Grave electrical accident happened yesterday, May 25 2014

[J M Fahey]

This happened yesterday night, May 25 2014 in Recife, North Brazil.
The video was filmed and posted by the Guitarist/Singer´s wife , at a Tube Amp Forum I moderate there.
THIS IS NOT A JOKE OR INTERNET MYTH, IT HAPPENED TO PEOPLE I KNOW.
FWIW they are using Alien amps made by a colleague and friend whom I know, who works very well, I´m certain the wall plugs or the extension cords are miswired, and the properly chassis grounded 3rd ground leg got connected into a live wire.
So much for 3 wire safety *IF* the wall itself is miswired.
https://fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net/rsrc...0CKXyczrwq.swf

I hope the ASSHOLES who take safety slightly or stupidly argue against safe practices close their mouth forever.



https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=723076847751671

Translation by BING:
Elisângela Brainer
Dear Sirs, as requested, I am reporting what happened to my spouse Daniel Queiroga Bryon, during the presentation of the band Delorean, at the event "Towel Day" held in 5/25/2014 on the premises of auditorium Culture Bookstore, located in the District of Recife.
At the beginning of the presentation, when handling the microphone of property of this establishment, suffered strong electrical discharge, causing the microphone remains fixed in his right hand, and with the contraction of the body due to electric shock, the same hit the guitar strings (time appears the sparks of fire in the video attached) amplifying the said discharge for two hands that were in contact with the strings, suffering first degree burns in addition to the strong contraction in the chest.
At the time it was perceived the electrical charge by members of the band, guitarist Leon Miranda Castor, kicked the pedestal, making the microphone loose from Daniel's body. which fell struggling into the function occurred, causing him to faint. At that time, his father, provided first aid.
After Daniel become aware, the members of the body of a fireman do Paço Alfândega guided us to take him to the Hospital. The Livraria Cultura, Erik Armiliato Gomes, suggested that Daniel was taken to the Hospital by their families, noting that SAMU could take to provide the necessary relief and lead him to the Hospital. The suggestion was not accepted due to the risks of a cardiopulmonary arrest, given the seriousness of the fact occurred, and the same was rushed in an ambulance that was nearby doing the coverage of another event.
In the Portuguese Hospital, Daniel was evaluated and subjected to routine tests, besides having stayed a few hours under observation to verify the stability of heartbeats that were high. Worth pointing out, that the attending physician, Dr. Antonio Lins, CRM 18073, upon seeing the video with what happened (follows annex), commented that he was very lucky to have survived, as the region in which he suffered much of the electrical discharge, in the chest, increased the chances of sudden death. Exams performed, it was noted that the same suffered beyond the external first degree burns on both hands, internal injuries as the result of the examination shows creatine kinase-CPK.
Now we express our concern about the incident, since the number of events that promotes Culture Bookstore Auditorium, including the presence of children, and such negligence in relation to maintenance of equipment/electrical installations, can cause even more serious accidents.
Striving for safety of all enjoyed this space, we hope that the minimally Livraria Cultura if position regarding coach
Sincerely, Ruchi Brainer
Translated by BING

EDIT: on second sight I guess he was using a Fender HRD or similar amp.
Same thing anyway, doesn´t change a bit of what happened.

[oc disorder]

Sorry to hear this Juan and my best wishes from the other side of the world to Daniel for a full and speedy recovery.
Out of technical curiosity was that a 110 or 230 volt supply?
In Australia we now have a mandatory "Test and Tag" on all power outlets in places open to the public.
Basic checks that an apprentice can do . Also any appliances also have to be checked for insulation breakdown ,ground/earth continuity etc.
This is the same for Educational Establishments, hotels, theaters.
It is also mandatory to have a R.C.D. ..earth leakage breaker installed over everything.
This shuts down all the power..must confess I used to curse when the washing machine would occasionally trip it while I was working inside !
Fixed a slight leak and all is fine now.
Also some theater's won't let you plug anything in to their power until the resident tester has checked all your gear and tagged it.
One can see this adds delays and expense to night time activity !!
The drinking limit here is .05 ..and if you reach that you have to get a cab.
So the powers that be are determined we stay alive and pay our taxes ! (or is that play our axes?)
Anyway it's a real money spinner for some big electrical firms as supermarket complexes have zillions of power points @ (it varies) approx $12 ea.!!!
It saddens me that the slackness of a few , leads to additional hoops we all have to jump through although in this case (safety) I agree it's well worth it.
I always suggest to use the back of the hand to check for "tingles" on the mic before starting.
That way the hand can't lock on to the mic should there be a dangerous voltage there.
For those surface tingles where perhaps the ground for the mixer is miles away I suggest (if it doesn't hum) to run a spare jack to jack lead from the mixer to the guitar amp into a spare channel or any socket that's grounded while complaining to the management and inquiring about his public liability insurance and who administers it. That's one way to get some action notify his insurance Co. that his power doesn't comply !

