TV-OUT on laptop causes major damage, fire / shock

[Duane Attaway]

OK, I recreated the laptop video out to television experiment.

The first video was connecting the RCA cable to house current.  It was 
uneventful and promptly blew the 20A house breaker each time.  So I 
started up the generator and was able to use unfused power.

Here is a frame by frame of the video of the outer (ground) conductor of 
the video cable melting under 120 volts at 7500 VA:

http://dattaway.org/whitewire.jpg

Closeup of melted RCA cable:

http://dattaway.org/whitewire2.jpg

Other side:

http://dattaway.org/whitewire3.jpg

It took about two seconds of short current to melt the wire and break the 
circuit.  It flashed when it broke.

So what does that mean?  It takes a lot of current from a 120 volt feed to 
blow the tiny stranded wires of a RCA video cable.  I believe each one of 
the copper strands alone, seperated in air, should take 5 amps each.  I 
counted 15 strands.

Could a capacitor do it as someone suggested?  Well it could, but it would 
have to be instantaneous.  I have some capacitors up to 8KV if you want to 
see more video and pictures.

I'd say his power supply had a minor meltdown inside, causing the AC to 
couple with the DC side.  This allowed current to flow from the AC mains, 
through his laptop, and return through the television back into the wall. 
Televisions are designed with a neutral grounded chassis and this may have 
allowed a possibly defective power supply to complete a current loop.

-=Duane
http://dattaway.org