I noticed with a new electric blanket I recently used if you look under the blanket in pitch black And run your fingers along the blanket you can see Very faint light emanating from your finger Tips. Definitely some kind of electromagnetic effect. It was fascinating when I discovered that. I heard this can even happen with just basic wool blankets.
That is fascinating - my first thought is it might be triboluminescence - when charges get separated by rubbing or similar process and then recombine to give off a bit of light. Apparently same thing happens with mint Lifsavers if you chew/break/rub them in a dark room. I'm definitely going to have to try a few blankets and see if I can see what you saw!
@@ChongMcBong Gaffer tape! I had heard the old cloth style electrical take did that - never occurred to me to try gaffer tape. I'm guessing it has a lot to do with the sticky stuff . I'm thinking a video on that topic might be interesting, although I probably will need to get an image intensifier to be able to video it.
@@ChongMcBong 3M Tape generates many thousands of volts and a device has been created to do just that, I forget the details but I think it was to create a high voltage for a field instrument like a geiger tube. I will get back to you If I locate the details. I remembered, it was a device to create a high potential to generate X rays. The tape was wound from one spool to another producing the required potential. Some magic went on and enough X rays were generated to expose a photographic film The project was somewhere in Africa about two years ago.
I was wondering if they might do that for safety - given the low power levels it would be quite practical. Really glad to hear they are doing that. Do you know if its AC or DC? If its DC that would further take away any AC magnetic field concerns.
Years ago had reason to dismantle some blankets and found the third wire was part of a series parallel arrangement for three heat settings and sometimes a thermister. I think modern blankets now have a protective conductive screen so the RCD / GFCI will operate if liquids are spilt, it is possible the wire may have PTC or is it NTC properties for self regulation. A story that may interest or bore your tribe relating to Thermographic cameras and blankets; Many moons ago a colleague and I were privately experimenting with a non destructive IR inspection technique to detect delamination caused by water ingress freezing in composites effectively splitting the component and fastenings. The project came about over a beer talking about the time Concorde pilots discovered they had lost the rudder on route to Sydney in 1989 and recent ( 2005 ish) problems with some airliners built with composites, as one aircraft type was experiencing unscheduled disassembly of the rudder in flight which was an undesirable situation !. The idea was that the larger thermal mass of water trapped in the honeycomb would take more time to return to ambient allowing the thermal camera to register this delta T once the heat source had been removed thus indicating potentially compromised epoxy laminations and water ingress, which was a serious problem for the aircraft operators as some vertical stabilisers and rudders were departing the airframe in flight with rather tragic outcomes. To prove our technique we had covered 26 foot of disassembled compromised rudder in borrowed pink and blue domestic electric blankets and yes there were comments about where we sourced the blankets. The trials were promising as it was more effective than tapping a dime / penny over the wing which was the usual test Boeing used other than expensive X ray, Gamma radiography or Ultrasound. Covering a wing with heated blankets was not very practical and soon progressed to high power IR lamps then high discharge Xenon which is what is now in use some 35 year on. Back on subject, there is a lot of electrically heated clothing now on the market I think they make use of woven carbon fibre, I am sure you will find some interesting items of apparel on AliExpress. I have an electric blanket under the carpet for the dogs to sleep on and a silicon heat pad under my metal Vickers office desk a tip learnt from the esteemed sage AVE. Interesting video, Best wishes.
That probably wins the award for one of the most fascinating comments I have read today - and there were a number of fascinating ones! Brilliant solution to an inspection problem - and using blankets to warm them up for an inexpensive test - there is nothing like reusing things for other purposes! Back to blankets - if there was a thermister on the 3rd wire and it broke/failed over the years, that would explain why I had no reading on the ohmmeter. If it was attached to the middle of the circuit, that could have increases power levels. And and as someone else mentioned, the two pins I uses could have been for left- right custom controls. I sure wouldnt trust electrically heated clothing for Aliexpress :) Milwaukee makes some quality heated jackets that use there standard batteries - I'm sure many in the trades appreciate that in the winter! "Vickers office desk" - I'll bet there is a lot of aviation history behind that! Best wishes to you too from Canada!
The old electic blanket you had there had an analog thermostat control which it plugged into. The third wire came from the thermistor inside the blank that turned on and off the power to control the temperature. You could hear the faint clicks as it cycled every few minutes.
I wonder if the thermister failed since I cant detect any resitance between that pin an the others. I'm surprized they were that sophisticated. I'm pretty sure one that we had when I was a kid was even more primitive/dangerous and just used a bimetal strip as a simple on/off variable duty cucle controller.
As a kid in the '60s I had an electric blanket (the sort that you fit under the top sheet of the bed) and it was great. Not that winter is all that much to speak of here but it still got down to 3c occasionally. The cats absolutely loved it too. Recently I bought one since old injuries are making themselves felt again and it keeps the aches at bay nicely. One thing I did notice is capacitive coupling of the mains. If I'm watching something on the laptop the 'fuzzy' feeling from the minuscule leakage through the laptop power brick is more noticeable when the blanket is plugged into the mains, and more so again when the switch on the outlet is on and the blanket controller turned on too. It's an old design with a simple mechanical power level switch, no electronics. I also get the fuzzy feeling rubbing my hand on the bedroom wall from bed, again just very low capacitive current. The wall is gyprock (plasterboard) and random points on it has about 70M-ohm to the premises earthing / neutral system. Electromagnetic fields aren't something that has given me any cause for concern with the things.
Do you think its capacitive coupling? I wonder if it is leakage though the insulation? If you have an oscilloscope would be interesting to test by looking at the current angle - 90 degrees offset and your right. 0 degrees I'm right. Somewhere in between we are both right :)
@@ElectromagneticVideos A quick test at 2500V with the IR meter, one lead attached to the plug the other to a 1.5m x 30cm length of al-foil weighed down by pillows gave > 10G ohms. 'scope will have to wait while I dig out some resistors tomorrow.
It was a nice video, clever to come up with the scenario. A warm blanket would be nice right now, when I'm spending the weekend in the croft, but I'm here to work, so the heat has to come from within!
Actually poorly timed video on my part - the day I posted it we started 4 days of warm Indian summer type whether, so definitely wont be needing a blanket for a few days :)
@@ElectromagneticVideos It is warm for the time of year here in Sweden too, I get sweaty working outside in thin clothes. The problem with my tiny house is that everything is so humid, the meter read 95% relative humidity when I arrived. I have lit the fire and raised the temperature, but the humidity remains at 80%, there is probably a lot of moisture in the timber!
Awesome video! I love the quick test also. I did not even know they were still available. I bought mine years ago from eBay used hence the blue and brown color code on mine, but I bought it quick as I could back then because I had never seen one available. Of course, eBay was one of my few choices buying online at that time.
Thanks! I got my quicktest from Newark - get generally seem to have them in all color codes and even 3 phase combination. A really great little device - I have it sitting on my workbench all the time in case I need to power up something!
YT "Big Clive" uses them and they have become popular from my understanding they are back in production. Very simple safe device RS used to have one in Bakelite.
