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dylan3789

I'm hoping someone can help me out.

At the weekend, I did a stupid thing, and that was to try and fix a light fitting without turning off the electrics. I know I'm going to be told that I shoudn't be touching anything electrical without doing so and that I have no business doing electrical DIY if I can't do a simple thing; I've never done anything this stupid before and I can't really explain why I didn't turn things off - except that I wasn't dealing with bare wires or anything so it just didn't cross my mind.

The light fitting is one I put up the other day; it's a hanging pendant light and the issue is that the glass shade and the bayonet bulb holder weren't aligned and the bulb holder is a bit wonky. I gripped the holder after unscrewing the outside part and was trying to straighten it when the palm of my hand must have touched one of the bayonet connectors and I received an electric shock. I was wearing trainers at the time and standing on a wooden chair. I felt my arm shake/move and it went up to the side of my face, which also felt like it was moving and rippling strongly; this lasted for 1-2 seconds and I let go.

I felt fine afterwards but went to A&E to get checked out; they did an ECG and tested for any muscle damage that might show up in a blood test (apparently a serious enough shock and cause muscle to break down and this builds up in the bloodstream).

What I'm trying to establish is how much current was likely to have gone through me. I know that resistance can depend on a lot of things; my hands were dry at the time and the connector touched the centre of my palm, where the skin is quite thick. I'm guessing the electricity passed down my arm and into my face, rather than down my body, because there was a lot of resistance between me and the earth. I did wonder if it went to my face because there are amalgam fillings in some of my teeth but I don't know if that's really likely.

I'm trying to work out how serious a shock this was, as the doctor I saw in A&E was very concerned about possible internal damage that can't be seen, and in his opinion, the absence of an entry/exit wound doesn't necessarily mean all is completely fine. If I only touched one connector, is that 120 volts or still 240? I didn't get thrown about/off the chair and I was able to let go of my own accord once I realised what was happening.

I'm not worried too much about internal damage, to be honest, as I do feel fine; I'm more interested in trying to establish exactly what happened as it's made me realise that my knowledge of electricity in the home needs to be better. And yes, I always need to turn off the fuse - so please don't reprimand me for not doing so: enough people have already told me off!

Any advice would be great, thank you.

Dylan.
 
With electric shocks, it's the amperage which causes the biggest problem.
Higher the amperage the more severe the damage.
With a live circuit the amperage will be a combination of how much can flow through your body plus whatever amperage is already on the circuit.
Lighting circuits are generally rated at 6A, but rarely run anywhere near that.
If you allow 100W for each light, it would give you just less than half an amp per light. 60W about a quarter of an amp.
So if you know how many lights on the circuit were on at the time you received the shock, you can calculate the amperage on the circuit.
 
The current would likely have flown across your hand between the 2 lamp holder pins, the fact that you were wearing trainers and standing on a chair is neither here nor there. Strong shocks can be felt over a greater area, again, having fillings is not relevant.

Some people who die from electric shocks can do so a few minutes after the shock, it is somewhat common to find people have had a shock and damaged their heart, gone to make a cup of tea/have a cigarette to calm down, only to then sit down and die. You would have noticed by now if that was going to happen!

With electric shocks, it's the amperage which causes the biggest problem.
Higher the amperage the more severe the damage.
With a live circuit the amperage will be a combination of how much can flow through your body plus whatever amperage is already on the circuit.
Lighting circuits are generally rated at 6A, but rarely run anywhere near that.
If you allow 100W for each light, it would give you just less than half an amp per light.60W about a quarter of an amp.
So if you know how many lights on the circuit were on at the time you received the shock, you can calculate the amperage on the circuit.

Eh?
 
ignition systems, like television eht, have a few kV but not enough amperage to kill a rat. just a mild wake up, not as bad as the wife elbowing your kidneys .
 

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