Danger of electric shock from batteries in small boats?

[ronwagn]

I am thinking about equipping my large inflatable kayak with a trolling
motor to get me upriver. That way I don't need a partner.

What happens If I get everything wet, or it rains? Could I get killed
by electroshock?!

All the best,

Ron Wagner

[jamesgangnc]

It's almost impossible to be injured by low voltage sources like 12v
batteries. That's one of the reasons a lot of outdoor and pool
lighting is low voltage. You might get a tingle that surprises you if
your are soaking wet and touch both battery terminals.

Post by ronwagn
I am thinking about equipping my large inflatable kayak with a trolling
motor to get me upriver. That way I don't need a partner.
What happens If I get everything wet, or it rains? Could I get killed
by electroshock?!
All the best,
Ron Wagner

[Ed]

get a SEALED battery.. Preferably an AGM or Gell.... the bigger danger
is acid spill... Also put it in a battery box.

Post by jamesgangnc
It's almost impossible to be injured by low voltage sources like 12v
batteries. That's one of the reasons a lot of outdoor and pool
lighting is low voltage. You might get a tingle that surprises you if
your are soaking wet and touch both battery terminals.

Post by ronwagn
I am thinking about equipping my large inflatable kayak with a trolling
motor to get me upriver. That way I don't need a partner.
What happens If I get everything wet, or it rains? Could I get killed
by electroshock?!
All the best,
Ron Wagner

[Bill Kearney]

Post by jamesgangnc
It's almost impossible to be injured by low voltage sources like 12v
batteries. That's one of the reasons a lot of outdoor and pool
lighting is low voltage. You might get a tingle that surprises you if
your are soaking wet and touch both battery terminals.

Bullshit. You go get yourself wet and put your hands on the battery
terminals. You'll get a a HELLUVA shock from the amperage that's present.

[MMC]

Right, it's the amps, not the volts that get you and these batteries
generally have a minimum of 450 amps.

Post by Bill Kearney

Post by jamesgangnc
It's almost impossible to be injured by low voltage sources like 12v
batteries. That's one of the reasons a lot of outdoor and pool
lighting is low voltage. You might get a tingle that surprises you if
your are soaking wet and touch both battery terminals.

Bullshit. You go get yourself wet and put your hands on the battery
terminals. You'll get a a HELLUVA shock from the amperage that's present.

[g***@aol.com]

Post by MMC
Right, it's the amps, not the volts that get you and these batteries
generally have a minimum of 450 amps.

That is where Ohm's law comes in. It really doesn't matter how big the
battery is, only the voltage imposed, divided by your body resistance.
Amps = Volts divided by Resistance (Mr Ohm)
A tenth of an amp will kill you and you could get that from a watch
battery. The voltage is what allows the amps to flow through your
body. That's the law!
12vdc is generally considered fairly safe but under some very unusual
circumstance it could hurt you. I agree with the other poster, an acid
leak is a lot more likely to hurt you.

[Chuck Gould]

Post by Bill Kearney

Post by jamesgangnc
It's almost impossible to be injured by low voltage sources like 12v
batteries. That's one of the reasons a lot of outdoor and pool
lighting is low voltage. You might get a tingle that surprises you if
your are soaking wet and touch both battery terminals.

Bullshit. You go get yourself wet and put your hands on the battery
terminals. You'll get a a HELLUVA shock from the amperage that's present.

I've got to disagree. Back when I was in the used car business, I must
have swapped out
500 batteries, and some of that work was done standing on wet pavement.
If you accidentally get a wrench across both terminals you can generate
a hot enough spark to pit the wrench and distort the terminal (go ahead
and ask me how I know), but enough current doesn't travel from the
wrench and up through your arm to even create a mild sensation of
shock. I don't recall ever hearing of a single incident where anybody
was ever killed or injured by touching both posts of a 12-volt battery
at the same time.

The guy with the kayak needs an AGM battery so he can turn that thing
upside down once in a while without spilling acid all over.

[jamesgangnc]

You're fairly clueless about electricity, huh?

Post by Bill Kearney

Post by jamesgangnc
It's almost impossible to be injured by low voltage sources like 12v
batteries. That's one of the reasons a lot of outdoor and pool
lighting is low voltage. You might get a tingle that surprises you if
your are soaking wet and touch both battery terminals.

Bullshit. You go get yourself wet and put your hands on the battery
terminals. You'll get a a HELLUVA shock from the amperage that's present.

[Gordon]

Knew a sub sailor in Pearl Harbor that got cooked by a sub battery when he
fell across the poles. Naturally, he was sopping wet with sweat when it
happened and he became a good conductor of boo coo current.
g

Post by jamesgangnc
It's almost impossible to be injured by low voltage sources like 12v
batteries. That's one of the reasons a lot of outdoor and pool
lighting is low voltage. You might get a tingle that surprises you if
your are soaking wet and touch both battery terminals.

