"When multimeters go boom..."

  • Thread starter William Sommerwerck
  • Start date
W

William Sommerwerck

Guest
You'll like this. (For those easily offended, these Ozians drop a few S
bombs.) Watch all of it. The demo with the aluminum block is surprising.

http://hackaday.com/2010/05/05/when-multimeters-go-boom

I once asked a Fluke engineer why their DVMs were so expensive. He said most
of the cost was in protecting the unit from misconnection or high voltages.

I wish Greg Lefebvre were alive to see this. I can hear his raucous
laughter. "Oh, Willie..."

--
"We already know the answers -- we just haven't asked the right
questions." -- Edwin Land
 
"William Sommerwerck" <grizzledgeezer@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:jn8ubk$6k0$1@dont-email.me...
: You'll like this. (For those easily offended, these Ozians drop a few S
: bombs.) Watch all of it. The demo with the aluminum block is surprising.
:
: http://hackaday.com/2010/05/05/when-multimeters-go-boom
:
: I once asked a Fluke engineer why their DVMs were so expensive. He said most
: of the cost was in protecting the unit from misconnection or high voltages.
:
: I wish Greg Lefebvre were alive to see this. I can hear his raucous
: laughter. "Oh, Willie..."
:
: --
: "We already know the answers -- we just haven't asked the right
: questions." -- Edwin Land
:

More of Daves stuff here:- http://www.eevblog.com/

Colin
 
I've seen similar results of destroyed consumer grade DMMs which were being
used used in an industrial environment.
The cases and probes were nearly covered with vaporized metal residue.

In the instance of a RShack meter, I dunno what the user was trying to do,
but the shadows of his fingers could be seen on the meter case and probes.
He survived the incident but could've been killed since he was inside an
electrical closet lined with live, exposed buss bars.

Only properly designed industrial rated DMMs are capable of surviving
Ohshit! mistakes in industrial equipment.

The proper spacing of board traces and component orientation are fairly
critical at elevated voltage levels, especially when the high current
capacity of industrial circuits can easily vaporize almost anything that
approaches the breakdown/arc-over threshold.

The resulting plasma effect immediately fills the surrounding air with a
cloud of metal, increasing the likelyhood of more breakdown events in the
same vicinity.

The presence of a small glass fuse in a DMM or other test equipment doesn't
mean the user is safe from similar events.

--
Cheers,
WB
..............


"William Sommerwerck" <grizzledgeezer@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:jn8ubk$6k0$1@dont-email.me...
You'll like this. (For those easily offended, these Ozians drop a few S
bombs.) Watch all of it. The demo with the aluminum block is surprising.

http://hackaday.com/2010/05/05/when-multimeters-go-boom

I once asked a Fluke engineer why their DVMs were so expensive. He said
most
of the cost was in protecting the unit from misconnection or high
voltages.

I wish Greg Lefebvre were alive to see this. I can hear his raucous
laughter. "Oh, Willie..."

--
"We already know the answers -- we just haven't asked the right
questions." -- Edwin Land
Click to expand...
 
"William Sommerwanker"
You'll like this. (For those easily offended, these Ozians drop a few S
bombs.) Watch all of it. The demo with the aluminum block is surprising.

http://hackaday.com/2010/05/05/when-multimeters-go-boom
Click to expand...
** For better or worse, I know the two people in that video.

Particularly Doug Ford, the one who built the pulse energy box.

Doug was formerly chief designer for Jands Electronics - a Sydney based
manufacturer of professional audio and lighting equipment. The largest such
company in Australia. Then he moved on to Rode Microphones ( also in Sydney)
and did a number of designs for them - including their first " tube mic ".

We used to talk about tech stuff on the phone regularly and met up on
several occasions too.


.... Phil
 
Phil Allison <phil_a@tpg.com.au> wrote:
"William Sommerwanker"

You'll like this. (For those easily offended, these Ozians drop a few S
bombs.) Watch all of it. The demo with the aluminum block is surprising.

http://hackaday.com/2010/05/05/when-multimeters-go-boom


** For better or worse, I know the two people in that video.

Particularly Doug Ford, the one who built the pulse energy box.

Doug was formerly chief designer for Jands Electronics - a Sydney based
manufacturer of professional audio and lighting equipment. The largest such
company in Australia. Then he moved on to Rode Microphones ( also in Sydney)
and did a number of designs for them - including their first " tube mic ".

We used to talk about tech stuff on the phone regularly and met up on
several occasions too.
Click to expand...
how's Dave in real life?
 
"Cydrome Leader"
Phil Allison

"William Sommerwanker"

You'll like this. (For those easily offended, these Ozians drop a few S
bombs.) Watch all of it. The demo with the aluminum block is surprising.

http://hackaday.com/2010/05/05/when-multimeters-go-boom


** For better or worse, I know the two people in that video.

Particularly Doug Ford, the one who built the pulse energy box.

Doug was formerly chief designer for Jands Electronics - a Sydney based
manufacturer of professional audio and lighting equipment. The largest
such
company in Australia. Then he moved on to Rode Microphones ( also in
Sydney)
and did a number of designs for them - including their first " tube mic
".

We used to talk about tech stuff on the phone regularly and met up on
several occasions too.

how's Dave in real life?
Click to expand...

** Never actually eyeballed the guy - we spoke on the phones a couple of
times.

What you see in the EE Blog videos is pretty much what you get.

He has an opinion on everything and most of them are erroneous.



.... Phil
 
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