Darwin Alert: Man dies hooking jumper cables to electric pole

Detroit News ^ | 2/5/02

[11th Earl of Mar]

DETROIT -- Police are investigating the death of a man who was electrocuted when he attempted to illegally attach car jumper cables to an electrical transformer on a utility pole to a generator inside a vacant house where he was staying, police said.

[UCANSEE2]

You are correct. What matters is the amount of amperage, not the voltage. The high tension wire has high voltage, low amperage. Transformer outputs are low voltage, high amperage, but I am sure you already know this.

You also know if one end of the jumper cable was anywhere near 'the ground', 'a ground', and he got anywhere near the high tension wire with the other end, he would be a french fry.

Still, what do you think he was trying to do? I.E. What was he going to hook the cables to on the generator end ? Or am I asking a stupid, doesn't matter he's dead, question ?

[_Jim]

Edison set up his DC generator plants in high-density areas of NYC where they were limited to powering only a few blocks because of DC's poor transmission quality (leakage). When it rained horses would sometimes get electrocuted when pulling their loads over areas where Edison's DC cables were buried.

Because AC doesn't ground as readily less insulation was necessary and it could be transmitted much further from distant generator plants.

Where do you people come up with this kind of trash?

By posting such ill-informed technical 'reasoning' you are doing nothing but furthering more myths about something that is very well understood by quite a number of people in this world.

[_Jim]

I think my previous post #67 sums it up ... (Hint: Ignore some of what is written by an un-doubtedly non-technical writer in this story ... this man was looking for a source of electricity to power something - *not* run his 'generator'!)

[boomop1]

Something his haywire here, I guess.

[boomop1]

I'll spit on me hands first.

[UCANSEE2]

Well, as usual, there are bits of information left out in the news report. It doesn't say the lower end of the jumper cables was attached to anything at all, or exactly how far they reached. You are probably correct. He probably ran out of gas for the generator, and decided to try and hook up to the utility pole somewhere. He might have shorted out the wires that were dangling when he attempted to hook up to the pole and fell when the sparks started arcing.

I guess I am really surprised this hasn't happened more often. (Here in KC many homes are without electricity, have been for almost a week).

[UCANSEE2]

P.S. Notice the 'reporter' states the dead man was found 'unconscious'.

[spunkets]

Well they did say they found the wires hanging on the ladder and running into the house. No mention of a long trail of char. He very well may have polarized himself on the transformer. The primaries certainly would have given him a bigger hum than an output. May he rest in peace, God bless him he gave a lot of folks a good laugh.

[Poohbah]

I mentioned this earlier--a "transient person" (what used to be known as a "bum") was walking on the BART right of way a few years back, answered nature's call, and tinkled on the third rail...even if he'd survived, he'd've been a Darwin candidate...

[_Jim]

Don't you know *that* had to hurt (for a few milliseconds anyway) ...

[Redcloak]

If he has no progeny, than he's in the running for an award. Remember: The Darwin can only won by those who have, through heroically stupid acts, successfully contained their own faulty DNA.

[stlrocket]

Are you sure that this isn't the guy?

Jesse Jackson?

[Retiredforever]

Edison liked DC rather than AC. General Electric at one time back around 1920 or 1930 was pushing the use of DC for appliances while Westinghouse was pushing the use of AC. General Electric in some of their advertising stressed that DC was safer than AC, quoting the fact that AC is so deadly and dangerous that it is used in the electric chair to execute criminals -- just a little bit of trivia from history.

[Ditter]

I don't understand what he was trying to do. He wasn't hooking electrical power up to a stove he was hooking it up to a generator? Doesn't a generator generate electrical power & run on gasoline or diesel? Am I missing something?

[Petronski]

Just the opposite, in fact. Edison thought that AC was useless. Tesla demonstrated otherwise.

Yep, Westinghouse won with alternating current. Edison convinced the state of NY to use an electric chair with AC for executions, just to portray AC as unmanageably unsafe. And he would also shock live elephants to death, until they smoked and cooked, with AC in an 'I Love DC' road show. Hilarious what one can find on the History Channel.

[CWRWinger]

"Inside the vacant home was a generator, a mattress, blankets and several cans of soup."

Sure this guy was homeless? He sounds like a middle class taxpayer after an audit.

[Campion]

George Westinghouse pushed AC, and won that standards battle for any number of good reasons. I think Tesla was an AC guy, too, but not sure.

Tesla worked for Westinghouse after his falling-out with Edison.

[ohmage]

Kin that there de-vice start my car from my cigarette lighter???

When my car won't start it's usually snowing and I jes hate havin' to pop the hood with snow on it.