@@WOFFY-qc9te I have seen him use them. Had no idea they made them out of Bakelite - shows how long ago they were created. I had heard (not sure if it is true) they were originally sold as a way for homeowners to power appliances that did not have plugs attached. Presumably that version of the device had a power cord and plug already on it.
You are absolutely right about the dangers of old electric blankets - but I would also point out that in today's value engineered age, are modern electric blankets likely to be made to a good enough standard? I could easily imagine that a well designed and certified product gets made with substandard materials at the point of manufacture. In a similar vein I use a hot water bottle from the 1980s (carefully) which has survived well and is of far better quality than many new ones we have had.
You make a very good point! And I might add, on various online places, how likely are all the blankets certified - even one claiming they are? Its very interesting that your water bottle has survived so well since many plastics/rubbers tend to deteriorate over time (certainly the early ones from the '60s). Perhaps by the 80s plastics had gotten so good and manufacturing had not yet cheapened that that could have been the peal of quality for some items?
@@ElectromagneticVideos I think you've put your finger on it - peak rubber quality was achieved before value engineering had begun. I also think in the past there was more accountability for quality because retailers and manufacturers were typically in the same country, nowadays the vast distance between factory and outlet is such that the retailer only really needs to care about price and availability - the volume of sales means that quality is a secondary consideration.
@@AllTheFasteners Exactly - and also outsourcing even in the same country. There isnt the pride people had when making a product that had their company's name on it any more.
I wouldn't trust modern products too much to get very old either. I'm guessing a modern blanket is designed to have a "lifetime" of somewhere between 5-10 years, meaning they're probably designing it to be safe for up to 10 year at max. I could be completely wrong, I'm pulling a reasonable figure out of my arse, based on my experience in engineering manufacturing electronic products ( they had a lifetime guarantee, with a product lifetime of 5-7 years).
I was wondering if any used triacs. When I was a kid I think the temperature control used a bimetal strip with a small heater to turn it on and off with a duty cycle depending on the warmth setting.
@@WOFFY-qc9te The only issue I could see these days is with all that wire, the abrupt triac on transition could generate a lot of RF interference. The resistive heater element might absorb a good amount of that - I wonder if there would be interference in the WiFi bad (ohh the horror if it blocks WiFi :)
interesting video. We returned an electric blanket years ago because the kids felt 'furry' to the touch while they stood on the tiled floor and we laid on top of the blanket. Recently, after much debate and some cold weather we got another and the instructions had a comment suggesting such a thing can be expected. The metal cased laptop also feels 'furry' to the touch. The higher the setting, the 'furrier' the touch. I think someone else commented about a similar observation. It also affects my wired earbuds with low level interference. I really should head the warning and use to pre-warm the bed.
Interesting that it has happened twice - good call on your part to return the one years ago. You certainly feeling some form of current leakage - @retrozmachine1189 is investigating that and should have some more results soon as to the nature of the leakage but regardless of the cause, not a good thing! Pre- warming is the best route. Your comment about interference - there was another comment discussion thread where when talked about that potentially being a problem with some sort of electronic switching warm control system in newer blankets. Interesting that you experienced the interference!
Hello Kissing frogs. Voltage adapters may be an ungrounded potential through the switch mode circuit. The Chinese (assumption) are not concerned with electrical isolation and sometimes allow a path to the line conductor through adapters and anything els they make. Old style was a transformer so there was isolation between the mains (primary winding) and the output (secondary winding) so no chance of completing a path to earth. However modern adapter are usually switch mode, that is they use electronic. Some poorly designed adapters may have one of the mains wire passing through to the output, the other is going via the electronics. The buzz / fuzzy feeling is current flowing from the device back to earth through the body. If the mains is on a two pin reversible plug this fuzzy feeling may stop if you reverse the plug. Either way fuzzy feeling should not be experienced. Check it with a volt meter one side to ground like a radiator or known earth and the other on the fuzzy object and see what AC voltage is present. Caution; be aware that cheap adapters do not have the protection that is in the original kit be careful with electrical kit from China unless it has been quality controlled by a respected manufacture in your country. Also remember that anything using mains voltage need to be on a GFI or RCD protected circuit and don't let children operate . . . Big Clive's Channel is fun and will show some examples of dodgy items. Best
Although a person normally uses an electric blanket in the winter, there are times the blanket is used in spring or fall when chilly. I assume that if you are using one and lightning strikes your house, you would be shocked head to toe. My very first time using one, I was 19 years old and I was cold so the person I stayed over night with offered an electric blanket. I was on a couch and turned the thing to high and fell asleep. I woke a few hours later , soaking wet from sweat. lol - I never did that again.
Yes - an electric blanket in a thunderstorm would be an "interesting" experience! Probably not to be recommended! Gee - your lucky it didn't short with all the salty sweat - that could have almost been as bad as lightning!
Another commented mentioned the pulsed DC used in some of them. I'm guessing some sort of PWM (pulse with modulation) for power control. It sure would generate a lot of RF. I wonder if anyone has experienced things like WiFi disruptions when trying to use a tablet when using an electric blanket at the same time?
@@ElectromagneticVideoswe have an electric blanket with digital controls from about 15 years ago. The PWM is cycling once per few seconds, not RF frequencies.
@@vinnieluther6589 Interesting - so mimicking the old bi-metal trip temperature controls that I remember from when I was kid. Any idea if the blanket uses AC in its heating loop, or DC from a power supply?
After this video my intrigonol levels were such that I had to do a tear down and reverse engineer the controller. Took way longer than it should have. But basically my 240VAC Jason Electric Blanket TWK-1/T4K has 2 heaters - H1 430 ohms and H2 870 ohms. The 4 position switch (Off 1 2 3) connects the AC input to the heaters via 3 diodes in series (effectively half wave rectified) as follows:- Pos 1 Active to H2, H2 to H1 via diode, H1 to Neutral Via 2 diodes. Total 1300 ohms 22 watts Pos 2. Active to H2, H2 to Neutral via 3 diodes Total 870 ohms 33 watts Pos 3. Aciive to H1 via diode, H1 to Neutral via 2 diodes. Total 430 ohms 67 watts No active switching or active power control, just half wave rectified AC feed to combinations of 2 elements with what looks like a polyfuse packed between 2 x 2k ohm resistors in parallel for over current protection. edited to remove strike thru
Very simple and cheap to manufacture. Also unlikely to fail from the electronics since diodes are relatively robust. I tried drawing circuits for the three settings based on your description . Unless they are used in some configuration to simply the switch, I don't get why there are three diodes since even cheap diodes can easily handle the voltage so need to put them in series to increase the reverse voltage (and they would need a bleeder resistors for that.) For that matter, why diodes at all? They would cut power in half - maybe so that a thicker, higher power but more robust heating wire could be used? Or DC to do away with AC Magnetic fields (which would still leave pulsating DC fields with more harmonics so the base and upper harmonics would have a lot of AC content). I never would have thought that blankets could be so interesting in terms of how they are designed!
@@ElectromagneticVideos go search for 20/20 story on them it is on youtube. other news stories too - brand us sunbeam. faulty safety device only detected shorts on first few feet of the blanket's wires.
