What happens when the multimeter probe tip inadvertantly shorts 48V DC: You end up with a slightly shorter probe, and a small blob that used to be the tip.

I had shifted my eyes away from the probes to read the voltage drop across my contactor coil, and very shortly after reading 4mV drop, I got quite a surprise. Reminded me of a shocking experience when I was maybe 12 and had unplugged the wrong plug from the wall before doing some soldering. I got quite a shock through the solder in the moment before the fuse blew. But this time, with no shock, merely surprise. :-) 197v0kdd2cbvm.jpg

Richard Hughes November 29, 2013 12:17

It’s not the voltage that kills you, it’s the current :)

Michael K Johnson November 29, 2013 12:59

My clone, who was not a party to my voltmeter mistake, just found some dissected Ethernet wires, bundled them into a “cable”, and connected hot to neutral in one of our kitchen outlets. After I cleaned up the result, this was an excellent opportunity to discuss principles of electric circuits. “Electricity is like a little boy; if it has somewhere to go, it needs to do work. All work makes heat in the end. The more work it can do, the more heat it makes…”

He decided that it would be a good idea to stick with snap circuits for a while.

Daniel L. Johnson December 05, 2013 14:20

Glad the clone is still metabolically active.

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