Hi Ron,

MMC and Bill K. got voltage, current, and capacity
seriously confused. (The term apmerage doesn't even
exist as a physical unit.

A 12V battery will never give you a dangerous shock.
You can try this: Put two wetted fingers on the terminals
of a 1.5v household battery; Not noticable at all.
On a 9V smoke detector battery. Almost unnoticable.
Then your tounge on the 9V. Unpleasant, not more.
12V won't do much more than this, that's why many
of the connectors in your car are not insulated at all:
Because nothing will happen if you touch them.

The advice to get a sealed battery is very good,
because the acid is really going to hurt you, should
you ever get it sloshing around in your kayak.

Chris



John Wentworth wrote:
"ronwagn" wrote in message
ups.com...
I am thinking about equipping my large inflatable kayak with a trolling
motor to get me upriver. That way I don't need a partner.

What happens If I get everything wet, or it rains? Could I get killed
by electroshock?!

All the best,

Ron Wagner


The risk of electric shock from a 12 volt battery is minimal; even in a
worse case scenario your body would provide sufficient resistance to the
electric charge that current would be very small, probably less than one
milliamp. It's the amps that hurt you, but there must be sufficient voltage
present to drive those amps. Ohms Law provides a way to calculate current
flow if you know the voltage and the resistance. Current (amps) go up as
resistance (ohms) goes down; divide voltage by resistance to get current
flow.

Look at http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_3/4.html