A 1990's BBC consumer programme mentioned an electric blanket recall due to fires. Off topic (as usual), they also featured tumble dryers catching fire after drying clothing soiled with oil. Linseed oil may have been the catalyst as impregnated cotton will spontaneously ignite. Best
@@Jon-hx7pe Sunbeam, that's a name from the past, Mum had a food mixer made by them 70's vintage. On my first attempt at baking the powerful motor efficiently combined the oven gloves with the cake mix. The gloves were a total lose as was my cake but I managed to straighten the beaters.
That could be it - make it harder to power it with a more "normal" power cord that doesn't have a temperature control. Given how old it is, that would make more sense than some sort of sophisticated fault detection sensor.
The design choice of using an ionizing radiation symbol on your EMF meter seems odd. It's not detecting anything ionizing afaik. (afaik in my case = about the distance one could throw an elephant)
You are very right about - and the blinking lights around the symbol are just for show. It is certainly not a lab instrument - but does work surprisingly well and if you looked at the field strength estimate I did, it came very close to my back of the envelope calculation. Also tried it as an RF power sensor and E field sensor and it does well - to bad it has that added stuff just for show. I guess they felt it would help sell the thing. As I mentioned in the video - the big color changing display and the sound (mimicking a Geiger counter) are actually really great for doing things like lab demonstrations and for something in the $40 range - quite amazing actually!
Thanks! I always find your videos interesting! I did some experimenting on my electric blanket a few years ago. I have a newer one that claims to be DC powered rather than AC. But when I checked it, it seemed that the DC was being pulsed depending on the heat setting. Then, using my multi meter, I laid under the blanket (or on top, didn't seem to make a difference) and checked my bodies AC voltage to ground. The potential was around 20 volts, whether the blanket was on or off. Then I disconnected the electric blanket controller wire from the blanket. This didn't make much difference and my body AC voltage still read high. I realized that the wires in the blanket must be acting like an antennae for 60hz AC. Sure enough, if I turned off the lamp by my bed, the voltage would drop some. So I left the blanket disconnected and grounded one connection on the blanket. This dropped the voltage to around 2 volts and seemed to absorb some of the AC that otherwise would have gone through me. I had been using the blanket for some time without powering it on. After grounding it, I would fall asleep much more quickly in the night after waking up at 2 or 3 am; it took minutes rather than hours to fall back asleep. I feel like the 60 hz AC might have a sort of caffeine effect on me and reduce the quality of my sleep. Maybe poor sleep could explain some of the possible negative effects attributed to em fields.
Well thank you so much! Thats interesting - pulsed DC - so probably a switching power supply/control with some sort of PWM (pulse width modulation) to control the heat. So the electric and magnetic fields would have AC energy at the pulse frequency and many harmonics at higher frequencies. Your grounding the blanket and sleeping better is so interesting. The grounded blanket as you said is shielding you from the AC electric fields from various devices and wires in your home. I never would have thought it could have an influence on sleep - that is something that should be studied - who knows - with all the sleep problems people have these days, could some of it be from E fields? Very cool that you investigated that!
@ElectromagneticVideos Funny thing is that has been a hot topic lately. I came across that a few weeks back. It is sometimes called earthing blankets. It's seems as though its gaining popularity really fast?
They are a nice way to keep warm with much less power than a whole room heater. But needs improvements. Maybe best to do as you say and just use it to pre-heat inside the bed covers, and turn it off just before actually getting close to it yourself. Steady magnetic fields are as inherently benign as the Earths magnetic field. But Its the AC alternation of magnetic fields at particular frequencies that are said to be hazardous or beneficial. So, a blanket with selectable frequencies would probably be good. Also, why are there no standard connectors for these things?! A controller goes bad and its good luck if you can find another that will A:Fit, and if it does, B:will its electronics be at all compatible?
You make a really good point about energy efficiency compared to heating a whole room/house which is such a good thing from both cost and environmental perspectives. Your right about the connectors being non-standard - maybe for the reason that blankets and controllers from different manufacturers are incompatible, maybe because some are even patented. I think in a sense you have hit on a larger issue - today few items are designed to be repaired and besides the ability to replace a controller, schematics would make repairing possible. The have been so many interesting comments and discussion with the comments. I think I might sometime to a follow up video - would be interesting to try and make a field-less blanket with coax cable heater element.
Thats really sad. In fairness, one needs multiple instances of that to determined if its a sad coincidence or caused by the blankets. But that doesnt make it less sad.
@@ElectromagneticVideos It was too much of a coincidence. i purchased an electric blanket for myself years ago and I always felt dehydrated upon waking. I ended up only using it to heat and then unplug it.
Mum brought me a heated throw blanket a couple of years ago to keep me warm sitting up as I have fibro and live in Tasmania. I went to take it with me somewhere one day, unplugged it and disconnected the cord with the timer control, carried it from outside room into main house for more space to fold it up neatly and as I ran my hand around the edge to find the corner it kicked me with a full 240v that was somehow stored in the element, I turned to my father and was just about to say did you hear that discharge and as I did somewhat shocked because I had no idea how a resistor could do that it booted me again with another hit and I was sure after that it was not just a static spark or anything, my heart hurt and I was not feeling good.... If you google electric throw it a heap similar will come up, wondering if you have any idea how the heck it managed to hold more kick than a bull fence??? Also may be an additional safety point to mention. I felt all around the blanket and such and I could not feel anything but the element and everything was in the hand unit that was disconnected so it has had me well stumped for a while and I really don't trust using a blanket/throw at all after that. I put it back in the bag and was going to contact company that made it because it fair shocked the snot out of me but Mum ended up just returning it to store she got it from.
Thats really strange! The only thing I can think of is there is a capacitor in there somewhere holding the charge. RF suppression maybe? Still seems odd!
Wow that was a shock... Seriously lets look at your statement. When you moved the dry warm blanket and walked to another room you may have collected more charge from a synthetic carpet or the polyester finish some hard floors have. Then you folded the blanket inducing more charge which was discharged when you touched the edge and something grounded. That would be a static charge > 1000 v ! Static although very low amperage will still bite. My dogs have fluffy synthetic fibre blankets, on dry days they collect a fair charge which fair shocks the snot out of me, they seem un phased. Another explanation is with the Timer, as Electro suggest there may be a residual charge from a capacitor, If it was a timer it is likely that the voltage drop to run the timer circuit was done via a capacitor. If so then touching the plug pin will discharge the voltage. The capacitor could have had 339.41 volts on it if the blanket was disconnected on the peak of the AC sin-wave and will discharge those angry pixies instantly with a high current. Capacitors should have a discharge resistor to prevent a shocking the snot out of you but budget kit may not. Your Mum did the right thing returning it. As you are here on Electro's channel you have some interest in stuff, check out; 'Big Clive' 'Technology Connections" and "AVE' look at his video ' meaning of life ' ?. You mention you have Fibro..... I know it is important to keep upright and warm so you may ask your Mum and Dad if this may be an option, I use a heated car seat cover (available on line or from an autoshop for about £20 / 35 AUD) on my office chair and it is very cosy and safe because it runs of 12 v (25W). Some even have a massage function, This may be a safer and more robust and practical solution, a car battery jump pack would allow to power it outside in the garden also there are heated jackets and waistcoats used by lorry drivers that may help. Bull fences, my Mum had electric fences for the horses and she was not bothered by them but the bugger got me every time. Thanks for your well crafted and humorous contribution to the discourse do come back. Take care Best wishes from Liverpool UK
@@ElectromagneticVideos was very odd, it was plush microfibre and good for static for shocking the dog when she rolled in it, but was not static, I've never been able to get that much static charge onto something trying and it was very much like a capacitor discharge but the controller which they would be in was not even connected, it was just the blanket itself, maybe there could be a tiny hidden one in the back of where controller plugged onto but I can not imagine why or that anyone would design it like that as it is an obvious hazard. I have racked the brain inside out and it just don't make sense how it could hold so much residual charge... I've been shocked that many times as a mechanic and messing about with electronics all my life that I couldn't begin to count the times and this was by far the worst one I have ever had where later the next day when I was more coherent and together I realised I really should of gone to hospital... Wish the blanket wasn't retuned cos a week or two later when I was proper recovered I would of safely shorted it and then cut it open to find out what the heck was going on.
