Teen electrocuted while salvaging parts from a computer

Respect would be a better word. Fear can lead to other problems.

I've been shocked many times working on various electronics over the years, some are minor and some hurt quite bad. I've had some friends that have had some bad zaps as well. One ended up in the hospital and they said if he had used his other hand to complete the circuit he may not have survived.

Well its not the jauls that count it is that thing the band was formed around called AC/DC is the big killer. Remember computers like direct current not alternating which is more user friendly. This is why you have that in your house. For dc even in smaller amounts can kill you. It stops your hart. AC alternates at 60 herts to match your pulse a little closer. And DC just fibrillates you. This is why the warning. Same thing in a Television old type though that one is much higher. This is why they tell you never ground yourself when inside a power supply. That is the last thing you want to do and yes you could have been zapped many times but it only takes one time grounded to stop your heart. Also this may have not been fatal if he had worked with a partner for the current probably only stop his heart with no fatal damage. He just needed CPR within I don't know about 5 min. That is about the time you are allotted to avoid serious brain damage. Loner is what killed him or his dad getting home late. I guess this is what the scene is like when you try to prove a warning wrong but all you are able to manage is prove it dead right.

He must have had a weak hart to start with or some other underlying issue. In the states those caps only charge upt o 200V and its converted to DC.
The discharge from that is enough to give you a good prick but its almost always between two fingers on the same hand! You'd have to try really hard in the first place to get one hand per terminal/track its soldered to.

If he had burn marks on his body there was MUCH more to this story than just stripping a PSU (which you shouldn't do anyways!).

I have messed around with my old PSU trying to retrieve a fan, I didn't realize there was so much danger :S
Not doing that again!

Well this has been educational! I always take apart the PSU when I clean the computer, only one time have I heard that those capacitors store power even when switched off and disconnected from the wall, glad I took those words to heart when my buddy told me >.>....

The PSU I noticed attracts allot of dirt, and then when the fan fails and you have to custom mod it to fit the new 120mm fan.

This is crazy, didn't really realize I was playing with fire like I was. Definitely going to take allot more care when I clean it again...

Like other users mentioned though, I always discharge the power before I take it apart, I switch the unit off then disconnect it from the wall then press the power button to make sure none is left over.

Shocking...

Boys and girls, is this really can happen? I mean zapped from capacitor could lead to death? from my experience I once accidentally bumped with the capacitor with the size of a gluestick (but shorter in height) when checking/stripping one of my lab device (of course it's unplugged), I bumped it when I want to reach the cover, then what I got is a small electrical burn on left side of my boobs

Lol its not bad luck the kid was messing around in a power supply unit, which clearly warns people do not f with it, all over it. They really just needs one big sticker saying EVEN WITH POWER CORD UNPLUGGED FATAL CHARGES REMAIN. I wonder if he knew the risk.

My first computer repair college related class in chapter one was like do not ever take apart a psu or monitor unless your a trained professional, your risking deathly electrocution.

Probably a high-powered VIDEA GAME chip. Yall happy now?! Gamin' KILLS!

This is going to put the creeps into the next time I open up my PSU for cleaning. Even though I've done it probably more than a 100 times without a single shock I'll still have this on my mind for next time.

There was more to this story I feel.

Doublers have not been needed on well-designed, modern power supplies for years. I'm sure you can check this out by reading the specs on any well-designed modern supply - which will not have an input voltage selection switch. Many modern switchers have an input voltage range of 100V-240V, and you don't need to select the input voltage with a switch. Just get the right line cord and plug it in to the local outlet. For example - http://www.antec.com/pdf/flyers/BP550PLUS_flyer.pdf For a buck converter, it really does not matter what the input voltage is as long as it is sufficiently high enough over the output voltage to overcome conversion inefficiencies.

So, what you are saying is that the kid had not unplugged the supply?

This is rather scary.

I open my PSU every now and then to clean or to maintain it's fan.

Best thing to do is to turn off power and leave the PSU unplugged for 24 hours before maintenance, especially anything with big capacitors.

Remember the 35mm camera's with flash? Them little bad boys put out a jolt as well.

It never occurred to me how much voltage was needed to operate a camera flash, until I discharged the capacitors in one with my fingers. Talk about a wake up call, that was worse than being shocked by a wall outlet. I instantly formed a question of how a 3V DC device could shock worse than 120V AC wall outlet.

How Camera Flashes Work

200V 1000 - 4000
From a 3V camera??? WOW

This REEKS of Urban Myth to me.

PSUs should be replaced not repaired. They are so cheap these days, even excellent quality high wattage units are reasonably priced for the job they do. The closest I ever get to the inside of a PSU is with compressed air to blow dust particles out.

Over recent years of fixing computers I have also had instances of a computer running normally at a client's house only to have the PSU "blow" back at the workshop due to excess dust arcing and blowing the PSU as soon as the power cord was attached. Since then I have dusted PSUs out with compressed air before attaching a power cord. Respect electricity.

Well, maybe it is just sensationalism or maybe just bad luck?, I work as IT fixing computers and printers and in my 7+ years in the business I've been shocked by flybacks (CRT Monitors), I have shortcircuited capacitors of around 200V (the big ones), and maybe the worst was the flyback, it left me with headaches for 3 days, but didn't kill me, if this is true, the guy was either bare feet and/or wet and/or suffered of heart affections, only accurate info would tell us.

Or just short the cap out with an insulated screwdriver, been doing it for years in my industry. never damages anything.

My heart goes out to the father. I couldn't imagine the pain and loss of a child. The young man who lost his life working on a hobby that I've done thousands of times myself for business and personal use and never considered to be this dangerous. I hope that this is one of those very unusual set of circumstances and peculiar accidents which aren't common. But to lose a son, a young man starting his life, it is such a heart breaker.