Shocking experience

LewisM · #1 02-02-2013, 10:03 PM

Setting up for a LONG night here in PERFECT QLD (for a change). All aligned, and I can smell the distinct smell of hot wires. I knew it would be the power pack.

Picked it up, and the cord in was HOT. The MOMENT I touched the cord, it arced, flashed bright red - white, and disintegrated! Burnt my hand, but thank GOD for the safety pack on the house!

Cord is completely in 2 pieces - it blew the whole house naturally. Scorch mark on hand.

Needless to say, the retailer get's an email in a second. Paid decent money for this AC adapter, and it does that!

Stay safe people! There's wonky Chinese quality stuff everywhere, and if I didn't have a safety pack, that could well have done a hell of a lot more - like making me the circuit between the 2 wires halves!!! I'll do some photos later - got the mount running off my battery pack now, and tonight is too good to waste! It's even cool outside.

Larryp (Laurie) · #2 02-02-2013, 10:09 PM

Lucky you weren't seriously hurt, Lewis

brian nordstrom (As avatar) · #3 02-02-2013, 10:10 PM

Glad you are alright Lewis , apart from a scorched hand , yes you are right some of the electrical EQ coming out of China is a recipe for someone getting killed !! its that 'Shonky' .
My work has banned all Chinese made electrical equipement for this same reason .
Hope the session goes well mate .
Brian.

Screwdriverone (Chris) · #4 02-02-2013, 11:06 PM

Glad you are OK Lewis, but keep something in mind.

Most, if not all electrical equipment is normally rated for indoor use only.

I know it was probably safe, dry and on an isolated circuit etc, but if you come on too strong with the supplier and casually mention, "I had it outside connected to the scope", then they may just shut you down and stop listening.

Just be careful.

Chris

AstroJunk (Jonathan) · #5 02-02-2013, 11:43 PM

OOh, close one! The top three Astronomer killers:

1. Fatigue (Driving from that dark sky)
2. Elecrocution
3. Frustration <-- Most common, but seldom fatal

Glad you are out there, the seeing is poor from my place but the moon has yet to rise, hurrah!

LewisM · #6 03-02-2013, 12:46 AM

Got 2 hours on M1, and so far 1 hour on NGC 1365. SOME cloud now, and moon up, but should be right till about 2 am.

brian nordstrom (As avatar) · #7 03-02-2013, 01:02 AM

What Fluorite?
Brian.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LewisM

Got 2 hours on M1, and so far 1 hour on NGC 1365. SOME cloud now, and moon up, but should be right till about 2 am.

LewisM · #8 03-02-2013, 01:29 AM

The Vixen.

The Tak sits forlorn awaiting the Canon T ring... the one you gave me was Nikon

And Oasis T rings are not exactly off the shelf items

I used the Tak visually - bit of hit and miss because the back focus is STILL an issue even with my new made diagonal... I ordered a proper 1.25 diagonal from Steve Massey, so that MAY clear things up. She's a finnicky little geisha girl

LewisM · #9 03-02-2013, 01:30 AM

Some cloud turned into solid darkness (even obscuring the moon) about 0000. It's now 0029, and the processing of data has begun. At 100 iterations, it'll be morning before the 2 hours of M1 is done.

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #10 03-02-2013, 01:44 AM

wowee, that was close. Glad you're still with us Lewis.

Ric · #11 03-02-2013, 03:11 AM

Glad to hear your ok Lewis.

Hope the hand is feeling better.

BlackWidow (Mardy) · #12 03-02-2013, 08:58 AM

Wow that was lucky. I have had a power cord do the same thing. Brand new one. Glad you are OK, would have been a real shock if something bad had happened... Woops.... Ban Me Please!

Lucky it did no damage to you equipment with a short like that... Lucky!

Matt Wastell (Matt) · #13 03-02-2013, 10:27 AM

Glad to hear you are OK - I know electricity is dangerous but new even considered any of our astronomy stuff could be that dangerous!

Shark Bait (Stu) · #14 03-02-2013, 11:37 AM

Is this a problem that would gain the attention of whoever is responsible for product recalls?

The authorities remove toys and other products that are deemed dangerous from store shelves. Sounds like this item needs to be investigated as well.

RobF (Rob) · #15 03-02-2013, 12:51 PM

Would be interested in pics Lewis. What sort of product was it exactly - a power supply for 240V to 12V presumably? Any change moisture or condensation got into cooling slits?

I read your description of last night with interest. I too couldn't resist having a go, knowing full well there was extensive cloud coming up from the south. Took just as long as I expected (hours) to get everything together but was a pleasant night to be out. It was about 1130 before we were totally clouded down here.

You know you haven't been out for a while when your site in the laptop is still set to "Cairns", and the last object you slewed to was "Solar System, Sun"

Steffen · #16 03-02-2013, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brian nordstrom

My work has banned all Chinese made electrical equipement for this same reason .

Wow, I hope my workplace doesn't get that idea. I wouldn't be able to use my iPhone and Macbook Pro anymore…

That said, those little power packs (wall warts or bricks) are getting smaller and more powerful while at the same time being dirt cheap. Something's gotta give somewhere, they're obviously made to a price point and can't be using only high-quality components and manufacturing.

Cheers
Steffen.

wasyoungonce (Brendan) · #17 03-02-2013, 05:28 PM

I purchased a fleaby knock off canon 240V AC to 8V DC PSU. I really only wanted it for the DC out lead and small right angle connector that plugs into the canon DSLR dummy battery.

I took it apart to lo and behold...no protection cctry, extremely poor soldering very poorly laid out and design, no input AC filtering....an absolute disaster in waiting. Probably I expected this but it was really a shock to me. Naturally I just used the lead and tossed the rest.

But some people rely on these to power their DSLRs.....if only they knew....

LewisM · #18 03-02-2013, 08:06 PM

The power supply was bought from a reputable astronomical shop (geez, that narrows down the seller doesn't it!

). It is marketed as for the SW mounts, and may even be Synta made (not sure). Cost was $65 I seem to recall.

The culprit was the power lead IN. This is one of the desktop PC type power cables - I have many spares, but not sure I trust the whole thing anymore!

First thing I did was check the mount, and thankfully all was fine.

I'll do photos in a second - been a busy day today.

Astro_Bot · #19 03-02-2013, 08:14 PM

Glad you're alright, Lewis.

Brand names and supply sources aren't necessarily a guarantee of quality anymore. Some brands are now just aggregators of no-name products - that is, the company finds a no-name product that meets a specification (and price/volume requirement) and wacks their brand on it. Sometimes there's an extra layer of QC added, sometimes not. I've had a Belkin gadget blow up on me and they're supposed to be a "premium" brand - when I took it apart, it was cheap junk.

Astro_Bot · #20 03-02-2013, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LewisM

The culprit was the power lead IN. This is one of the desktop PC type power cables - I have many spares, but not sure I trust the whole thing anymore!

I've replaced a few "kettle cord" power leads over the years. Often the newly supplied cord is very thin, so I replace it with a meatier (and hopefully better made) cord - I usually get mine from JayCar. I have dissected a couple of JayCar cords and they do seem to be fairly well insulated.