@@psychosis7325 Gee that is so strange! It really is too bad you didnt get a chance to investigate further! Another thought I had was it that fabric was generating static and heating cable was acting as a simple HV capacitor accumulating the static - but with your familiarity of different types of shocks it doest sound like that. I guess it will forever remain a mystery!
@@WOFFY-qc9te This is certainly a fascinating discussion I was not expecting to see for electric blankets! Electric cow fences - I have been zapped by them too! Actually have a vintage mechanical zapper and a modern electronic one for a future video!
the discussion about magnetic field impact on health is interesting. I don't think it's the herbicides used are responsible for causing increased cancer cases for people living close to power lines because similar or the same chemicals used to be used (and in many places like us still is) to treat lawns anyway. The precautionary principle should apply and we should try to minimize exposure. most of the time in my place the wifi is off and the computer is hard-wired to the modem. i don't like cell phones much either and don't own a microwave.
I sure agree that the precautionary principle should apply - and everyone can make their own decisions. In defence of my comments, there have been studies linking people living near golf courses where chemical are used to cancers so that would support the chemical cause - effect I mentioned.
@@ElectromagneticVideos I'm sure those chemicals can increase risk of cancer, but the use of those chemicals around power lines shouldn't be used as an excuse to claim they are 100% safe. golf courses very heavily use the chemicals. could look at cancer patterns around golf courses and compare with those around power lines to see if the same patterns are there. I would expect the chemicals to produce different cancers at different points in lifespan compared to non-ionizing radiation.
Hours watching mindless shorts on YT and Tiktok will soften the remaining brain cells before any RF has a chance to finish them off. As for me the only real peace and quiet I get is when my heads in a1.5 Tesla magnetic field MRI scanner
The people who freak out about EMF from phones bring up a valid point - you use and store your phone directly against your body ( or separated by thin fabric) but the emissions are measured at 1 cm away.
@@onradioactivewaves If I may add to your reply. I conducted an experiment in the late nineties with an old Nokia phone. The phone was placed 1 cm from a thin slice of moist ham and my AGEMA THV550 thermal imaging camera was viewing the experiment. The phone was set in operation and after a short while a temperature difference was seen from the ham. What ever way you choose take the reports from manufactures , users and professed persons of knowledge the ham was influenced by the emissions from the device..... To add to this, digital modulation may be a very short high energy pulse and a delay or frequent low energy long modulation. both may emit equal energy but one for a brief moment may exceeds what is deemed safe. With the Smart meters running in Mesh mode some will be in communication many other local devices unable to communicate data directly. So that particular meter is emitting RF for an abnormal period. If brainwaves can and are influenced with magnetic fields used in some therapies for seizures then it is entirely feasible that emission from digital smartphones and other emitters of electromagnetic radio are capable of the same ?. Dogs going walkies.
@@onradioactivewaves Yes - not the most realistic test situation. What gives me more confidence in their safety is we don't see to have an epidemic of disease in body areas near pockets after 20 or more years of phones carried everywhere all the time.
I was wonderng that too - I should take it apart and solve the mystery. I want to do a followup video on how to make a magnetic field-less electric blanket so that might the place to do it!
I was thinking about @TradieTrev comment. if you really wanted to put the blanket to the test, immerse it in (slightly salty) water except for the connector for an insulation resistance test.Worst case scenario for someone sweating under the blanket or having it exposed to other moisture.
@@ElectromagneticVideos No different than putting an extension cord into a bucket of water to prove it's well insulated. Wish I had money for a thermal camera.
@@TradieTrev They are unfortunately pricey - I was so thrilled when Kaiweets offered to send me one. Its quite amazing how looking at everyday things though it gives one a whole different perspective.
@@ElectromagneticVideos dryer is no use. hair dryer is the key. you can adjust the setting and keep it handy. you can use 1kw or a 2kw one. if it overheats or inlet blocked shuts off.
Now that gave me a good laugh! Yes - the sure are great space heaters. I occasionally use them when I deed to do a lot of disk/memory intensive stuff with lesser cpu needs.If you look closely there is on on the right side under the workbench which I use at the bench for things including providing images to the background monitors.
I noticed with a new electric blanket I recently used if you look under the blanket in pitch black And run your fingers along the blanket you can see Very faint light emanating from your finger Tips. Definitely some kind of electromagnetic effect. It was fascinating when I discovered that. I heard this can even happen with just basic wool blankets.
That is fascinating - my first thought is it might be triboluminescence - when charges get separated by rubbing or similar process and then recombine to give off a bit of light. Apparently same thing happens with mint Lifsavers if you chew/break/rub them in a dark room.
I'm definitely going to have to try a few blankets and see if I can see what you saw!
@@ElectromagneticVideos you get the same effect when peeling gaffer tape (and some other flavours of tape), it might be a nice comparison :)
@@ChongMcBong Gaffer tape! I had heard the old cloth style electrical take did that - never occurred to me to try gaffer tape. I'm guessing it has a lot to do with the sticky stuff . I'm thinking a video on that topic might be interesting, although I probably will need to get an image intensifier to be able to video it.
@@ChongMcBong 3M Tape generates many thousands of volts and a device has been created to do just that, I forget the details but I think it was to create a high voltage for a field instrument like a geiger tube. I will get back to you If I locate the details.
I remembered, it was a device to create a high potential to generate X rays. The tape was wound from one spool to another producing the required potential. Some magic went on and enough X rays were generated to expose a photographic film The project was somewhere in Africa about two years ago.
@@ElectromagneticVideos Your Smartphone camera on IR nightvison mode will probably see that effect
I have a modern electric blanket and it works with low voltage adapter
I was wondering if they might do that for safety - given the low power levels it would be quite practical. Really glad to hear they are doing that.
Do you know if its AC or DC? If its DC that would further take away any AC magnetic field concerns.
@@ElectromagneticVideos not sure about the output , the control unit has a timer and power level setting .
@@leetucker9938 Timer to turn it off?
That does not help. Current causes it. Use pure dc.
Years ago had reason to dismantle some blankets and found the third wire was part of a series parallel arrangement for three heat settings and sometimes a thermister. I think modern blankets now have a protective conductive screen so the RCD / GFCI will operate if liquids are spilt, it is possible the wire may have PTC or is it NTC properties for self regulation.
