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McGyver Soldering Iron...

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The risk of electrocution and/or acid burns ought to be enough to dissuade most sensible people from doing this.
 
I tried that before. The results were entirely unsatisfactory.

'Course I didn't have a pencil so I used a ballpoint pen refill... :yikes:



Just kidding. Its actually pretty clever. I bet it is hard to avoid making a cold solder joint though.
 
similost said:
12v DC.. no risk of electrocution..
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dr*audio said:
Wrong! It's current, not voltage that kills.
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Yeah, I'll pass on this one. Let's just say that makeshift iron is good for 20W at the tip. So Power = Current x Voltage. 20W = 1.67A x 12V. 1.67A is plenty to stop your ticker, IIRC 50mA can kill you. Bad scenario-- "Oops, I slipped and the alligators made contact!" :thumbsdn:
 
Yes, that is a very dangerous way to solder! In a serious emergency, you COULD do it. If you were stuck by a broken-down vehicle in a remote area and needed to repair a broken connection in your 2-way radio to try calling for help, it would be useful to know this, but unless there was some serious need like that, I wouldn't advise/recommend it. Holding one alligator clip in one hand and the other clip in the other hand, and accidentally touching the metal on each side, would be enough to stop your heart...


Next installment: McGuyver-style defibrillator! :D
 
"Current not voltage that kills" ...

Just to shed some understanding on this oft quoted, misunderstood statement...

Death is caused by a certain amount of current through the heart. I've usually heard 100mA quoted.

But current DEPENDS on voltage. And resistance.

So 12V won't kill you unless the resistance from battery to hand through heart to hand to battery is low enough. And it almost certainly isn't under normal circumstances... it probably isn't enough even if you soak your hands in saltwater. (we could easily verify by holding both probes of an ohmmeter)

The article below claims 1k ohm for wet hands, so 12V / 1000 = 12mA = an order of magnitude too small! With dry hands, resistance is something like 10-100k ohms. So 120V would give you no more than 12mA. This is hand to hand and just an estimate.

That isn't to say we should be careless with 120V sources!! But 12VDC sounds like too little voltage to induce a sufficient current to kill.

Details here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_shock

PS: you can't calculate the current through your body by figuring the wattage of the iron -- because it's a low value resistor and when you put yourself in parallel with that resistor, most of the current continues to go through the iron, not you. Current through you is purely dependent on voltage across you divided by your resistance.
 
OK.. maybe I'm missing something here, but the last time I grabbed a hold of both poles on a car battery, or a battery charger, I didn't get killed... nor even a tingle, so.. how would this be any more dangerous than grabbing a hold of two poles of a battery? Not like you're sticking your tongue on it, and even that wouldn't kill you. (guess I better not relate the story of some friends and I daring a friend to touch the jumper cables to his tongue...)

Even if you stuck your fingers between the graphite, and the solder, you wouldn't get shocked. It would be like touching both poles... and if they were to arc with your finger between them, you're just going to get burnt..

I've done a lot of arc welding in my years, and unless you have the welder cranked up really high, you'll get a hell of a tingle, but not killed, and that is a lot more than soldering with a 12v will ever do..

Seriously.. when is the last time any of you ever got shocked working on a car's electrical? (Not talking hybrids here)
 
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similost said:
OK.. maybe I'm missing something here, but the last time I grabbed a hold of both poles on a car battery, or a battery charger, I didn't get killed... nor even a tingle, so.. how would this be any more dangerous than grabbing a hold of two poles of a battery? Not like you're sticking your tongue on it, and even that wouldn't kill you. (guess I better not relate the story of some friends and I daring a friend to touch the jumper cables to his tongue...)

Even if you stuck your fingers between the graphite, and the solder, you wouldn't get shocked. It would be like touching both poles... and if they were to arc with your finger between them, you're just going to get burnt..

I've done a lot of arc welding in my years, and unless you have the welder cranked up really high, you'll get a hell of a tingle, but not killed, and that is a lot more than soldering with a 12v will ever do..

Seriously.. when is the last time any of you ever got shocked working on a car's electrical? (Not talking hybrids here)
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Early 1970s. Drag race car. Had an all Accel ignition. unplug coil wire. Watch spark jump considerable distance. Many thousands of volts, would flat blast you a good one! Obviously you are not too aquainted with high tension circuits in cars electricals!

The 12 volt side? I'm going with you on this one. If it was possible to get electrocuted fiddling with them, I wouldnt be here!
Russellc
 
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Russellc said:
Early 1970s. Drag race car. Had an all Accel ignition. unplug coil wire. Watch spark jump considerable distance. Many thousands of volts, would flat blast you a good one! Obviously you are not too aquainted with high tension circuits in cars electricals!

Russellc
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OK.. yeah.. You are right there.. high side of the coil.. but everything on the other side of the coil won't shock you...

Believe me.. I've been nailed way too many times by the high side.. and from small engine coils.. worst ever was when I was working on a post hole digger.. one side on the bench, holding the other side of it against my waist as I pulled the rope to start it.. guess where the plug was and where I got zapped.. I danced around the shop for 5 minutes.. It wasn't funny to me, but everyone else howled..

