Blowing up a 5000 amp fuse

[Richard P Wilson]

He's an EE, I wouldn't have an issue. Obviously his neighbors don't either.

What is an EE?

[PStechPaul]

Electricity Exploder?

Exciting Experimenter?

A wide shoe size?

but usually Electrical Engineer...

[rdfeil]

What is an EE?

Electrical Engineer

[Arcane]

Back in the early 70's I worked for a period at the Port Alice cellulose mill in the north end of Vancouver Island. I was in what was called the small wood plant that cut up the smaller logs (2' and under in diameter) into chips to process into cellulose and the larger logs went to the big wood plant that could up to 4' (IIRC) diameter logs or anything that was cut down to that size in the attached saw mill. The two wood chippers were driven by 4160V electric motors, one for each. IIRC the small one was 1500 HP and the big one was 5000 HP. The small one was fed by a chain drive so you could start, stop and reverse the amount you fed into it but the big plant was fed by a 45 ^o angled downward chute, once a log was in it, there was no stopping it. One day apparently they had both chippers loaded with the maximum size of log in each and the huge current draw cause the main breaker to open but for whatever reason it didn't extinguish the arc and it kept arcing and arcing and arcing until the entire breaker room, at least 10' x 12' (IIRC) or slightly larger was destroyed. They gave some of us a look at it soon after it happened and the best way I can describe it is it looked like a huge fire had burned inside it for a considerable time. Picture a regular house breaker box after it had been in a burning barrel for hours, that's what the whole inside of that breaker room looked like. I can not even begin to imagine what it must have been like in there when the arc first started and immediately afterwards.

[Noitoen]

A short in a cable at night and a 160A MCCB (Middle left) that didn't do it's job last week

[I make chips]

I sold induction equipment up to 6 megawatts. Over the years I heard a few horror stories of competitors equipment that went bang. Like almost vapourising people type of bang.
Fortunately our stuff was too well protected to let major smoke out.

[Arcane]

I sold induction equipment up to 6 megawatts. Over the years I heard a few horror stories of competitors equipment that went bang. Like almost vapourising people type of bang.
Fortunately our stuff was too well protected to let major smoke out.

A lot of people don't realize that an electrical arc can kill you without electrocuting you; the heat alone is enough. The electrical utility I worked for had training sessions where such information was disbursed.

[Doozer]

Just because he's an EE doesn't mean he has a clue about safety. **** happens and you have to take that into account when you are dealing with the energy he is. You simply can't work on the premise of "Nothing can go wrong."

why-does-it-matter-to-you?
If he blows himself up, it will likely be documented on video.
Perfect training video footage.

-D

[Michael Edwards]

Check out YouTube: ‘LA bomb squad explosion’

That was an epic blunder. All of that money spent on equipment and they just took a guess on the weight of the explosives. Another couple hundred bucks for a scale and this would not have happened.

[reggie_obe]

A lot of people don't realize that an electrical arc can kill you without electrocuting you; the heat alone is enough. The electrical utility I worked for had training sessions where such information was disbursed.

Not to mention the copper that is vaporized. Would wearing a full arc suit protect you or prolong the agony?

[Arcane]

why-does-it-matter-to-you?
If he blows himself up, it will likely be documented on video.
Perfect training video footage.

-D

I care because somebody might watch that and then, not knowing the dangers, attempt it and possibly seriously hurt themselves or worse yet, innocent bystanders.

[Arcane]

Not to mention the copper that is vaporized. Would wearing a full arc suit protect you or prolong the agony?

Yes, they would protect you from the vast majority of electrical arcs but I suspect there's always going to be some that they wouldn't...like a lightning strike for example. They shield you from the initial blast of heat and projected molten metal and give you that small bit of time to save yourself.

[MichaelP]

Anyone can explain the PURPOSE of the experiment?

P.S. I also wonder what diagnosis his psychologist deals with...
P.P.S. But I should add that wasting 18min of our life to watch this is also a sign of a problem.

[J Tiers]

I care because somebody might watch that and then, not knowing the dangers, attempt it and possibly seriously hurt themselves or worse yet, innocent bystanders.

The good news is that with that particular situation, if the flying debris does not gitcha, there is no prolonged arc, since he has a limited energy supply in the capacitor bank.

I did notice he had the capacitors shorted, a good plan due to potential voltage buildup from "dielectric absorption". Use of a remote switch, etc, all good things. No clue about the surroundings and spectators,

Of course, if the fuse does open, the remaining energy in the capacitor may mean there is a residual voltage. He made no comments about precautions that I noticed, but I admit I skipped through, not wanting to listen to every word. Might have been in the parts I skipped over.

[lynnl]

Yeah, of the 18:41, I skipped over the last 18:30.
...but still, I regret the time I wasted.