A story that may interest or bore your tribe relating to Thermographic cameras and blankets;
Many moons ago a colleague and I were privately experimenting with a non destructive IR inspection technique to detect delamination caused by water ingress freezing in composites effectively splitting the component and fastenings. The project came about over a beer talking about the time Concorde pilots discovered they had lost the rudder on route to Sydney in 1989 and recent ( 2005 ish) problems with some airliners built with composites, as one aircraft type was experiencing unscheduled disassembly of the rudder in flight which was an undesirable situation !.
The idea was that the larger thermal mass of water trapped in the honeycomb would take more time to return to ambient allowing the thermal camera to register this delta T once the heat source had been removed thus indicating potentially compromised epoxy laminations and water ingress, which was a serious problem for the aircraft operators as some vertical stabilisers and rudders were departing the airframe in flight with rather tragic outcomes.
To prove our technique we had covered 26 foot of disassembled compromised rudder in borrowed pink and blue domestic electric blankets and yes there were comments about where we sourced the blankets. The trials were promising as it was more effective than tapping a dime / penny over the wing which was the usual test Boeing used other than expensive X ray, Gamma radiography or Ultrasound. Covering a wing with heated blankets was not very practical and soon progressed to high power IR lamps then high discharge Xenon which is what is now in use some 35 year on.
Back on subject, there is a lot of electrically heated clothing now on the market I think they make use of woven carbon fibre, I am sure you will find some interesting items of apparel on AliExpress. I have an electric blanket under the carpet for the dogs to sleep on and a silicon heat pad under my metal Vickers office desk a tip learnt from the esteemed sage AVE. Interesting video, Best wishes.
That probably wins the award for one of the most fascinating comments I have read today - and there were a number of fascinating ones! Brilliant solution to an inspection problem - and using blankets to warm them up for an inexpensive test - there is nothing like reusing things for other purposes!
Back to blankets - if there was a thermister on the 3rd wire and it broke/failed over the years, that would explain why I had no reading on the ohmmeter. If it was attached to the middle of the circuit, that could have increases power levels. And and as someone else mentioned, the two pins I uses could have been for left- right custom controls.
I sure wouldnt trust electrically heated clothing for Aliexpress :) Milwaukee makes some quality heated jackets that use there standard batteries - I'm sure many in the trades appreciate that in the winter! "Vickers office desk" - I'll bet there is a lot of aviation history behind that! Best wishes to you too from Canada!
The old electic blanket you had there had an analog thermostat control which it plugged into. The third wire came from the thermistor inside the blank that turned on and off the power to control the temperature. You could hear the faint clicks as it cycled every few minutes.
I wonder if the thermister failed since I cant detect any resitance between that pin an the others. I'm surprized they were that sophisticated. I'm pretty sure one that we had when I was a kid was even more primitive/dangerous and just used a bimetal strip as a simple on/off variable duty cucle controller.
As a kid in the '60s I had an electric blanket (the sort that you fit under the top sheet of the bed) and it was great. Not that winter is all that much to speak of here but it still got down to 3c occasionally. The cats absolutely loved it too. Recently I bought one since old injuries are making themselves felt again and it keeps the aches at bay nicely. One thing I did notice is capacitive coupling of the mains. If I'm watching something on the laptop the 'fuzzy' feeling from the minuscule leakage through the laptop power brick is more noticeable when the blanket is plugged into the mains, and more so again when the switch on the outlet is on and the blanket controller turned on too. It's an old design with a simple mechanical power level switch, no electronics. I also get the fuzzy feeling rubbing my hand on the bedroom wall from bed, again just very low capacitive current. The wall is gyprock (plasterboard) and random points on it has about 70M-ohm to the premises earthing / neutral system.
Electromagnetic fields aren't something that has given me any cause for concern with the things.
Do you think its capacitive coupling? I wonder if it is leakage though the insulation? If you have an oscilloscope would be interesting to test by looking at the current angle - 90 degrees offset and your right. 0 degrees I'm right. Somewhere in between we are both right :)
@@ElectromagneticVideos Interesting question. I do, so I'll check. I'll also run my insulation tester over the surface to see if there is leakage.
@@ElectromagneticVideos A quick test at 2500V with the IR meter, one lead attached to the plug the other to a 1.5m x 30cm length of al-foil weighed down by pillows gave > 10G ohms. 'scope will have to wait while I dig out some resistors tomorrow.
@@retrozmachine1189 So that supports your capacitive coupling theory - will be interested to hear the scope results.
@@retrozmachine1189 Just answered your "results" comment!
It was a nice video, clever to come up with the scenario.
A warm blanket would be nice right now, when I'm spending the weekend in the croft, but I'm here to work, so the heat has to come from within!
Actually poorly timed video on my part - the day I posted it we started 4 days of warm Indian summer type whether, so definitely wont be needing a blanket for a few days :)
@@ElectromagneticVideos It is warm for the time of year here in Sweden too, I get sweaty working outside in thin clothes.
The problem with my tiny house is that everything is so humid, the meter read 95% relative humidity when I arrived.
I have lit the fire and raised the temperature, but the humidity remains at 80%, there is probably a lot of moisture in the timber!
Awesome video! I love the quick test also. I did not even know they were still available. I bought mine years ago from eBay used hence the blue and brown color code on mine, but I bought it quick as I could back then because I had never seen one available. Of course, eBay was one of my few choices buying online at that time.
Thanks! I got my quicktest from Newark - get generally seem to have them in all color codes and even 3 phase combination. A really great little device - I have it sitting on my workbench all the time in case I need to power up something!
@ElectromagneticVideos
Nice to know Newark has them. I use it on the bench very often as well.
@@ThriftyToolShed I think Newark is (or was) owned by a UK company and as a result often has European stuff that other like Digikey does not have.
YT "Big Clive" uses them and they have become popular from my understanding they are back in production. Very simple safe device RS used to have one in Bakelite.
@@WOFFY-qc9te I have seen him use them. Had no idea they made them out of Bakelite - shows how long ago they were created. I had heard (not sure if it is true) they were originally sold as a way for homeowners to power appliances that did not have plugs attached. Presumably that version of the device had a power cord and plug already on it.
You are absolutely right about the dangers of old electric blankets - but I would also point out that in today's value engineered age, are modern electric blankets likely to be made to a good enough standard? I could easily imagine that a well designed and certified product gets made with substandard materials at the point of manufacture. In a similar vein I use a hot water bottle from the 1980s (carefully) which has survived well and is of far better quality than many new ones we have had.
You make a very good point! And I might add, on various online places, how likely are all the blankets certified - even one claiming they are?
Its very interesting that your water bottle has survived so well since many plastics/rubbers tend to deteriorate over time (certainly the early ones from the '60s). Perhaps by the 80s plastics had gotten so good and manufacturing had not yet cheapened that that could have been the peal of quality for some items?
@@ElectromagneticVideos I think you've put your finger on it - peak rubber quality was achieved before value engineering had begun. I also think in the past there was more accountability for quality because retailers and manufacturers were typically in the same country, nowadays the vast distance between factory and outlet is such that the retailer only really needs to care about price and availability - the volume of sales means that quality is a secondary consideration.
