Water / electric mishaps

fastonebaz

Soooo at tonight's gig,  a full pint of water vibrates its way across a good 8 inch ledge and fell and smashed all over my 4x power sockets and various cables all connected to my amp, lights,  pedal board etc.  I first knew about  it when I noticed I was stomping wet footprints all over my pedal board.   I looked behind me and there was  water everywhere all over the electrics.   Somehow,  amazingly,  everything was still working.   I was dead nervous though thinking any minute now it's gonna either trip out,  or electrify me and everyone near me.   Inbetween a song I managed to flip the multi socket over so at least water was dripping out if it.  Everytime I moved I was splashing and crunching glass underfoot.   Somehow though we finished the set unscathed and everyone lived to tell the tale.

Thank goodness I'd decided to perform wearing wellies and marigolds.   

Ok that last bit wasn't true. 

richardhomer

Is this what’s known as a ‘Power Soak’?

octatonic

This is why I like my effects in a rack and not on the floor in front of me.

slacker

Bottle glass, glass bottle.

LuttiS

Vibrates a good 8 inches? 

Another over enthusiastic groupie?  

ICBM

Tap water isn’t actually very electrically conductive, unless you’re in a very ‘hard’ water area. Even then, mains electrical equipment is designed with good spacing between the conductors so a short is fairly unlikely. And if your gear is properly fused and earthed, even a short would just trip the breaker in the distribution unit.

That isn’t to say you should deliberately go playing a gig with the stage awash, but there really wasn’t a major risk. Actually spilled drinks that *aren't* pure water are far more dangerous - the dissolved sugars do make them electrically conductive. Beer or soft drinks getting into amps is a real issue... that’s one of the reasons I don’t like amps with the controls on the top.

Fez

This is why I always try to get band members to drink from Sports bottles or bottles with lids on stage. It's bad enough with drunken punters near the "stage".

fastonebaz

Lesson learnt.  Next time, no drinks near the stage

LuttiS

Back in my gigging yoof.. party rock type band - i used to have a beer mat taped to the top of my amp.. hard to believe i never had an accident a beer related accident a beer spill off it considering i spend half the gig jumping on and off it...  good times