Things that make you say Ouch!

Tubes can hurt you dead. Don't play with them unless you know what you are doing and respect the danger involved.

Don't work on high voltages alone, someone has to be around to at least laugh at you when you get shocked and have to go change your underwear (or worse, they need to douse you with a fire extinguisher.)

Don't work on high voltages in areas where you can't jump left, right and backwards. Involuntary full body muscle contractions can make you into an Olympic long jumper and what you land on can do more damage than the shock itself.

Don't hold pointy objects in your hands that point towards your neck or face.  Involuntary bicep contractions can turn the probe you are holding into the latest fashion piercing for nerds.

The same goes with high currents and high stored energy, don't work alone on them and know the risks.  Check your own work and importantly, triple check the work of people you are also working on your project.

OSHA says dangerous voltages start at 50V peak.

Voltages below 50V can hurt you too. At 24V DC I've seen "damp skinned" co-workers electrically shocked and I have seen low voltage overloaded wires throw shrapnel feet, not inches, from high current faults.

Opening an inductive circuit with current flowing will generate high voltages. The math says E = L di/dt.  If you move current fast enough you'll generate some impressively high voltages.

Touching a wire that is smoking because of too much current is flowing will burn you. It can cut through your "meat" like a hot knife through warm butter. I watched a buddy try to disconnect a smoking wire on a low voltage circuit. It cut through the meat on his hand and I had to drive him to the ER.

I'm not your guardian, you are responsible for your own safety if you try anything I'm discussing or linking to in these web pages.

These design ideas come with negative warranties, if you try them, your warranty is void!

Manufactures may change their designs over time and some manufactures do not change their model number when the make the change. Before you make a change, make sure your version of your equipment matches the version the change was written for.

This means before you attempt a modification, make darn sure the stock version is working correctly first. If the stock version has a problem, there is a chance the manufacture will fix it for you. If you do anything not in the manual and it does not work, it is your challenge to fix it, not mine nor the manufacture's.

For example: if you hear that putting elephant snot on your circuit will make it perform better, it is your problem to make the circuit work with the elephant snot on it. Nobody, not me, nor the manufacture, is required to touch a circuit with elephant snot on it. Once elephant snot touches your circuit, your warranty is void. This same concept applies for mods that do not involve elephant snot.

By the way:

1. If you are close enough to an elephant to see its nose without binoculars, you are too close for safety!

2. The odds are 10:1 that real elephant snot is a controlled substance.