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Old 18th Sep 2018, 5:03 pm   #39
Skywave
Rest in Peace
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Chard, South Somerset, UK.
Posts: 7,457
Exclamation Re: Lamp limiter plus Variac tip

Posts 18 and 21 refer.

WARNING. DO NOT TRY TO DO THIS - IT COULD KILL YOU!

Just out of interest, I made a suitable arrangement* to determine the amount of a.c. current from a 120-v.a.c. r.m.s. source, through one hand of my body and out of the other, at which point my reaction would be "Ouch!" and thus rapidly let go. To monitor the current I used my trusty AVO 8.

Results.
At 1 mA, it was a bit more than a slight tingle.
At 2 mA, it was "Ouch!" - and I rapidly let go.
Currents greater than 2 mA were not used!

I measured the resistance between my two hands: 100 kΩ; 120-v. and 100 kΩ = 1.2 mA. I was surprised that a current as small as 2 mA caused the reaction that it did. And it makes me think a bit about RCDs that have a trip current in the range 20 to 30 mA . . . . .

* The details of which I am not going to describe, in order to dissuade anyone from doing this experiment.

Al.
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