@@AllTheFasteners Exactly - and also outsourcing even in the same country. There isnt the pride people had when making a product that had their company's name on it any more.
I wouldn't trust modern products too much to get very old either. I'm guessing a modern blanket is designed to have a "lifetime" of somewhere between 5-10 years, meaning they're probably designing it to be safe for up to 10 year at max.
I could be completely wrong, I'm pulling a reasonable figure out of my arse, based on my experience in engineering manufacturing electronic products ( they had a lifetime guarantee, with a product lifetime of 5-7 years).
You nailed it Greg. Progress or profit ...............
My many years ear old electric blanket uses a triac controlled dimmer.
~50hz
Saves do much in heating cost.
I was wondering if any used triacs. When I was a kid I think the temperature control used a bimetal strip with a small heater to turn it on and off with a duty cycle depending on the warmth setting.
Voltare : Triac, I dont see why a light dimmer couldn't do the job, the blanket is
@@WOFFY-qc9te The only issue I could see these days is with all that wire, the abrupt triac on transition could generate a lot of RF interference. The resistive heater element might absorb a good amount of that - I wonder if there would be interference in the WiFi bad (ohh the horror if it blocks WiFi :)
@@ElectromagneticVideos What a great gift for a tiktocking teenager to have in their bedroom .
" Dad ......can you reset the router "
@@WOFFY-qc9te Actually I think you have product there - just in time for parent to give to unsuspecting teenagers this Christmas :)
interesting video. We returned an electric blanket years ago because the kids felt 'furry' to the touch while they stood on the tiled floor and we laid on top of the blanket.
Recently, after much debate and some cold weather we got another and the instructions had a comment suggesting such a thing can be expected.
The metal cased laptop also feels 'furry' to the touch. The higher the setting, the 'furrier' the touch. I think someone else commented about a similar observation.
It also affects my wired earbuds with low level interference.
I really should head the warning and use to pre-warm the bed.
Interesting that it has happened twice - good call on your part to return the one years ago. You certainly feeling some form of current leakage - @retrozmachine1189 is investigating that and should have some more results soon as to the nature of the leakage but regardless of the cause, not a good thing!
Pre- warming is the best route. Your comment about interference - there was another comment discussion thread where when talked about that potentially being a problem with some sort of electronic switching warm control system in newer blankets. Interesting that you experienced the interference!
Hello Kissing frogs. Voltage adapters may be an ungrounded potential through the switch mode circuit. The Chinese (assumption) are not concerned with electrical isolation and sometimes allow a path to the line conductor through adapters and anything els they make.
Old style was a transformer so there was isolation between the mains (primary winding) and the output (secondary winding) so no chance of completing a path to earth.
However modern adapter are usually switch mode, that is they use electronic. Some poorly designed adapters may have one of the mains wire passing through to the output, the other is going via the electronics. The buzz / fuzzy feeling is current flowing from the device back to earth through the body.
If the mains is on a two pin reversible plug this fuzzy feeling may stop if you reverse the plug. Either way fuzzy feeling should not be experienced.
Check it with a volt meter one side to ground like a radiator or known earth and the other on the fuzzy object and see what AC voltage is present.
Caution; be aware that cheap adapters do not have the protection that is in the original kit be careful with electrical kit from China unless it has been quality controlled by a respected manufacture in your country. Also remember that anything using mains voltage need to be on a GFI or RCD protected circuit and don't let children operate . . . Big Clive's Channel is fun and will show some examples of dodgy items.
Best
@@WOFFY-qc9te Agree!
Although a person normally uses an electric blanket in the winter, there are times the blanket is used in spring or fall when chilly. I assume that if you are using one and lightning strikes your house, you would be shocked head to toe. My very first time using one, I was 19 years old and I was cold so the person I stayed over night with offered an electric blanket. I was on a couch and turned the thing to high and fell asleep. I woke a few hours later , soaking wet from sweat. lol - I never did that again.
Yes - an electric blanket in a thunderstorm would be an "interesting" experience! Probably not to be recommended!
Gee - your lucky it didn't short with all the salty sweat - that could have almost been as bad as lightning!
Love the content looking forward to the next one.
Thanks! I really appreciate that! Plenty more on the way - and as usual, on a variety of topics!
Some of the blankets put out quite a bit of RF. Ones with cheap control boards connected to the long wires in the blanket, like a big antenna.
Another commented mentioned the pulsed DC used in some of them. I'm guessing some sort of PWM (pulse with modulation) for power control. It sure would generate a lot of RF. I wonder if anyone has experienced things like WiFi disruptions when trying to use a tablet when using an electric blanket at the same time?
@@ElectromagneticVideoswe have an electric blanket with digital controls from about 15 years ago. The PWM is cycling once per few seconds, not RF frequencies.
@@vinnieluther6589 Still, harsh transients can cause a lot of noise over the whole spectrum.
@@vinnieluther6589 Interesting - so mimicking the old bi-metal trip temperature controls that I remember from when I was kid. Any idea if the blanket uses AC in its heating loop, or DC from a power supply?
After this video my intrigonol levels were such that I had to do a tear down and reverse engineer the controller. Took way longer than it should have. But basically my 240VAC Jason Electric Blanket TWK-1/T4K has 2 heaters - H1 430 ohms and H2 870 ohms. The 4 position switch (Off 1 2 3) connects the AC input to the heaters via 3 diodes in series (effectively half wave rectified) as follows:-
Pos 1 Active to H2, H2 to H1 via diode, H1 to Neutral Via 2 diodes. Total 1300 ohms 22 watts
Pos 2. Active to H2, H2 to Neutral via 3 diodes Total 870 ohms 33 watts
Pos 3. Aciive to H1 via diode, H1 to Neutral via 2 diodes. Total 430 ohms 67 watts
No active switching or active power control, just half wave rectified AC feed to combinations of 2 elements with what looks like a polyfuse packed between 2 x 2k ohm resistors in parallel for over current protection.
edited to remove strike thru
Very simple and cheap to manufacture. Also unlikely to fail from the electronics since diodes are relatively robust.
I tried drawing circuits for the three settings based on your description . Unless they are used in some configuration to simply the switch, I don't get why there are three diodes since even cheap diodes can easily handle the voltage so need to put them in series to increase the reverse voltage (and they would need a bleeder resistors for that.)
For that matter, why diodes at all? They would cut power in half - maybe so that a thicker, higher power but more robust heating wire could be used? Or DC to do away with AC Magnetic fields (which would still leave pulsating DC fields with more harmonics so the base and upper harmonics would have a lot of AC content).
I never would have thought that blankets could be so interesting in terms of how they are designed!
i remember news stories about electric blankets causing fires - faulty safety devices to shut them down. was about 20 years ago.
I don't remember that - I wonder if there was a bad batch of them from one manufacturer or another?
@@ElectromagneticVideos go search for 20/20 story on them it is on youtube. other news stories too - brand us sunbeam.
faulty safety device only detected shorts on first few feet of the blanket's wires.
A 1990's BBC consumer programme mentioned an electric blanket recall due to fires.
