I know dumb question

[Sejac]

I know dumb question but I have to ask, It is my understanding that 3 ea 12V 100ah batteries in parallel will not shock you because the voltage is only 12V and that is not enough voltage to push the electrons through your body. Is this correct. in other words the 12V voltage going into the inverter will not shock you but the 120V voltage coming out of the inverter will, Correct? Help me to understand this, please.

 

[TouchHarder]

Your skin has a resistance that the voltage needs to overcome in order for a current to flow through your body to the ground. The skin resistance is from person to person slightly different, and it also depends on if your hands are dry or wet etc... The MAXIMUM your skin can protect you from are 50V AC or 120DC... At least that's what my book on this topic says about that. So no, in theory, if you're not really unlucky, 12V shouldn't be able to get through your skin. But maybe you are really unlucky and have a metal splinter in your finger... Molten metal can also hurt a lot tough, and the chance that the voltage is for some dumb reason higher than you thought is always there as well. So always be careful and just avoid touching life wires with your bare hands.

 

[Rednecktek]

I have gotten a jolt more than once laying my arm across both terminals reaching across under the hood of my car. Can it shock you? Yes. Will it kill you? Probably not.

 

[BentleyJ]

For sure when you are working on something and your skin gets damp with sweat that makes a big difference in getting shocked or not.

So far I've had no problem with 18 LFP cells in series being charged at 62 to 63V. Can touch the bare terminals with no noticeable effect.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Your skin has a resistance that the voltage needs to overcome in order for a current to flow through your body to the ground.

SOURCE. Current does not want to flow to ground, it wants to return to the source. The only time current will flow to ground is if ground is also connected to the source.

I have gotten a jolt more than once laying my arm across both terminals reaching across under the hood of my car. Can it shock you? Yes. Will it kill you? Probably not.

Current kills you, not voltage. Any voltage can kill you if it gets 100-200mA across your heart.

For sure when you are working on something and your skin gets damp with sweat that makes a big difference in getting shocked or not.

So far I've had no problem with 18 LFP cells in series being charged at 62 to 63V. Can touch the bare terminals with dry hands with no noticeable effect.

Enhanced.

As someone who works with > 200VDC daily, I can say respect for the lethality of DC current is a survival tool.

 

[timselectric]

Basically, it's as safe for you as your car battery.
Handle it with the same caution.

 

[time2roll]

Put your tongue to a 9v battery to get a taste of it. In the right conditions 12 volts can be felt. Need to remove jewelry and metal when working around batteries as it presents a risk to conduct and produce tremendous heat and severe burns. Eye protection is also needed as a 12v spark or chemicals can damage the eye very quickly.

 

[timselectric]

As someone who works with > 200VDC daily, I can say respect for the lethality of DC current is a survival tool.

DC deserves a higher level of respect, definitely.

 

[BigCharlie]

For reference, this could be around 300,000VDC

Van de Graaff generator - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It's the amps that are dangerous./

 

[wmgeorge]

No, very simple. But leave your ring on and get it across both sides of 12 volts and you will perhaps lose a finger when it melts.