[bluto]

Thanks, that is an excellent (and REALLY scary) reminder for all on safety and very timely considering some of the total BS posted here recently on electrical safety. Very glad that it seems likely that the guitar player was lucky and will recover, looks like a very close call to me. FWIW I used to work with 480V three phase equipment and saw some terrifying videos on what can happen if wiring errors are made and/or safety procedures are not followed with 480, that instilled some fear that served me well....this video does too.

[tedmich]

tennis.com! 20,000 sq ft house! 436 window shade controls! teflon circuit boards! $10,000 custom CDE mica caps! solid gold turrets!.....

oh hell I guess safety might be important...one video is worth about 1000,000,000 stupid words

[J M Fahey]

Out of technical curiosity was that a 110 or 230 volt supply?
In Australia we now have a mandatory "Test and Tag" on all power outlets in places open to the public.
Basic checks that an apprentice can do . Also any appliances also have to be checked for insulation breakdown ,ground/earth continuity etc.
This is the same for Educational Establishments, hotels, theaters.
It is also mandatory to have a R.C.D. ..earth leakage breaker installed over everything.

Also some theater's won't let you plug anything in to their power until the resident tester has checked all your gear and tagged it.
One can see this adds delays and expense to night time activity !!
The drinking limit here is .05 ..and if you reach that you have to get a cab.

I always suggest to use the back of the hand to check for "tingles" on the mic before starting.
That way the hand can't lock on to the mic should there be a dangerous voltage there.

Brazil is a mess because half of it is 110V, other half 220V, sometimes in the same city !!!!!
Just checked and Recife, way up North, is 220V .
To make things worse, Electrical Companies trying to serve both, often use 3 phase 220V which is the worst of both worlds: 220V are connected phase to phase, it has 2 live ones, amps "aways hum" because almost everywhere they still have legacy 2 round pin outlets, none of which is Neutral, even unplugging and reversing them is useless.
And same line gives 127V phase to neutral/ground, which cooks old 110V amps.

One possibility which I´ll suggest these guys to check, but later, when they relax a little, is that they might have used 120V amps (Săo Paulo voltage) adapted to Recife´s 220V with autotransformers.
Plugging autoformer primaries the wrong way (very easy to do and a standard musician has no clue about that) leaves the outlet "110V" pin actually 220V away from ground, and, MUCH worse, the "ground/neutral" pin 110V above ground.
And these transformers, with 2 round pin plugs and 2 round pin outlets cut the proper ground path.

And fully agree with Australian safety Law.
Oh well.

[pdf64]

I try (usually in vain) to get guys to use one of these socket testers on every socket to be used at each gig B&Q MS6860E Socket Tester, 5052931053483
Guitarists that use a mic are so vulnerable to this hazard.
Pete

[The Dude]

It's sad that it takes something like this to wake people up. I guess at least nobody was killed, which could have easily been the case. Very timely post as it relates to the now "pruned thread". I wish a speedy and full recovery to your friend, Juan. To state the obvious, electrical safety is no joke and should not be taken lightly.

I'd also like to say thank you to Steve A. for his work in "that other thread". Steve, you may have just saved some young guitar players life.

[Leo_Gnardo]

Brazil is a mess because half of it is 110V, other half 220V, sometimes in the same city !!!!!
Just checked and Recife, way up North, is 220V .
To make things worse, Electrical Companies trying to serve both, often use 3 phase 220V which is the worst of both worlds: 220V are connected phase to phase, it has 2 live ones, amps "aways hum" because almost everywhere they still have legacy 2 round pin outlets, none of which is Neutral, even unplugging and reversing them is useless.
And same line gives 127V phase to neutral/ground, which cooks old 110V amps.

One possibility which I´ll suggest these guys to check, but later, when they relax a little, is that they might have used 120V amps (Săo Paulo voltage) adapted to Recife´s 220V with autotransformers.
Plugging autoformer primaries the wrong way (very easy to do and a standard musician has no clue about that) leaves the outlet "110V" pin actually 220V away from ground, and, MUCH worse, the "ground/neutral" pin 110V above ground.
And these transformers, with 2 round pin plugs and 2 round pin outlets cut the proper ground path.

Geeze I've had the "above 135VAC" on stage in Sao Paolo, luckily the sound company came up with a huge 100A variac. (Do you think he's been thru that one before? I bet!) That night I mixed monitors and monitored the AC line, turning that variac control big as a steering wheel to try and keep the stage voltage not too high, not too low.

Also had the condition of non-zero "neutral" in Cannes. Had to tear out the "protect" circuit from a number of Radio Shack power strips. Lucky for us, that's all that happened. Nobody got zapped, neither did the gear. One of the acts on stage that day was the Bacon Brothers - don't want to fry them.