Off topic (as usual), they also featured tumble dryers catching fire after drying clothing soiled with oil. Linseed oil may have been the catalyst as impregnated cotton will spontaneously ignite. Best
@@WOFFY-qc9te american programs discussed problems with sunbeam electric blankets
@@Jon-hx7pe Sunbeam, that's a name from the past, Mum had a food mixer made by them 70's vintage. On my first attempt at baking the powerful motor efficiently combined the oven gloves with the cake mix. The gloves were a total lose as was my cake but I managed to straighten the beaters.
3rd pin... to ensure proper alignment with the original socket? Just a thought.
That could be it - make it harder to power it with a more "normal" power cord that doesn't have a temperature control. Given how old it is, that would make more sense than some sort of sophisticated fault detection sensor.
I think the third pin might be used for king size blankets with dual heating zones and dual controllers
@@landisdavidson6648 That makes a lot of sense! And they used the same connector for a blankets regardless of number of zones to reduce cost!
The design choice of using an ionizing radiation symbol on your EMF meter seems odd. It's not detecting anything ionizing afaik. (afaik in my case = about the distance one could throw an elephant)
You are very right about - and the blinking lights around the symbol are just for show.
It is certainly not a lab instrument - but does work surprisingly well and if you looked at the field strength estimate I did, it came very close to my back of the envelope calculation. Also tried it as an RF power sensor and E field sensor and it does well - to bad it has that added stuff just for show. I guess they felt it would help sell the thing.
As I mentioned in the video - the big color changing display and the sound (mimicking a Geiger counter) are actually really great for doing things like lab demonstrations and for something in the $40 range - quite amazing actually!
Thanks! I always find your videos interesting! I did some experimenting on my electric blanket a few years ago. I have a newer one that claims to be DC powered rather than AC. But when I checked it, it seemed that the DC was being pulsed depending on the heat setting. Then, using my multi meter, I laid under the blanket (or on top, didn't seem to make a difference) and checked my bodies AC voltage to ground. The potential was around 20 volts, whether the blanket was on or off. Then I disconnected the electric blanket controller wire from the blanket. This didn't make much difference and my body AC voltage still read high. I realized that the wires in the blanket must be acting like an antennae for 60hz AC. Sure enough, if I turned off the lamp by my bed, the voltage would drop some. So I left the blanket disconnected and grounded one connection on the blanket. This dropped the voltage to around 2 volts and seemed to absorb some of the AC that otherwise would have gone through me. I had been using the blanket for some time without powering it on. After grounding it, I would fall asleep much more quickly in the night after waking up at 2 or 3 am; it took minutes rather than hours to fall back asleep. I feel like the 60 hz AC might have a sort of caffeine effect on me and reduce the quality of my sleep. Maybe poor sleep could explain some of the possible negative effects attributed to em fields.
Well thank you so much! Thats interesting - pulsed DC - so probably a switching power supply/control with some sort of PWM (pulse width modulation) to control the heat. So the electric and magnetic fields would have AC energy at the pulse frequency and many harmonics at higher frequencies.
Your grounding the blanket and sleeping better is so interesting. The grounded blanket as you said is shielding you from the AC electric fields from various devices and wires in your home. I never would have thought it could have an influence on sleep - that is something that should be studied - who knows - with all the sleep problems people have these days, could some of it be from E fields? Very cool that you investigated that!
@ElectromagneticVideos
Funny thing is that has been a hot topic lately. I came across that a few weeks back. It is sometimes called earthing blankets. It's seems as though its gaining popularity really fast?
@@ThriftyToolShed I'd heard of earthing mats (and had one a long time ago) but hadn't heard of earthing blankets. Interesting, thank you.
@@ThriftyToolShed I had never heard of that! Just googled - lots of them around! Interesting!
They are a nice way to keep warm with much less power than a whole room heater. But needs improvements. Maybe best to do as you say and just use it to pre-heat inside the bed covers, and turn it off just before actually getting close to it yourself. Steady magnetic fields are as inherently benign as the Earths magnetic field. But Its the AC alternation of magnetic fields at particular frequencies that are said to be hazardous or beneficial. So, a blanket with selectable frequencies would probably be good. Also, why are there no standard connectors for these things?! A controller goes bad and its good luck if you can find another that will A:Fit, and if it does, B:will its electronics be at all compatible?
You make a really good point about energy efficiency compared to heating a whole room/house which is such a good thing from both cost and environmental perspectives.
Your right about the connectors being non-standard - maybe for the reason that blankets and controllers from different manufacturers are incompatible, maybe because some are even patented. I think in a sense you have hit on a larger issue - today few items are designed to be repaired and besides the ability to replace a controller, schematics would make repairing possible.
The have been so many interesting comments and discussion with the comments. I think I might sometime to a follow up video - would be interesting to try and make a field-less blanket with coax cable heater element.
Two friends used electric blankets for their cats and they both developed the C word and died.
Thats really sad. In fairness, one needs multiple instances of that to determined if its a sad coincidence or caused by the blankets. But that doesnt make it less sad.
@@ElectromagneticVideos It was too much of a coincidence. i purchased an electric blanket for myself years ago and I always felt dehydrated upon waking. I ended up only using it to heat and then unplug it.
@@AlternativeHomesteading Interesting that you felt dehydrated. Probaby a good idea you only used it to heat abd then unplug.
Put the electric blanket underneath your mattress that way the heat rises up and doesn't impact you magnetically.
I be really concerned about at least some blankets without a good overtemerature cutout getting too hot and causing the matress to smolder or worse :(
Mum brought me a heated throw blanket a couple of years ago to keep me warm sitting up as I have fibro and live in Tasmania. I went to take it with me somewhere one day, unplugged it and disconnected the cord with the timer control, carried it from outside room into main house for more space to fold it up neatly and as I ran my hand around the edge to find the corner it kicked me with a full 240v that was somehow stored in the element, I turned to my father and was just about to say did you hear that discharge and as I did somewhat shocked because I had no idea how a resistor could do that it booted me again with another hit and I was sure after that it was not just a static spark or anything, my heart hurt and I was not feeling good.... If you google electric throw it a heap similar will come up, wondering if you have any idea how the heck it managed to hold more kick than a bull fence??? Also may be an additional safety point to mention. I felt all around the blanket and such and I could not feel anything but the element and everything was in the hand unit that was disconnected so it has had me well stumped for a while and I really don't trust using a blanket/throw at all after that. I put it back in the bag and was going to contact company that made it because it fair shocked the snot out of me but Mum ended up just returning it to store she got it from.
Thats really strange! The only thing I can think of is there is a capacitor in there somewhere holding the charge. RF suppression maybe? Still seems odd!
Wow that was a shock... Seriously lets look at your statement. When you moved the dry warm blanket and walked to another room you may have collected more charge from a synthetic carpet or the polyester finish some hard floors have. Then you folded the blanket inducing more charge which was discharged when you touched the edge and something grounded. That would be a static charge > 1000 v !
Static although very low amperage will still bite. My dogs have fluffy synthetic fibre blankets, on dry days they collect a fair charge which fair shocks the snot out of me, they seem un phased.
