> | Could a person be injured by a 12 volt DC shock, given certain > conditions? > For instance, could a 12 volt car battery cause injury to a healthy person > if their hands were wet or greasy? Assuming they are not using a > pace maker > or any thing like that. I just don't have the guts to try it. > > Well, I've tried it with smaller 12V batteries... > with my little 7Ah battery, you can't even feel it, even with wet > hands. If > you stick your tongue across the terminals, however, you can get a good > buzz. Also, this battery easily has enough oomph to weld stuff if > shorted. I > once shorted it out with some alligator clips by accident, and it > welded the > jaws shut in less than a second. I too have never had the guts to > try any of > this with a 30+ Ah battery... Anyone wanna try?? :O) The main "issue" with whether a voltage is "dangerous" is whether it causes a current flow through the heart of enough magnitude to cause trouble. At 12V it's pretty tough (but not impossible) to cause a large enough current to flow through the heart to cause trouble. So, the question is: how high is too high? That depends on so many factors it's impossible to consider a hard cutoff line. FWIW generally 48V is considered "safe" enough in most circumstances, however be warned that 48V can cause trouble, if the correct circumstances occur. TTYL -- http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList mailto:piclist-unsubscribe-request@mitvma.mit.edu