Exploding Electronics (Not FIRST Specific)
 

Hey guys, I was just browsing Youtube when I stumbled upon this video of exploding electronics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=...ture=endscreen I sure got a kick out of it and thought of how it could be used to scare those young students into making sure they check their wiring so the don't break components. Also just really fun to watch. This can be pushed to off topic if necessary, I just though I would share.

Re: Exploding Electronics (Not FIRST Specific)
 

Also a good way to show students why wearing safety glasses is important!

When I was on a FIRST team, I went without safety glasses whenever I could get away with it. Accidentally blowing up a voltage regulator a few years ago (it fragmented in to tiny sharp pieces, which would have blinded me had they hit my eye) changed my opinion on this though and now I wear them all the time.

Re: Exploding Electronics (Not FIRST Specific)
 

When I was a kid, I wouldn't wear safety glasses despite my parents urging me to do so. It was only after the second trip to the emergency room to remove solder stuck to my eyeball that I figured out that they are a good thing.

Learn from my experience. Wear safety glasses.

Re: Exploding Electronics (Not FIRST Specific)
 

Have you told this story to the kids on 3081? Is that why they are so good at wearing their safety glasses? :eek:

Re: Exploding Electronics (Not FIRST Specific)
 

Electronic components have a power rating, and some have a polarity. If you exceed the power rating or get the polarity wrong, you might release the magic smoke.

Some components react worse than others. My advice for anyone building a circuit or populating a breadboard is to test early and often, and verify everything works as expected before adding more things that can go wrong.

Re: Exploding Electronics (Not FIRST Specific)
 

There were a few incidents in Digital Electronics this year. Many did not understand that a soldering iron is hot enough to burn hair, or that one should turn off the power on the digital trainer before yanking out or inserting components and wires (luckily no one got shocked with the latter, but that was fairly hazardous).

Re: Exploding Electronics (Not FIRST Specific)
 

On another note, freshman year lesson for everyone: Tape Measrues are sharp enough to draw blood. A lot of blood, as I found out my second day on the team. Also, it isn't just me. In fact, at work the other day (I work at a Lumber Yard) a coworker came in cursing. Turns out he also cut himself with the most wretched of measuring tools. Moral of the story, don't let sharp things slide along your skin at high speeds.

Re: Exploding Electronics (Not FIRST Specific)
 

Exploding Electronics sounds like something 1902 would name their FTC or Vex team.

Re: Exploding Electronics (Not FIRST Specific)
 

Glad I'm not the only one who thought that :D

Re: Exploding Electronics (Not FIRST Specific)
 

I've always been wary of tape measures for that very reason. When one gets out of control I tend to just drop it and jump back :rolleyes:

Re: Exploding Electronics (Not FIRST Specific)
 

Many of the devices in the video are electrolytic capacitors. They are manufactured with a chemical that makes them wet inside as part of their function. When they are abused, the liquid boils and produces the steam you see in some of the video. The caps have cuts in the case to act as pressure relief point when the cap fails. That is where you see the steam escaping in the video. I have seen some rather spectacular self destruction of electrolytic caps over the years. The cap is also a rolled up assembly of alternate paper and aluminum foil. I have seen a cap explode and leave a trail of paper and foil like a party favor all over the room. Recently, a server failed in one of our editing rooms and in looking at the motherboard, I found the remains of a blown cap, just two lead sticking out of the board. The power supply had failed and the cap was the merely the first component to give it's life before the fuses blew.

Re: Exploding Electronics (Not FIRST Specific)
 

Agreeing with everything here. Applying even a small reverse voltage to an electrolytic, or a tantalum cap, for that matter, can make it blow. I've seen (and made) tantalums go up in flames and electrolytics smoke out (they like to fire across the workshop). You must be very careful with these things.

Even if you're well-versed in electronics, I recommend asking an electrical mentor to sanity-check your connections before hitting that main breaker, especially if it's an expensive component (like an Axis camera or a router (I may or may not be speaking from experience here)).

When working with a adjustable power supply it is important to make sure that no one has messed with your settings before each and every time it is turned on

Re: Exploding Electronics (Not FIRST Specific)
 

In addition to safety glasses I give a +1 to close toed shoes (I SWEAR I have never burned my foot by dripping solder on it :P )

Re: Exploding Electronics (Not FIRST Specific)
 

You will only do it once! We call it the gift that keeps on giving. Sort of like touching the soldering iron to see if it is on.