DO NOT backfeed your house's electricity with a generator when your electricity gets shut down. You might electrocute someone working on those lines.
this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2024
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At least have it set up downstream of the main shut off and make sure that main is off before firing up the generator. There are devices available commercially that do that for you but they aren't cheap and require professional installation.
Microwave
Old CRT monitors. Particularly if they've been recently unplugged. There's a cable in there my old teacher used to call "the superman cable".
Ok firstly.
Never, work on anything that is still connected to a power supply.
This includes any stored energy. Isolate it first. Gravitational, electrical, pneumatic, hydraulic and chemical (if possible).
Don't fuck with stored energy.
Secondly.
Learn how to test if things are live, or have any stored energy.
Thirdly.
Once you KNOW you are safe. Go hard, learn all you can.
You can harvest the transformers for a couple junk microwaves to make an arc welder.
If you aren't experienced then pretty much all power supplies, battery backups, and motors should be left to someone else.
I saw someone lose a finger (later reattached) to a washing machine with a jammed tub. It was plugged in and on when they reached underneath it and yanked the belt, their sleeve ducked their hand into the drive wheel.
That said, if it fits your personality it can be both fun and satisfying to learn how to fix stuff. I try to teach anyone who's interested and asks. Except LG washing machines, those things can fuck right off.
How did they reattach the finger to the washing machine?
super glue. Don't get it on your eyelids, though.
Duct tape of course
I had a problem with the control panel in my Panasonic microwave and was able to fix it pretty easily. Everything I needed to get to was inside the right front of the microwave; the control pad membrane and the sticker that goes on the front of it.
Desktop computer power supplies. Don't open them.
BS. Just drain capacitors. I've repaired a few (worthwhile ones) by replacing caps. You just need to know how. As with anything, read up.
How else am I supposed to put the magic smoke back in?
Anything with large capacitors?
Not a large capacitor in my case, but I took apart my old camera after it stopped working, and accidentally touched the capacitor for the flash. A memorable moment.
And people don't realize how long they can hold power after the device has been "off".
Edit - I forgot to add my thing! A good example of something that doesn't sound scary is a TV, but it has large capacitors that can end you (or make a bad day).
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- Laser / LED printers can blind you and may have larger capacitors.
- Old CRT style TVs / Monitors can get you if not discharged correctly.
Is it true they can hold on to a charge for decades? I was told that but it seemed unlikely.
The coating on the inside of the tube can behave like a Leyden jar caps can accumulate charge over time even without an obvious power source.
I'm treating them like guns. Assume they're loaded until you prove otherwise.
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This is why we have specialized people who you call to handle these things.
I'll expand the microwave to anything that can carry a large electrical charge without you really knowing. I had a UPC that started acting weird, that was one I just sent right back to the manufacturer. I'll swap out batteries, but I'm not cracking open something with that much potential energy stored in it without me fully understanding everything about it - and unless I helped build the thing I do not know enough about it.
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kids today don't know about the scary suction cup on crts
This very much depends on your level of skill, experience and awareness of the dunning-kruger effect.
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Air conditioner. I melted a screwdriver.
If you're gonna take a washing machine apart and you cut all the wires, make sure you cut the main electrical plug off as well or your dumbass son (me) will plug it in and electrocute himself with it.
and electrocute himself with it.
Um, aktschully, you shocked yourself. If you electrocuted yourself, you would be dead.
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WAIT. UNLESS YOU DID DIE. DOES THAT MAKE YOU A GHOST?!!! A GHOST THAT CAN TYPE ON KEYBOARDS!!! AMAZING!!!
Yes, I am a ghost, I don't type I just yell at it I till something happens, it's exhausting.
You are doing it the hard way. You can shrink yourself down and enter the keyboard. By flying underneath the key membranes you can short out the contacts and make the keys trigger. So I've heard.
You poor thing... :(
It's not all bad tho, fuckin with people is fun.
Lol, I bet.
CRT TVs.
This whole thread is making me anxious
Same
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