This is about as off topic as off topic can be, eh?
Still haven't heard from anyone who uses an inverter in their car yet ... <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
AllUrHiveRblong2usBy Your Powers Combined...Join Date: 2002-12-20Member: 11244Members
edited May 2005
<!--QuoteBegin-Depot+May 29 2005, 07:16 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Depot @ May 29 2005, 07:16 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Are you talking about an inverter which converts 12vdc to 110vac? Or a simple converter that plugs into the cigar lighter and powers the laptop? <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--> The whole inverter package. They tend to have a higher powe rating for peple with more robust laptops, and are useful for other things. So a couple friends of mine got 'em cuzthey're uefl if ou want to do something besidesplug n a laptop, but mostly use 'em for laptops. A wasteof money maybe, but it works.
[edit] I also know a guy who is on service at my work who has one to plug his battery charger into his van, cuz he doesn't have the Dewalt one that plugs right into a car.
I often wondered from my boating days, with the engine not running, how long it would take even a small inverter to drain the battery to where it wouldn't start?
Noobs, amps shock you not voltage: .1 amp can kill you (10 amps run through a wall), but 1000 volts will not kill you. Average american household holds 120VAC @ 10amp sockets. European 'sockets' are much more efficent at 'transporting' electricity.
And no, you cant just plug it up to the car. You have to have a power inverter. Why? Because the power in a car is run off a battery, everyone knows batterys only have DC voltage. Inverters change the voltage from DC to AC (wall plugs are AC) and can step up/step down the voltage/amps and set it to a pre-defined level, allowing you to add all kinds of goodies straight to you car (tv's, xbox's, yada yada, without any form of plugs.) But, the downside, inverters are expensive. Simple ones basicly just big capacitors, though. My friends in his truck that has a TV in it runs off a 1 farad capacitor with a small circut on top of it, but I never really inspected it much. (touch this while its fully charged, you go boom! <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->)
Heres a really small 350 micro farad capacitor (.00035 farad) <img src='http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/camera-flash-5.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
Their like a cell (battery, AAA, AA, D, C), you could say. Except they discharge all at once when you touch the 2 leads together, and if its big enough, it makes a lout POP. Fun to scare your friends with when you get a .1 farad capacitor, charge it, and run up and pop it next to them while their half asleep <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<!--QuoteBegin-Drfuzzy+May 30 2005, 03:46 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Drfuzzy @ May 30 2005, 03:46 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Noobs, amps shock you not voltage: .1 amp can kill you (10 amps run through a wall), but 1000 volts will not kill you. Average american household holds 120VAC @ 10amp sockets. European 'sockets' are much more efficent at 'transporting' electricity.
And no, you cant just plug it up to the car. You have to have a power inverter. Why? Because the power in a car is run off a battery, everyone knows batterys only have DC voltage. Inverters change the voltage from DC to AC (wall plugs are AC) and can step up/step down the voltage/amps and set it to a pre-defined level, allowing you to add all kinds of goodies straight to you car (tv's, xbox's, yada yada, without any form of plugs.) But, the downside, inverters are expensive. Simple ones basicly just big capacitors, though. My friends in his truck that has a TV in it runs off a 1 farad capacitor with a small circut on top of it, but I never really inspected it much. (touch this while its fully charged, you go boom! <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->)
Heres a really small 350 micro farad capacitor (.00035 farad) <img src='http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/camera-flash-5.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
Their like a cell (battery, AAA, AA, D, C), you could say. Except they discharge all at once when you touch the 2 leads together, and if its big enough, it makes a lout POP. Fun to scare your friends with when you get a .1 farad capacitor, charge it, and run up and pop it next to them while their half asleep <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--><!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--> Speaking of capacitors and voltage that kills, in my early tv repair days I attempted to work on an unplugged tv and got knocked on my arse by 25,000 volts. That's not a typo, twenty five thousand volts.
I had failed to discharge the anode to ground prior to poking around back there. <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
AllUrHiveRblong2usBy Your Powers Combined...Join Date: 2002-12-20Member: 11244Members
<!--QuoteBegin-Drfuzzy+May 30 2005, 02:46 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Drfuzzy @ May 30 2005, 02:46 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Noobs, amps shock you not voltage: .1 amp can kill you (10 amps run through a wall), but 1000 volts will not kill you. Average american household holds 120VAC @ 10amp sockets. European 'sockets' are much more efficent at 'transporting' electricity. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> Noob, .006 amps can be fatal, and most domestic US circuit breakers are at 15 or 20 amps, not 10. Since this fatal amperage (.006, as mentioned before) is very small, the only reason that all electrical shocks don't result in death is that when human skin is dry, it has a very high resistance, meaning that your muscles jerk reaction can kick in and throw you off the circuit (sometimes resulting in broken bones) before fatal amperage crosses your heart. Most people can take 120 volts if their skin is dry, people with extremely calloused skin can take a good deal more than that (but the only person I've actually seen take any more than 120 and not get seriously inured has been working in the feild for a great many years so his hands have become more calloused to electrical shock than any normal person's). When your skin is wet however, a great deal less than 120 volts can push fatal amperage through you, which is why most deatsh in the home occur around sinks or bathrooms.
