TDS meter electrocuted me.
- Thread starter moocow
- Start date
hyperfocal
Active member
I really doubt a TDS meter could do anything like what you described. Typically they run off a couple of 1.5v batteries...
hyperfocal
Active member
Don't be silly. Go ahead and dead-short a 9v battery and see what happens. It's not going to blow your hand off, it's going to rapidly discharge and maybe warm the wire a little bit -- heck, you can lick the top of a 9v and the worst you'll get is a tingle on your tongue.
I'm not saying that nothing happened to you, I just have a hard time accepting a battery operated TDS meter intensely shocked you, causing a nose bleed.
I'm not saying that nothing happened to you, I just have a hard time accepting a battery operated TDS meter intensely shocked you, causing a nose bleed.
Does the meter still work? Do the batteries look normal? What were you doing when it shocked you?
Unless you got water in it, were fooling around with it, or had taken it apart, I can't see any way it would electrocute you. Just touching the probes isn't likely to cause any injury unless there is some sort of damage to the meter itself.
I will agree with moocow that the potential is there for the amperage in those batteries to hurt you but there would be a reason for it.
I'm going to assume the pop was a capacitor inside blowing and you were either touching a probe or had the unit in pieces at the time it happened.
Unless you got water in it, were fooling around with it, or had taken it apart, I can't see any way it would electrocute you. Just touching the probes isn't likely to cause any injury unless there is some sort of damage to the meter itself.
I will agree with moocow that the potential is there for the amperage in those batteries to hurt you but there would be a reason for it.
I'm going to assume the pop was a capacitor inside blowing and you were either touching a probe or had the unit in pieces at the time it happened.
oldsaltman
New member
Is this going to be on U-tube later? 
FYI. Formally, the words electrocute and electrocution always imply fatality. Informally, however, these terms are sometimes used to refer to serious but nonfatal electric shocks. Correct usage is to reserve electrocute and electrocution for fatal electric shocks, and to use shock or electric shock for nonfatal ones. So given that you are still here, you got shocked.
oldsaltman
New member
I can see this on U-tube already. I guess he can just do a recreation if it wasn't on tape the first time. :lol:
bosborn1
In Memoriam
I got popped pretty hard by a TDS meter once. I'm not a wuss and have been hit by 120v many times. The TDS shock was enough to make me jump. Not enough to hurt me or cause a nose bleed though.
hyperfocal- Come over to my house sometime and let me hit you with my stungun that uses two little harmless 9-volts. I'll bet it does more than warm up your tongue.
hyperfocal- Come over to my house sometime and let me hit you with my stungun that uses two little harmless 9-volts. I'll bet it does more than warm up your tongue.
hyperfocal
Active member
Bosborn, a TDS meter and a stungun are two entirely different devices. The stungun is packed with capacitors to build and store sufficient charge for instantaneous release while the TDS meter isn't. That's not even taking the question of how you trace a path to ground from a battery-powered TDS meter through one's nose. I'm not buying what yer selling.
moondoggy4
Team RC
When I was a kid we would go to the LFS and touch the steel rims of two different tanks to get a shock one time and the last time it knocked me to the ground everyone was looking at me and I did not know what happened. So maybe it was stray elec.
I used to zap myself with a 100kV stun gun that I had laying around on a pretty regular basis. High voltage, low current. Felt pretty weird but I'm pretty much used to it. Leaves little red dots where ever I use it. Probably shouldn't be doing that. Done it a close to 1000 times and I'm still fine.
bosborn1
In Memoriam
Well I'll tell you what. I was shocked, that was the only charge near the water at the time, and the TDS meter never worked again. I was quite surprised by it as I thought it could never happen. It was just enough to make me jump. Certainly not enough for a nose bleed. I also am not buying that the current could take that path.
The idea behind the way the TDS meter works is similar to stungun. It tries to conduct current between too probes to measure the conductivity of the water. What I don't understand it how it discharged so much power at one time. I should break it open to see how big the capacitor is for it.
The idea behind the way the TDS meter works is similar to stungun. It tries to conduct current between too probes to measure the conductivity of the water. What I don't understand it how it discharged so much power at one time. I should break it open to see how big the capacitor is for it.
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