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Highest Voltage of Electric Shock
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Author:  Jim Phillips (brainfiller) [ Sun Sep 25, 2011 2:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Highest Voltage of Electric Shock
More on electric shock,

What is the highest voltage you have been shocked by? (either line-line or line-ground)

As always, stories are encouraged!

Select the appropriate range.

  • 120V or Less
  • 121-300V
  • 301-600V
  • 601-5kV
  • Above 5kV (Glad you survived!)
Author:  SPETE [ Mon Sep 26, 2011 4:18 am ]
Post subject: 
277V (one leg of a 480V feed) because someone turned the power back on. This was years ago when I was younger and not as careful. Does not count the time I got nailed on a hi-pot test. (1150) Do electric fences count? They can be an eye opener.
Author:  Vincent B. [ Mon Sep 26, 2011 5:15 am ]
Post subject: 
I don't recall getting nailed at 120V... yet. Probably 24V would be the highest. I didn't vote for the first option, but it probably should have been less than 120 V (unless Jim feels less than 120 V doesn't count as a shock :) ).

Although I recall my mother-in-law giving me a tiny gun toy which zapped me when fired. Don't know the exact voltage, but I clearly remember it did sting my finger.

In addition to hi-pot, don't forget spark plugs (around 15-20 kV). Or CRTs (with cover removed). Or the Taser gun.
Author:  Jim Phillips (brainfiller) [ Mon Sep 26, 2011 6:41 am ]
Post subject: 
Vincent B. wrote:
I didn't vote for the first option, but it probably should have been less than 120 V (unless Jim feels less than 120 V doesn't count as a shock :) ).


I added 120V "or Less" to the posting but I can't change the acutal survey question for voting once it is posted. I was thinking typical voltages but you are correct, others exist below 120V. (which gives me an idea for next week :) ) I used the ranges too, since our global friends often use 400V etc.


Vincent B. wrote:
I recall my mother-in-law giving me a tiny gun toy which zapped me when fired.
There are just so many things that could be said here... :)
Author:  jghrist [ Mon Sep 26, 2011 12:39 pm ]
Post subject: 
I was shocked by a capacitor in a college lab with about 300V. This was the highest voltage shock if you don't count touching a lawn mower spark plug.
Author:  J Whitney [ Wed Apr 25, 2012 6:46 am ]
Post subject: 
brainfiller wrote:
More on electric shock,

What is the highest voltage you have been shocked by? (either line-line or line-ground)

As always, stories are encouraged!

Select the appropriate range.

  • 120V or Less
  • 121-300V
  • 301-600V
  • 601-5kV
  • Above 5kV (Glad you survived!)
12.6KV DC, was measuring 480VAC line current on a high frequency resistance welder and the choke was in the 'switchgear' compartment. Got too close when I went to take off my clamp-on Amprobe and bang; flashed over to one hand, through upper body and out the other hand leaning on the metal enclosure. Spent a week in the hospital wearing a holter monitor and drinking lots of fluids while the docs shook their heads, ha.
Author:  Charles R. Miller [ Thu Apr 26, 2012 8:50 am ]
Post subject: 
Years ago I was shocked by 277V ac and 70V dc on the same day. I do remember the lower dc voltage hurt as much, if not more, than the ac voltage.
Author:  Larry Stutts [ Tue May 01, 2012 11:17 am ]
Post subject: 
brainfiller wrote:
More on electric shock,

What is the highest voltage you have been shocked by? (either line-line or line-ground)



Well, let's see
In the Air Force, I got tagged by 120VAC @ 400Hz - that REALLY hurt. Aircraft generators put out 400Hz power.

I've fallen across 575VAC in a plant where they put angle iron on the floor to keep forklifts out of the cabinet, unfortunately if it ever was yellow, by the time I got there it was floor-colored.

I've inadvertently touched the scope case while it was hooked up to 500V armature and 460V output inverters more times than I can count. Quite a long time ago when the practice was to cut off the ground plug on Techtronix scopes rather than carry an isolation transformer.

And I've had a near-accident with 6600V, measuring the variacs on a motor tester. Luckily all that happenned was my meter exploded . . . and power was knocked outy to the entire plant.
Author:  Gary B [ Mon May 14, 2012 7:50 am ]
Post subject: 
I voted 120V because twice when I was young I got zapped by lamps. Once was a stupid dare, the other when a wire got loose on a lamp I was fixing. Pretty dramatic and not something to repeat.

I have many times been shocked by spark plug leads while trying to figure out which plug was fouled. Today's generation of young people are missing all the 'fun'

I have operated a defective cable 'thumper' that suffered degraded insulation and would occasionally discharge through it's cabinet. Observing the burn marks where the unit sat within the truck bed, I made sure I was on the same plane and wore high voltage gloves before it was turned on, told everyone to stay away from the truck. I would not do that again.
Author:  JW48 [ Wed May 16, 2012 9:12 am ]
Post subject: 
Growing up in the 50's and 60's on a farm, there was the obligatory electric fence, hand crank phone and the one cylinder spark plug. Attending college involved catching charged (400VDC) capacitors. But at work, the highest voltage was single-phase 240vAC from back feed on a motor starter.
Author:  Steve.N [ Mon Jun 25, 2012 7:55 am ]
Post subject: 
Working in maintenance I used to carry an aluminum mini mag light for those dark jobs. I was trying to get the model and serial number of a speed potentiometer on a DC powered paper rewinder when I touched connection post of the DC ammeter with the light. The winder was at full speed at the time and the ammeter is connected to a shunt on the positive side of the power box. The 575 volt shock was probably the worst in 42 years of working in heavy industry.

I no longer use or carry metal flashlights
Author:  drewannrez [ Sat Aug 25, 2018 2:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Highest Voltage of Electric Shock
I was shocked by a Stun Guns. I thinks it was 1 million volts .
Author:  PaulEngr [ Sun Aug 26, 2018 5:13 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Highest Voltage of Electric Shock
Anyone living in a Northern state in winter that walks through a house with a carpeted floor...

Checking spark plugs on a lawn mower or a burner of some kind...

I guess the real question would be what amperage but that's not something we know.
Author:  Jim Phillips (brainfiller) [ Sun Aug 26, 2018 2:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Highest Voltage of Electric Shock
PaulEngr wrote:
Anyone living in a Northern state in winter that walks through a house with a carpeted floor...

Checking spark plugs on a lawn mower or a burner of some kind...

I guess the real question would be what amperage but that's not something we know.


Guess I should have mentioned standard AC power circuits.
Got nailed by a spark plug in my younger years. Mower had a shorting bar to shut off cheap mower. Not thinking, the first time I shut it off, I reached down and pushed the shorting plug. Only did it once! :o
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