Man dies while charging boat battery

[gpfishingdude]

Re: Man dies while charging boat battery

I know this is an old post but I didn't get around to reading it until this evening. I just want to say that I have always hooked up the charger to the batteries first and then plugged it in to the power source from the marina or in some cases to the power source at home. I don't know how much good a GFCI would do in a case like this where the guy was wading in the water but they do require them for swimming pool equipment so somebody has a lot of faith in them. I have some GFCI outlets in my house and in my garage that protect the rest of the circuit down line. This way not every outlet is a GFCI but all of the outlets on the circuit are protected by the first GFCI outlet. I still have an uneasy feeling when I plug in a battery charger at a marina and then step back onto the boat for anything. Do you wear an insulated glove when you unplug the power cord from the dock in the morning after all of the fog and dew has settled from the night before or do you just grab the plug and hope that it didn't get too wet.

 

[gpfishingdude]

Re: Man dies while charging boat battery

Years ago we lived in a rural area and we had an underground pump house for the water well. The contacts on the pump switch kept getting sticky so I would go down into the pump house where it was always wet and polish the contacts with some emery cloth. I always shut the power off at the pole before going down. One day while I was polishing the contacts I got a jolt that went through my arm so hard that it felt broken for weeks. I had missed noticing that there was a large capacitor mounted to the wall for starting the pump. I think for some reason the current must have traveled around my chest instead of through my heart because I had ahold of that emery cloth with both hands when it hit me and I recovered from that shock very quickly. This doesn't have anything to do with boating except for the fact that it shows how easy it is to get shocked around water.

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Man dies while charging boat battery

GP I have always taught people to put one hand in there pocket and never lean on anything when plugging anything in. The main reason people die on boats is to do with footwear. Bonding on which is to charge your body up to the same voltage as what you are touching may hurt alittle (110v) but as long as there is no where for the voltage to go it will not kill you but if the voltage finds a path back to ground then its all over. If you ever watch electricians working in mcc's you will see rubber mats in front of the electrical gear, we stand on the rubber mats as that's a double safety in case some thing goes wrong like a piece of copper punch's the gloves. The same goes for lines men working over head cables they work in a fiberglass bucket that does not conduct. I guess what im saying is when at the docks make sure that you are wearing dry rubber soled shoes when plugging or unplugging anything and keep you spare hand in your pocket and you should be ok.
P.s if you ever take a shock that you fell in the chest go to hospital and tell them what you have done. It can cause heart problems days after the original shock. They put you on a heart monitor for a few hours then tell you how stupid you are

 

[26aftcab454]

Re: Man dies while charging boat battery

folks. it only takes about 40 milliamps to kill someone if it travels to the heart.

The issue is the guy was carrying the battery charger to the boat while standing in 20" of water. the battery charger was plugged in as well.

shop 101 - connect the battery charger secondary leads to the battery, then plug in the charger. Thats the way the I was taught, and that is also how the instructions are written on the side of my old battery charger.

in this case, Darwin award may apply. I do feel for the family.

COMMON SENSE! sorry for the family.

 

[pikefisherman]

Re: Man dies while charging boat battery

I saw a someone at a campground with the AC plugged in to a charger so he didn't need to carry his battery, maybe not such a good idea.