Post by ronwagn
I am thinking about equipping my large inflatable kayak with a trolling
motor to get me upriver. That way I don't need a partner.
What happens If I get everything wet, or it rains? Could I get killed
by electroshock?!
All the best,
Ron Wagner

[g***@aol.com]

Post by Gordon
Knew a sub sailor in Pearl Harbor that got cooked by a sub battery when he
fell across the poles. Naturally, he was sopping wet with sweat when it
happened and he became a good conductor of boo coo current.

Subs use a couple hundred volts out of the batteries

[C***@gmx.net]

Well, if he gets one of them sub battery banks for his
kayak, he will have to deal with a bit more weight and
insulation issues, but the range upstrem should be
great. Brilliant idea.. :)
Plus, there is no danger of electrocution at all,
because with that battery bank he will never sweat
from paddeling upstream. Problem solved.

Post by Gordon
Knew a sub sailor in Pearl Harbor that got cooked by a sub battery when he
fell across the poles. Naturally, he was sopping wet with sweat when it
happened and he became a good conductor of boo coo current.
g

Post by jamesgangnc
It's almost impossible to be injured by low voltage sources like 12v
batteries. That's one of the reasons a lot of outdoor and pool
lighting is low voltage. You might get a tingle that surprises you if
your are soaking wet and touch both battery terminals.

Post by ronwagn
I am thinking about equipping my large inflatable kayak with a trolling
motor to get me upriver. That way I don't need a partner.
What happens If I get everything wet, or it rains? Could I get killed
by electroshock?!
All the best,
Ron Wagner

[Bill Kearney]

Post by ronwagn
I am thinking about equipping my large inflatable kayak with a trolling
motor to get me upriver. That way I don't need a partner.

Get a setup that properly seals the battery against water getting to it.
I'd have to imagine kayak user websites would be helpful in finding decent
setups for this. But I'd have to wonder just how much of a battery you'd
have to bring along to make it worthwhile.

Post by ronwagn
What happens If I get everything wet, or it rains? Could I get killed
by electroshock?!

It would depend entirely on how large a battery you had to bring along and
how well it was stowed. If you're only talking a couple of 'motorcycle
like' gel cells then the risk is probably minimal. But if you're talking
about bringing along a larger car or golf cart sized battery then you'd want
to be careful about it.

But it all depends on how much juice it needs. You may find it's
impractical in that the size of motor needed to cover the distances desired
might require a much bigger (and HEAVIER) battery than is practical to bring
along.

[John Wentworth]

Post by ronwagn
I am thinking about equipping my large inflatable kayak with a trolling
motor to get me upriver. That way I don't need a partner.
What happens If I get everything wet, or it rains? Could I get killed
by electroshock?!
All the best,
Ron Wagner

The risk of electric shock from a 12 volt battery is minimal; even in a
worse case scenario your body would provide sufficient resistance to the
electric charge that current would be very small, probably less than one
milliamp. It's the amps that hurt you, but there must be sufficient voltage
present to drive those amps. Ohms Law provides a way to calculate current
flow if you know the voltage and the resistance. Current (amps) go up as
resistance (ohms) goes down; divide voltage by resistance to get current
flow.

Look at http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_3/4.html

[C***@gmx.net]

Hi Ron,

MMC and Bill K. got voltage, current, and capacity
seriously confused. (The term apmerage doesn't even
exist as a physical unit. :)

A 12V battery will never give you a dangerous shock.
You can try this: Put two wetted fingers on the terminals
of a 1.5v household battery; Not noticable at all.
On a 9V smoke detector battery. Almost unnoticable.
Then your tounge on the 9V. Unpleasant, not more.
12V won't do much more than this, that's why many
of the connectors in your car are not insulated at all:
Because nothing will happen if you touch them.

The advice to get a sealed battery is very good,
because the acid is really going to hurt you, should
you ever get it sloshing around in your kayak.

Chris

Post by John Wentworth

Post by ronwagn
I am thinking about equipping my large inflatable kayak with a trolling
motor to get me upriver. That way I don't need a partner.
What happens If I get everything wet, or it rains? Could I get killed
by electroshock?!
All the best,
Ron Wagner

The risk of electric shock from a 12 volt battery is minimal; even in a
worse case scenario your body would provide sufficient resistance to the
electric charge that current would be very small, probably less than one
milliamp. It's the amps that hurt you, but there must be sufficient voltage
present to drive those amps. Ohms Law provides a way to calculate current
flow if you know the voltage and the resistance. Current (amps) go up as
resistance (ohms) goes down; divide voltage by resistance to get current
flow.
Look at http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_3/4.html