My optimate's been PAT tested!

[alan sherman]

Bought a battery and optimate - delivered to work as the bike with flat battery is there.  Bunged it on charge last night under my desk (bit cheeky but hey-ho).  Come in today and it's had a sticker applied to it - they've only been around the office overnight testing all the electrical stuff to make sure that it is 'safe'.  Good for optimate - but you have to question the test as there is a 12V battery with terminals you could put your hand across! 

[Fazerider]

Twelve volts isn't enough to kill you. Might tingle a bit if you connected it across your tongue, but that's about it.

[alan sherman]

True - but in the electrical testing, risk averse safety world I'd have thought a tingling would be enough for a fail

[Fazerider]

50V and above is regarded as potentially lethal, anything lower doesn't require testing. That does ignore the risks a 12V battery can present... something conductive falling across the terminals, for example, would be a fire hazard.
(I spend half my time at work electrical safety testing and predicting scenarios where people can injure themselves... it's as exciting as it sounds.)

[Skippernick]

Was dropping a spanner across the terminals on a 12v battery whilst it was standing in a bilge full of diesel a good idea?
Although i'm here to tell the story so it wasn't that bad.

[DryRob]

I melted a nice grove into my thumb when I was little by holding two wires on the terminals to power a pump

[Fazerider]

Was dropping a spanner across the terminals on a 12v battery whilst it was standing in a bilge full of diesel a good idea?
Although i'm here to tell the story so it wasn't that bad.

Just as well it was diesel and not petrol.

[BBROWN1664]

It's not the voltage that kills you, it's the current!

[Raymy]

This sounds like a thread for a fire safety enforcement auditing officer



























I'll ask one of the boys in the office if they'd like to register for the board

[VNA - BMW Wank]

Try turning your bike engine over by hand.
Then think about the energy in that little battery.

[bigralphie]

One of the guys I went through my electrical training with had a chain link pattern burned into his wrist from his bracelet shorting across a car battery.
think it was why he decided to get some proper info lol

[Andy Clap]

50V and above is regarded as potentially lethal, anything lower doesn't require testing

I thought PAT testing checked the state of the plug and leads as well.  Okay, it only outputs 12V, but if the plug, lead or case is knackered you could get a 240V jolt. 
I'd have thought the 50V rule applied to the supply voltage?

[Fazerider]

50V and above is regarded as potentially lethal, anything lower doesn't require testing

I thought PAT testing checked the state of the plug and leads as well.  Okay, it only outputs 12V, but if the plug, lead or case is knackered you could get a 240V jolt. 
I'd have thought the 50V rule applied to the supply voltage?

Exactly. The Optimate is mains powered so requires regular testing if it's to be used in the workplace (or happens to be there when the contractors come round). The OP was suggesting the bare 12V terminals of the battery meant it should have failed.

[Andy Clap]

Exactly. The Optimate is mains powered so requires regular testing if it's to be used in the workplace (or happens to be there when the contractors come round). The OP was suggesting the bare 12V terminals of the battery meant it should have failed.

Ah.  Sorry, I'm easily confused