light bulb changer either. I have had dc jump from 12 or more inchs and burn holes in my head and hands. A clamp on meter is the only way to read ac current acuretly. Sure the used to have analog meter were you plug a hair dryer in a socket that hooked to the meter.

Maybe a few too many shocks to the head??
Of course just about every meter can measure amps. But I do agree the best and easiest way to do it is with a clamp on meter, but that doesn't mean that you can't use a standard multimeter in series of the circuit.

 

[Joey waid]

Reads both AC and DC amps.

Reads both AC and DC amps.

i just can't see how a non calibrated south wire multimeter that only good for 10 amps will have the resolution of .076 let alone 1.000. The fact is he got hurt yes, but the numbers everybody keeps putting out to me are useless. Volts are what matters then the flow of those volts.

 

[Anthony Wood]

And I have 1 degree, 2 trade diplomas, and 1 technical diploma, so what it doesnt matter.

And I will bet you 50 internet points that you will not find a modern multimeter that cannot to Ac/dc and that cannot read down to mA range. Infact most if not all meters read 4-20ma DC easy.

I posted I picture of the multimeter I used. Not saying I used it correctly

 

[Joey waid]

And I have 1 degree, 2 trade diplomas, and 1 technical diploma, so what it doesnt matter.

And I will bet you 50 internet points that you will not find a modern multimeter that cannot to Ac/dc and that cannot read down to mA range. Infact most if not all meters read 4-20ma DC easy.

4-20 miliamps is a control voltage at 24volts ac. Most meters will not read 4-20 or control it.

 

[jasonrusso]

i just can't see how a non calibrated south wire multimeter that only good for 10 amps will have the resolution of .076 let alone 1.000. The fact is he got hurt yes, but the numbers everybody keeps putting out to me are useless. Volt are what matters then the flow of those volts.

I'm an auto tech. My meter has 1mA resolution. I routinely measure battery draws down to 30mA when wired in series. It also reads up to 20A when needed. I don't understand why you are questioning the resolution

 

[Anthony Wood]

i just can't see how a non calibrated south wire multimeter that only good for 10 amps will have the resolution of .076 let alone 1.000. The fact is he got hurt yes, but the numbers everybody keeps putting out to me are useless. Volts are what matters then the flow of those volts.

It reads out that far doesn't mean that they are sig figs that can be trusted idk what the percent error is on this thing.

 

[Joey waid]

I'm an auto tech. My meter has 1mA resolution. I routinely measure battery draws down to 30mA when wired in series. It also reads up to 20A when needed. I don't understand why you are questioning the resolution

Because I'm betting it was more than that. Burns like than require lots of current flow.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

The 1.076 amps is where my hand was. I'll give your method a try and put up pictures of the reading.

Bro PLEASE just throw the heater in the trash and quit experimenting to please the non believers. Don't risk your life anymore!!!

 

[Anthony Wood]

Step V / 1000 ohm (minimum body resist) = A

Touch V / 1000 ohm (minimum body resist) = A

Black to ground, red in tank

Red at heater, black where my hand was

Obviously the amps reading the meter told me may be off some but was that what was actually in the tank? I understand counting in Resistence that not went through me.

 

[Anthony Wood]

Bro PLEASE just throw the heater in the trash and quit experimenting to please the non believers. Don't risk your life anymore!!!

Ya I'm done now lol it's in the trash lol

 

[Joey waid]

Black to ground, red in tank

Red at heater, black where my hand was

Obviously the amps reading the meter told me may be off some but was that what was actually in the tank? I understand counting in Resistence that not went through me.

To read amps the meter has to be set to amps. There is a 10 with a sine wave and a 10 with a line for dc. If that's what you were doing. Anyways I'm glad you're alive..

 

[Anthony Wood]

To read amps the meter has to be set to amps. There is a 10 with a sine wave and a 10 with a line for dc.

I was reading volts on purpose because I person asked me to earlier. But what your talking about That's what I did when I measured 1.076 amps. I do know the marks for AC and DC plus the screen says AC when I'm in AC mode and DC when in DC mode so I can't really mess that up.

 

[RamsReef]

Ya I'm done now lol it's in the trash lol

Awww.

 

[RamsReef]

I was reading volts on purpose because I person asked me to earlier. But what your talking about That's what I did when I measured 1.076 amps. I do know the marks for AC and DC plus the screen says AC when I'm in AC mode and DC when in DC mode so I can't really mess that up.

Wavey = AC , = is Dc

 

[Anthony Wood]

Wavey = AC , = is Dc

It's in AC volts. Those are the measurements you asked for.

 

[FishLover01]

Hey Man!!! Glad you're ok. By you sharing this, it has me really thinking about the safety of my family and myself. I have four tanks and the last thing I want is to encounter a situation such as yourself. I've always thought about safety to a certain degree but not to the point that I should be thinking about it. It should be our number 1 priority in this hobby. I don't have a GFCI, so in the meantime, I will now always unplug a heater before my hands go in a tank. Glad you're alive to tell all about it. You're probably going to.end up saving someone's life. Thanks.

 

[Joey waid]

Hey Man!!! Glad you're ok. By you sharing this, it has me really thinking about the safety of my family and myself. I have four tanks and the last thing I want is to encounter a situation such as yourself. I've always thought about safety to a certain degree but not to the point that I should be thinking about it. It should be our number 1 priority in this hobby. I don't have a GFCI, so in the meantime, I will now always unplug a heater before my hands go in a tank. Glad you're alive to tell all about it. You're probably going to.end up saving someone's life. Thanks.

Before this I would have never put mine on a gfi either. I may go with a breaker though. Recepticals are so flaky and trip for no reason. I don't want my tanks going down.

 

[RamsReef]

It's in AC volts. Those are the measurements you asked for.

Yes,
So you could say..
Touch current around 72 microamps
Probably close
Step current worst case scenario because you measured to ground direct, neglecting the resistance that would have been there (wet floor, next grounded object, etc)
120 mA which would have been really really painful. Like I said, add in the missing resistance you were probably near 15mA.

Now, just to highlight. Had you put one hand in tank got shocked, grabbed something else grounded or closer to ground, you would have had that 120mA across your chest. You would not be posting right now.

 

[Anthony Wood]

Hey Man!!! Glad you're ok. By you sharing this, it has me really thinking about the safety of my family and myself. I have four tanks and the last thing I want is to encounter a situation such as yourself. I've always thought about safety to a certain degree but not to the point that I should be thinking about it. It should be our number 1 priority in this hobby. I don't have a GFCI, so in the meantime, I will now always unplug a heater before my hands go in a tank. Glad you're alive to tell all about it. You're probably going to.end up saving someone's life. Thanks.

Hey I may be way off on the actual amps number. So their may not have been enough current to instantly kill me. But no one can disagree or argue over the fact that I got lucky I fell away from the tank because I had ZERO control of my body. If a person has to lean forward like my 125g sump right to the left of the tank that got me, that person falls forward into the tank and dies because there's enough current to keep you from moving. If I fell foward instead of away no one was coming for me to shut off the power before I suffocated or drowned. But the message was to get a GFCI outlet.

 

[RamsReef]

My recommendation would be to install 2 gfci recepticles. One for critical, other is lights / non critical.

Someone was asking about UPS.
A gfci placed feeding a ups will not help you, it needs to be on the outlet side.