Who has released the Magic Smoke!!!

[maltz1881]

We finally released our magic smoke that must be released from every robot every year!!! Who else has???

[T3_1565]

haha we did once or twice lol!! once today to tell the truth thankfully no serious damage occured lol

[meatmanek]

It does always seem to happen. Usually from the Victors, for some reason, but we've managed to burn out two cameras this year (before you let new members touch the camera, make sure they know that if you plug stuff in wrong, you can break it)

Magic smoke from alligator clips does not count, unless you vaporize the wires themselves (possible.)

[MattLi]

Define "Magic Smoke"

[Xufer]

I released the magic smoke from a servo durring prototyping, i tried running 2 servos together to perform a task not really suited for a servo ... end result smoking, heating up, melting of plastic. Fun fun fun!

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by MattLi

Define "Magic Smoke"

Magic Smoke is what makes electrical devices work. It's put inside them when they are manufactured. If it ever escapes, the device stops working.

This is similar to the Magic Noise which makes mechanical devices work. If too much noise comes out of something like a planetary gearbox, it too stops working.

[meatmanek]

Originally Posted by FlyingDutchman

why dont you just blow the stuff up if your not going to wire it right

We've had numerous Victors go bad over the years and release magic smoke for no apparent reason. In 2004 we had a case where we heard a pop, smelled magic smoke, saw a spark, but everything seemed to work. (we later discovered that we had only destroyed one of the three transistors)

Be careful mounting components near your metal frame - the frames tend to build up quite a bit of static charge, and FIRST doesn't like people to ground their frames, in order to cut down on shorts. We believe static discharge from the frame into a Victor caused the mysterious spark.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

Magic Smoke is what makes electrical devices work. It's put inside them when they are manufactured. If it ever escapes, the device stops working.

This is similar to the Magic Noise which makes mechanical devices work. If too much noise comes out of something like a planetary gearbox, it too stops working.

Actually, there are two types of magic smoke. Magic White smoke winds up in all the electronics, and Magic Black is in anything non-electronic, along with the Magic Noise. If you release the Magic Black, grab the phone and call the Fire Department if there is no fire extinguisher available.

(And then there are the stress sensors--too much stress on you and something stops working. Built in for all electronics; available as an upgrade for mechanical items.)

[MattLi]

And there's the magic spark that comes after the magic smoke and magic noise. Magic spark is not to be toyed with. Magic spark is very dangerous and should not be in contact with any robot parts and or human parts.

[EnderWiggin]

I was told not to operate any heavy machinery after inhaling the magic smoke.

[Andrew Blair]

Originally Posted by EnderWiggin

I was told not to operate any heavy machinery after inhaling the magic smoke.

This stuff might be a bit different... But still, might be a good guideline.

My opinion- your machinery probably isn't operable if you've let the smoke out...

[RyanN]

Last weekend I made Magic Smoke on purpose to show the effects of too much current flowing through a small wire to a person on our team that couldn't grasp that idea. I was having too much fun!

[Cjmovie]

We had a little issue with last year's light just before the season started: We were transporting it on a rolling chair, and the way it was wired meant we had to pull a wire to turn it off. However, that pulled wire then had a free end to do anything it'd like to: Including touch the opposite wire's end. Burned a nice hole in the chair and battery. Not to mention the way-cool look of the wire after the event.

The wire literally melted itself into the battery and then re-sealed itself. I stopped it by kicking the chair over, because it'd be pretty stupid to touch anything at that point.

[Uberbots]

I arc'd a globe motor and a genie came out...

i still havent gotten my 3 wishes

[Molly Stieber]

Ha! no magic smoke yet, hopefully i won't see any.