I was trying to determine why two lights on two Par-Bars that were two-fered would not come on, but I thought they had both been on previously. Inside the patch bay of the touring dimmer rack, I pulled the pin to move the circuit to a different dimmer, and decided to feel it to see if it was warm indicating that it had been on recently. With my bare arm on the door of the rack, I touched the pin with the same hand, and got a 120V shock from elbow to finger!
I said some bad words (most directed at myself), then patched the circuit into a different dimmer and ran that one up. Still no lights, so I checked the lamps and both were blown. I replaced both lamps, but the fixtures still didn't work. So I two-fered the fixtures with others.
As to What Went Wrong?, well, that is the question. Obviously I erred in not following the "keep one hand in your pocket" rule. But did the shock I received destroy the lamps? As it's supposed to be supplied by the female outlet, not the pin, where did the current come from?
It might be worth noting that another circuit on the same multi-cable didn't work either, but those lamps were good. And there were two other fixtures on different circuits with bad lamps. Out of 12 fixtures, six not lighting due to 2 bad circuits and 4 blown lamps. Not that it matters, but the fixtures were trimmed at 30', accessible only with a scissor lift, and 400' away from the dimmer rack.
I said some bad words (most directed at myself), then patched the circuit into a different dimmer and ran that one up. Still no lights, so I checked the lamps and both were blown. I replaced both lamps, but the fixtures still didn't work. So I two-fered the fixtures with others.
As to What Went Wrong?, well, that is the question. Obviously I erred in not following the "keep one hand in your pocket" rule. But did the shock I received destroy the lamps? As it's supposed to be supplied by the female outlet, not the pin, where did the current come from?
It might be worth noting that another circuit on the same multi-cable didn't work either, but those lamps were good. And there were two other fixtures on different circuits with bad lamps. Out of 12 fixtures, six not lighting due to 2 bad circuits and 4 blown lamps. Not that it matters, but the fixtures were trimmed at 30', accessible only with a scissor lift, and 400' away from the dimmer rack.