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Their like a cell (battery, AAA, AA, D, C), you could say. Except they discharge all at once when you touch the 2 leads together, and if its big enough, it makes a lout POP. Fun to scare your friends with when you get a .1 farad capacitor, charge it, and run up and pop it next to them while their half asleep<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--> You really shouldn't do that, electrical arcs get very very hot, you can light your buddy's hair on fire.
<!--QuoteBegin-AllUrHiveRblong2us+May 30 2005, 08:38 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (AllUrHiveRblong2us @ May 30 2005, 08:38 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->When your skin is wet however, a great deal less than 120 volts can push fatal amperage through you, which is why most deatsh in the home occur around sinks or bathrooms.
<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--> Which is why all new homes must have GFIs in the bathrooms, kitchens, and outside now. <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<b>True story:</b> I worked as a lineman for Northwestern Bell (no longer in existence) and watched a co-worker get electrocuted 25 feet in the air when he touched a power line. The force (I guess of his body reacting coupled with the electricity going through him) broke the leather belt that he was strapped to the pole with, and he fell 25 feet to the ground, landing flat on his back.
The force of him hitting the ground jolted his heart back into action, and he was revived, although in critical shape. Upon closer examination at the hospital, they were able to verify (by tracing the patch the electricity took through his body/heart AND via ekg) that he was indeed dead after the shock.
<!--QuoteBegin-Depot+May 30 2005, 07:58 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Depot @ May 30 2005, 07:58 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <!--QuoteBegin-AllUrHiveRblong2us+May 30 2005, 08:38 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (AllUrHiveRblong2us @ May 30 2005, 08:38 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->When your skin is wet however, a great deal less than 120 volts can push fatal amperage through you, which is why most deatsh in the home occur around sinks or bathrooms.
<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--> Which is why all new homes must have GFIs in the bathrooms, kitchens, and outside now. <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<b>True story:</b> I worked as a lineman for Northwestern Bell (no longer in existence) and watched a co-worker get electrocuted 25 feet in the air when he touched a power line. The force (I guess of his body reacting coupled with the electricity going through him) broke the leather belt that he was strapped to the pole with, and he fell 25 feet to the ground, landing flat on his back.
The force of him hitting the ground jolted his heart back into action, and he was revived, although in critical shape. Upon closer examination at the hospital, they were able to verify (by tracing the patch the electricity took through his body/heart AND via ekg) that he was indeed dead after the shock. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> Wow! thats gotta hurt.
I got shocked by a rather big tv myself once, put a nice burn on my finger for the rest of the week and I could feel the shock the rest of the day.
Also, I couldent get a .1 farad capacitor close enough to a friend to catch their hair on fire, if they touch one that big, their going to be hurting. And .006 might be a straight shock to the heart, without skin and the other 2 megaohms of resistance before it. I was talking about just normal walking down the road all dry and stuff, then the electrical ninja jumps out from a bush and shocks you with .1 amp and you die <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Comments
Still haven't heard from anyone who uses an inverter in their car yet ... <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
The whole inverter package. They tend to have a higher powe rating for peple with more robust laptops, and are useful for other things. So a couple friends of mine got 'em cuzthey're uefl if ou want to do something besidesplug n a laptop, but mostly use 'em for laptops. A wasteof money maybe, but it works.
[edit] I also know a guy who is on service at my work who has one to plug his battery charger into his van, cuz he doesn't have the Dewalt one that plugs right into a car.