Anyway, in this case, all you are doing is shorting the two sides of the battery together.. The biggest fear you could have in this case is over heating the battery and blowing it apart.. there really is no shock hazard..
 
Well, now we know how the Proffessor soldered all those radios on Gillagan's Island.

I have been broke down in the middle of nowhere before and could have used this trick.
 
similost said:
OK.. yeah.. You are right there.. high side of the coil.. but everything on the other side of the coil won't shock you...

Believe me.. I've been nailed way too many times by the high side.. and from small engine coils.. worst ever was when I was working on a post hole digger.. one side on the bench, holding the other side of it against my waist as I pulled the rope to start it.. guess where the plug was and where I got zapped.. I danced around the shop for 5 minutes.. It wasn't funny to me, but everyone else howled..

Anyway, in this case, all you are doing is shorting the two sides of the battery together.. The biggest fear you could have in this case is over heating the battery and blowing it apart.. there really is no shock hazard..
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Watched a friend blow up a battery once. He was jumping it, and this was an old battery, the kind you had to add water to. When you charged them, you opened the caps up. When you jump them, you dont of course. He did, and the battery flat exploded!

Your post hole story is great! Ouch!

Russellc
 
similost said:
OK.. yeah.. You are right there.. high side of the coil.. but everything on the other side of the coil won't shock you...

Believe me.. I've been nailed way too many times by the high side.. and from small engine coils.. worst ever was when I was working on a post hole digger.. one side on the bench, holding the other side of it against my waist as I pulled the rope to start it.. guess where the plug was and where I got zapped.. I danced around the shop for 5 minutes.. It wasn't funny to me, but everyone else howled...
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OH MY! :lmao: :lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

similost said:
...Anyway, in this case, all you are doing is shorting the two sides of the battery together.. The biggest fear you could have in this case is over heating the battery and blowing it apart.. there really is no shock hazard..
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That is a very serious danger when jumping automotive batteries. People have been blinded - or worse - when a battery being jumped violently explodes. Frozen batteries are especially dangerous. I once saw a guy connect the jumper cables backwards and the battery immediately started to smoke almost as much as the insulation on the cables did as they melted. :yikes: I was able to run over with a heavy towel and drag one of the clamps off of the battery before it went up. Yes, I kept my head and face down below and out of harms way as I did it, or at least as well as I could. That was a scary thing to see.
 
i've been shocked somanny times its crazy.. i usually test batterys such as AA and little 9v batterys by putting one end between my lip and the other to my toungue. one time i tryed a 9v RC car battery.. everything flashed black for that instant..(last time i'l do that) but i have always unplugged cords from the end.. sometimes touching the far end before it was althoway out of the socket. i have shocked myself unscrewing lightbulbs, steping on power cables barefoot in the rain.. it just goes on and on.. yet i am still here.. not that it doesent scare me.. but i am not afraid of a car battery. just dont test it with your toungue in the rain :D
 
You should try re charging batteries with the stripped end of a electic cord plugged in to 120v! "...electric hand grenades".
Don't laugh...its true.The guy slept for a full day after that one...with his eyes open.
 
Ultra-Hog said:
OH MY! :lmao: :lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

That is a very serious danger when jumping automotive batteries. People have been blinded - or worse - when a battery being jumped violently explodes. Frozen batteries are especially dangerous.
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Usually, they only explode, if there's a broken connection INSIDE the battery case. Frozen batteries are very vulnerable to this, as when they freeze, they oftentimes crack internally.

My dad had one explode on him this way... he had another mechanic in the car helping him, with a car that wouldn't start. About the time my Dad reached down to wiggle the battery post connection, the idiot behind the wheel decided to hit the starter... BOOM. Found out afterward, that the battery post was broken loose from the plate... when Dad jiggled it, it arced internally.

Fortunately, he was one of those people that's just unflappable under fire. Never loses his cool in an emergency. His response was to flat run over to the car wash stall, grab the water hose from the guy washing a car, and hose himself down from head to toe. Didn't even hesitate- it was an IMMEDIATE response. Wound up with nothing worse than what looked like a sunburn, and a couple holes burned in his shirt from the acid...

He did have some choice words for the guy who tried to start the car. My dad doesn't cuss, but boy, he still got the point across... :D

But, as far as electrocution is concerned... boy, if this was possible, I'd have been dead about 10000 times in my life. I've worked on many car electrical systems... the worst "shock" that 12V ever gave me, was a slight "burning sensation" when a sweaty arm happened to connect between a positive post or wire and ground. Felt like someone with a match.

Regards,
Gordon.
 
I worked with a guy a LONG time ago that told us the story about his job of performing the battery testS on the batterieS in a submarine when he was in the navy. I don't remember enough of the details anymore but I can only imagine the amount of power on the bus-bars in that small confined space. As much respect as I have for the power that an automotive battery has, that had to be something to be truly feared!
 
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