Question about get shocked from wires hooked into keyboard encoder...

[Jakobud]

Theoretical Q: Lets say I had my IPAC and I had a wire running out of the ground connection and another wire running out of some other random connection.  If I didn't have these hooked up to anything on the opposite end, could I get shocked by touching them?

[SNAAAKE]

Theoretical Q: Lets say I had my IPAC and I had a wire running out of the ground connection and another wire running out of some other random connection.  If I didn't have these hooked up to anything on the opposite end, could I get shocked by touching them?

I dont think it will draw enough power(hell if I know)...However I got zaped by toucing a pc speakers isolation transformar .

Trust me..wasnt funny at all(maybe little funny ).

Never take any chance jakobud..the zaping wasnt that bad but what if was a monitor..I would have been bacon .
AHHHHHHHHHHH !

[MameFan]

There's only 5 volts Direct Current running through a keyboard controller.  You'd feel more touching a phone wire (24 volts idle, 50+ volts ringing) or a 9 volt battery.

Unless you touch the wires to your tongue, you likely won't feel anything.


Be careful about "picking a random ground" however.   Depending on the quality of your home wiring (e.g did the previous owners do it themselves or was it contracted/inspected), they may have goofed up neutral and hot or neutral and ground, therefore if you connect the ground to a ground on the frame that also attaches to the AC side of wiring, you may have whats called a "ground differential" that may cause a rather significant ~60 to 120 volt AC shock, and/or fry stuff.

Granted, sounds like you're working on a PC emulator and not a real arcade machine, so you're already totally protected by the sealed PC "switching" power supply.


However, if talking real games, I know this from experience... One of my bedrooms downstairs was WIRED BACKWARDS. Neutral was hot and hot was neutral.  Plugged in my machine, powered up... Nothing.  Touched the coin door to check the service switch inside... OUCH!!!!!!!  120 volt shock! (tested to ground with a tester).    Thank goodness it didn't fry the PacMan machine I plugged in, or I would have filed suit against the previous owners (seriously!) since they clearly never had it properly inspected.

After a strong amount of cussing, I powered down and rewired all the outlets in the room correctly.   And then took the neon tester to every other outlet in the house and found that only that room (that the previous owners "finished" themselves) was wired backwards.

GRRRRR....

[romid]

Actually, (please correct me if Im wrong) I dont think its the voltage that makes you feel the shock-- my understanding is that its the amount of current.

of course, your body (or fingers as the case may be) is just acting like a big resister so then maybe voltage does matter..  can anyone clarify?

[MameFan]

They both matter.

A PC power supply puts out 5 volts at 15 to 30 amps. A common wall outlet puts out 120 volts at 15 amp (circuit breaker rating).  Guess which will be felt and/or possibly kill you?

A monitor tube can hold 25,000 volts, but at a (relatively) low amperage, but is also known to be able to kill you.

So it is a combination of the two, not just one or the other.  And of course, it all depends on your resistance and conductivity.  If I had touched the coin door with my other hand or foot touching wet ground, well, I may not be here.  Luckily I had rubber shoes on and touched with one hand only, not grouding myself elsewhere.

[Valence]

Mamefan was correct but let me add some more info.

I guess there are two different ways to get shocked. One is to grab hold of something electrical and not be able to let go while you are being electrocuted. This is current (I) that is doing this.

The other is when you touch something electrical and it blows up on you ( or blows you back) this is voltage.  

Both can kill but in different ways.

As far as levels go. Your house braker is rated at 15 Amps.
It only takes about 100ma to kill you. 1/10 th of 1 amp.

So the TV with 25,000 volts is almost static ( hardly any current) but if you touch it, it's not going to grab you and not let you. Its going to blow you away. Most injuries from this is secondary ( Like breaking open your head when you hit the ground)

I have been shocked by 120V AC a bunch of times before. Doesn't hurt but it will scare you. Just be mindfull of the path the electricity takes to ground. Rubber soles don't protect you. ( most soles in shoes conduct electricity unless you get the ones that are specific to stop it.)  Its much better to touch something first in question with the right hand only. This way if it shocks you it will go through your right hand and then out your right leg. No big deal unless its a really big shock. But if you grab something with both hands and get shocked, it goes across you heart and can cause palpatations. ( irregular heart beats) Which could kill you.

Not suggesting anyone to touch anything which may or may not be hot.
Best to test it with a multimeter first.