And no, you cant just plug it up to the car. You have to have a power inverter. Why? Because the power in a car is run off a battery, everyone knows batterys only have DC voltage. Inverters change the voltage from DC to AC (wall plugs are AC) and can step up/step down the voltage/amps and set it to a pre-defined level, allowing you to add all kinds of goodies straight to you car (tv's, xbox's, yada yada, without any form of plugs.) But, the downside, inverters are expensive. Simple ones basicly just big capacitors, though. My friends in his truck that has a TV in it runs off a 1 farad capacitor with a small circut on top of it, but I never really inspected it much. (touch this while its fully charged, you go boom! <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->)
Heres a really small 350 micro farad capacitor (.00035 farad)
<img src='http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/camera-flash-5.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
Their like a cell (battery, AAA, AA, D, C), you could say. Except they discharge all at once when you touch the 2 leads together, and if its big enough, it makes a lout POP. Fun to scare your friends with when you get a .1 farad capacitor, charge it, and run up and pop it next to them while their half asleep <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
And no, you cant just plug it up to the car. You have to have a power inverter. Why? Because the power in a car is run off a battery, everyone knows batterys only have DC voltage. Inverters change the voltage from DC to AC (wall plugs are AC) and can step up/step down the voltage/amps and set it to a pre-defined level, allowing you to add all kinds of goodies straight to you car (tv's, xbox's, yada yada, without any form of plugs.) But, the downside, inverters are expensive. Simple ones basicly just big capacitors, though. My friends in his truck that has a TV in it runs off a 1 farad capacitor with a small circut on top of it, but I never really inspected it much. (touch this while its fully charged, you go boom! <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->)
Heres a really small 350 micro farad capacitor (.00035 farad)
<img src='http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/camera-flash-5.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
Their like a cell (battery, AAA, AA, D, C), you could say. Except they discharge all at once when you touch the 2 leads together, and if its big enough, it makes a lout POP. Fun to scare your friends with when you get a .1 farad capacitor, charge it, and run up and pop it next to them while their half asleep <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--><!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Speaking of capacitors and voltage that kills, in my early tv repair days I attempted to work on an unplugged tv and got knocked on my arse by 25,000 volts. That's not a typo, twenty five thousand volts.
I had failed to discharge the anode to ground prior to poking around back there. <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Noob, .006 amps can be fatal, and most domestic US circuit breakers are at 15 or 20 amps, not 10. Since this fatal amperage (.006, as mentioned before) is very small, the only reason that all electrical shocks don't result in death is that when human skin is dry, it has a very high resistance, meaning that your muscles jerk reaction can kick in and throw you off the circuit (sometimes resulting in broken bones) before fatal amperage crosses your heart. Most people can take 120 volts if their skin is dry, people with extremely calloused skin can take a good deal more than that (but the only person I've actually seen take any more than 120 and not get seriously inured has been working in the feild for a great many years so his hands have become more calloused to electrical shock than any normal person's). When your skin is wet however, a great deal less than 120 volts can push fatal amperage through you, which is why most deatsh in the home occur around sinks or bathrooms.
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Their like a cell (battery, AAA, AA, D, C), you could say. Except they discharge all at once when you touch the 2 leads together, and if its big enough, it makes a lout POP. Fun to scare your friends with when you get a .1 farad capacitor, charge it, and run up and pop it next to them while their half asleep<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You really shouldn't do that, electrical arcs get very very hot, you can light your buddy's hair on fire.
<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Which is why all new homes must have GFIs in the bathrooms, kitchens, and outside now. <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<b>True story:</b> I worked as a lineman for Northwestern Bell (no longer in existence) and watched a co-worker get electrocuted 25 feet in the air when he touched a power line. The force (I guess of his body reacting coupled with the electricity going through him) broke the leather belt that he was strapped to the pole with, and he fell 25 feet to the ground, landing flat on his back.
The force of him hitting the ground jolted his heart back into action, and he was revived, although in critical shape. Upon closer examination at the hospital, they were able to verify (by tracing the patch the electricity took through his body/heart AND via ekg) that he was indeed dead after the shock.
<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Which is why all new homes must have GFIs in the bathrooms, kitchens, and outside now. <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<b>True story:</b> I worked as a lineman for Northwestern Bell (no longer in existence) and watched a co-worker get electrocuted 25 feet in the air when he touched a power line. The force (I guess of his body reacting coupled with the electricity going through him) broke the leather belt that he was strapped to the pole with, and he fell 25 feet to the ground, landing flat on his back.
The force of him hitting the ground jolted his heart back into action, and he was revived, although in critical shape. Upon closer examination at the hospital, they were able to verify (by tracing the patch the electricity took through his body/heart AND via ekg) that he was indeed dead after the shock. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Wow! thats gotta hurt.
I got shocked by a rather big tv myself once, put a nice burn on my finger for the rest of the week and I could feel the shock the rest of the day.
Also, I couldent get a .1 farad capacitor close enough to a friend to catch their hair on fire, if they touch one that big, their going to be hurting. And .006 might be a straight shock to the heart, without skin and the other 2 megaohms of resistance before it. I was talking about just normal walking down the road all dry and stuff, then the electrical ninja jumps out from a bush and shocks you with .1 amp and you die <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->