Not so lucky a local band - I fix their guitar player's amps - last summer they did a private party with power on a shoestring. No foolin', a piece of lampcord. On damp ground, the musicians quickly became the ground returns. Called in the rescue squad & fire department, a couple band members went to emergency room, and one was still complaining of back spasms days afterward. Lucky to be alive to complain!

In the US we're lucky to have those $10 outlet checkers you can buy at Radio Shack. Not so easy to do when you're up in Recife trying to get the party going with a hodgepodge of transformers. You can even go to the trouble of driving in and wirng up a ground stake, but that's no guarantee someone's amp or extension/outlet box is wired up right.

[J M Fahey]

Thanks for that interesting, practical experience.

Just by sheer chance, soes anybody have the schematic of one of those outlet testers?

Haven´t seen them here and would love to build my own.

[R.G.]

If I lived and/or played in a situation like that, I'd go buy a surplus ferroresonant ("constant voltage") transformer with 120 and 240 inputs and an isolated output.

Ferros to do upwards of 1.5kVA can be had for around $100 used, and weigh about 40-60lb. Even if you have to install it permanently on a two-wheel dolly, it would be far preferable (not to mention cheaper!) than even one visit to the emergency room, possibly followed by a funeral.

I say "ferro" instead of "isolation" transformer, because the ferro will actually both regulate the AC to your amps and setup to a mostly constant level, it will serve as a much better power line filter than any other you can buy.

[olddawg]

I'm certainly delighted that your friends were not seriously injured. I wonder. Brazil has had some epic concerts for hundreds of thousands in attendance, the Rolling Stones and Rod Stuart come to mind. How is that powered and regulated? I know, even here in the states, I've played large venues in major cities where they brought in huge generator trucks to power everything with no connection to the grid. Even in places like downtown Las Vegas. I've also seen them fry every amp on stage at times. It seems nothing is consistent, safe, or sacred.

[Enzo]

Juan, it is essentially three neon lamps in a plug. There are three wires in the wall, hot, neutral, and earth, so three combinations of two. Wire up a neon for each combination. Then straightforward to decide which ones ought to have voltage between and which not. Hot should have voltage to both other lines. Neutral should NOT have voltage to earth.

Receptacle tester - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If the hot-neutral lights, but not the hot-earth, then the earth is open. And so on.

[J M Fahey]

Thanks to both of you (and kind Bill Moore) .
As of stage power, in large venues truck sized generators are towed backstage, sometimes a few, not just one.
Big problem is lighting, rather than sound itself.

[Mick Bailey]

An interesting comment on the neon testers;

Three-Lamp Circuit Tester: Valid Tester or Night-Light? | content content from Electrical Construction & Maintenance (EC&M) Magazine

I wonder if the transistor-switched ground-fault LED types are any more reliable?

[bob p]

Interesting link, Mick.

My Dad obtained one of these 3-lamp devices in the early1970s, when he was preparing to sell our house in Gary, Indiana and he needed to double check the wiring prior to having the city inspector sign-off on the house. Back then the 3-lamp checking device was not at all common. Back then they were a new-fangled item that was called an "OSHA Tester." They were so uncommon that very few people had them. In our community nobody could get them except the city inspectors and the electricians US Steel (one of the main employers in The Region).

It turns out that we lived in a house that was in a community that required thinwall conduit for all residential wiring. We were in the shadow of Chicago after all, and Chicago code required the use of wiring enclosed in conduit as a result of the Great Chicago Fire. That, and having a large supply of union electricians in the steel mill community, led to local codes that required the use of conduit for all electrical installations. Back then the standard practice wasn't to add the green ground wire that code requires today, or even the bare wire that preceded it. Back then the practice was to employ the conduit itself as the circuit's electrical ground.

Back in the early 1970s when my Dad was using the borrowed "OSHA Tester" he discovered the false-safe condition that the article in your link cites as being a problem with conduit-based systems. Essentially, he stumbled across the false-safe indication in a circuit that he knew was wired improperly. Even with the improperly wired circuit, the OSHA Tester issued a false-safe indication due to capacitive coupling between the wires and the conduit. He was very worried about our house passing an electrical inspection when he was trying to sell it, because it had some old wiring that although it was correct when implemented, wouldn't pass the updated standards if he were forced to comply with the lastest updates to the code when selling the house.

When it finally came time for the inspection, Dad breathed a sigh of relief when the city inspector reached into his pocket, pulled out an OSHA Tester, plugged it into a few outlets, and then proclaimed that the house had passed inspection.

These devices aren't all they're cracked up to be. Just like your article states, sometimes it takes a ground impedance tester to get the right answer.