Another explanation is with the Timer, as Electro suggest there may be a residual charge from a capacitor, If it was a timer it is likely that the voltage drop to run the timer circuit was done via a capacitor. If so then touching the plug pin will discharge the voltage. The capacitor could have had 339.41 volts on it if the blanket was disconnected on the peak of the AC sin-wave and will discharge those angry pixies instantly with a high current.
Capacitors should have a discharge resistor to prevent a shocking the snot out of you but budget kit may not. Your Mum did the right thing returning it. As you are here on Electro's channel you have some interest in stuff, check out;
'Big Clive' 'Technology Connections" and "AVE' look at his video ' meaning of life ' ?.
You mention you have Fibro..... I know it is important to keep upright and warm so you may ask your Mum and Dad if this may be an option, I use a heated car seat cover (available on line or from an autoshop for about £20 / 35 AUD) on my office chair and it is very cosy and safe because it runs of 12 v (25W). Some even have a massage function, This may be a safer and more robust and practical solution, a car battery jump pack would allow to power it outside in the garden also there are heated jackets and waistcoats used by lorry drivers that may help.
Bull fences, my Mum had electric fences for the horses and she was not bothered by them but the bugger got me every time. Thanks for your well crafted and humorous contribution to the discourse do come back.
Take care Best wishes from Liverpool UK
@@ElectromagneticVideos was very odd, it was plush microfibre and good for static for shocking the dog when she rolled in it, but was not static, I've never been able to get that much static charge onto something trying and it was very much like a capacitor discharge but the controller which they would be in was not even connected, it was just the blanket itself, maybe there could be a tiny hidden one in the back of where controller plugged onto but I can not imagine why or that anyone would design it like that as it is an obvious hazard. I have racked the brain inside out and it just don't make sense how it could hold so much residual charge... I've been shocked that many times as a mechanic and messing about with electronics all my life that I couldn't begin to count the times and this was by far the worst one I have ever had where later the next day when I was more coherent and together I realised I really should of gone to hospital... Wish the blanket wasn't retuned cos a week or two later when I was proper recovered I would of safely shorted it and then cut it open to find out what the heck was going on.
@@psychosis7325 Gee that is so strange! It really is too bad you didnt get a chance to investigate further! Another thought I had was it that fabric was generating static and heating cable was acting as a simple HV capacitor accumulating the static - but with your familiarity of different types of shocks it doest sound like that. I guess it will forever remain a mystery!
@@WOFFY-qc9te This is certainly a fascinating discussion I was not expecting to see for electric blankets!
Electric cow fences - I have been zapped by them too! Actually have a vintage mechanical zapper and a modern electronic one for a future video!
the discussion about magnetic field impact on health is interesting. I don't think it's the herbicides used are responsible for causing increased cancer cases for people living close to power lines because similar or the same chemicals used to be used (and in many places like us still is) to treat lawns anyway.
The precautionary principle should apply and we should try to minimize exposure.
most of the time in my place the wifi is off and the computer is hard-wired to the modem. i don't like cell phones much either and don't own a microwave.
I sure agree that the precautionary principle should apply - and everyone can make their own decisions. In defence of my comments, there have been studies linking people living near golf courses where chemical are used to cancers so that would support the chemical cause - effect I mentioned.
@@ElectromagneticVideos I'm sure those chemicals can increase risk of cancer, but the use of those chemicals around power lines shouldn't be used as an excuse to claim they are 100% safe. golf courses very heavily use the chemicals.
could look at cancer patterns around golf courses and compare with those around power lines to see if the same patterns are there. I would expect the chemicals to produce different cancers at different points in lifespan compared to non-ionizing radiation.
considering that kids these days hold on to a rf generating device almost around the clock, magnetic fields really arent an issue.
Fair point! Although these fields are lower frequency and stronger (other than possibly when a cell phone might be transmitting)
Hours watching mindless shorts on YT and Tiktok will soften the remaining brain cells before any RF has a chance to finish them off. As for me the only real peace and quiet I get is when my heads in a1.5 Tesla magnetic field MRI scanner
The people who freak out about EMF from phones bring up a valid point - you use and store your phone directly against your body ( or separated by thin fabric) but the emissions are measured at 1 cm away.
@@onradioactivewaves If I may add to your reply. I conducted an experiment in the late nineties with an old Nokia phone.
The phone was placed 1 cm from a thin slice of moist ham and my AGEMA THV550 thermal imaging camera was viewing the experiment.
The phone was set in operation and after a short while a temperature difference was seen from the ham.
What ever way you choose take the reports from manufactures , users and professed persons of knowledge the ham was influenced by the emissions from the device.....
To add to this, digital modulation may be a very short high energy pulse and a delay or frequent low energy long modulation. both may emit equal energy but one for a brief moment may exceeds what is deemed safe. With the Smart meters running in Mesh mode some will be in communication many other local devices unable to communicate data directly. So that particular meter is emitting RF for an abnormal period.
If brainwaves can and are influenced with magnetic fields used in some therapies for seizures then it is entirely feasible that emission from digital smartphones and other emitters of electromagnetic radio are capable of the same ?.
Dogs going walkies.
@@onradioactivewaves Yes - not the most realistic test situation. What gives me more confidence in their safety is we don't see to have an epidemic of disease in body areas near pockets after 20 or more years of phones carried everywhere all the time.
The third wire could be a ground
I was wonderng that too - I should take it apart and solve the mystery. I want to do a followup video on how to make a magnetic field-less electric blanket so that might the place to do it!
Missing the insulation resistance test mate.
how would you do that on an electric blanket?
I was thinking about @TradieTrev comment. if you really wanted to put the blanket to the test, immerse it in (slightly salty) water except for the connector for an insulation resistance test.Worst case scenario for someone sweating under the blanket or having it exposed to other moisture.
See my comment to @kissingfrogs response to your comment if you were not notified of it.
@@ElectromagneticVideos No different than putting an extension cord into a bucket of water to prove it's well insulated. Wish I had money for a thermal camera.
@@TradieTrev They are unfortunately pricey - I was so thrilled when Kaiweets offered to send me one. Its quite amazing how looking at everyday things though it gives one a whole different perspective.
My GMA still has some from the 60s…
GMA? I'm sure its obvious but I cant figure what that stands for.
@@ElectromagneticVideos I’m sorry, it auto corrected grandma
@@Hazmatguy117 :) That gave me a good laugh! Makes lot more sense now that I know what GMA stands for :)
nice
Thanks!
We use a hair dryer. Much much 😍 much better.
That would certainly be an alternate way of warming up a bed. Or maybe throw the blanket in a cloths dryer for a few minutes.
@@ElectromagneticVideos dryer is no use. hair dryer is the key. you can adjust the setting and keep it handy. you can use 1kw or a 2kw one. if it overheats or inlet blocked shuts off.
@@esecallum Sure hope it does shut off :)
if you're so cold why don't you just turn one of those HP workstations on?
Now that gave me a good laugh! Yes - the sure are great space heaters. I occasionally use them when I deed to do a lot of disk/memory intensive stuff with lesser cpu needs.If you look closely there is on on the right side under the workbench which I use at the bench for things including providing images to the background monitors.