Blowing electronic parts

[carbonzit]

Ziddik's recent tale about blowing up a resistor with high voltage started me thinking in general about how we occasionally blow up electronic components (I'm thinking unintentionally here).

Anyone blown any transistors recently? I did, a little NPN TO-92 jobbie (2N3904/2222/some such). I was actually kind of surprised at how violently it blew. One of the internal leads actually popped out of the top of the case, and it made a pretty loud bang.

I was pretty sad; after all, it had cost me a whole $0.07 ...

 

[Ian Rogers]

I recently blew up a switched mode LM2576, I unwittingly fed the input via an RF filter ( accidentally set around 52khz, should have been much higher ) I've never heard such a noise.... It sang for about 2 minutes then BANG!!! singing stopped. The internal switch of the LM2576 is around 52khz.

 

[BrownOut]

Sadly I blew up a very nice power supply some time ago. I've thought about ordering a manual and make the repairs, but just haven't gotten around to it.

 

[Sceadwian]

I've trashed an I/O line of a couple AVR's non usable though no smoke. Never smoked anything unintentionally, from user failure at least, though I've zapped a few mosfets and changed my finger prints from overheated components more than once.

If you actually managed to blow something up that dramatically the error was one of two things, the design of the circuit was seriously in error, or the implementation of it was, this is why you don't just double check, you triple check everything you make. The more you check verify recheck and re verify the fewer such situations occur.

Did you determine the reason for the failure?

 

[carbonzit]

You're addressing me? I think what happened is that C-E got connected directly across my power rails on a breadboard. Simple miswiring. No big deal.

 

[Sceadwian]

Except that the device failed carbonzit. If you check you wiring twice or thrice such failures occur significantly less. Generally a second check is sufficient to catch most common errors, though three brings the error rate down a LOT more. This isn't like reading the same line three times in a sentence, it's like re-reading the same paragraph three times to understand a specific line. Language is complex and so is understanding.

 

[carbonzit]

Thank you for the lecture on how to avoid transistor failures (=$0.07) in the future. I shall keep it uppermost in my mind always.

 

[geraldfryjr]

I fried some resistors and a few cheapy meters last year on a ESL stepup transformer project!
The reason?
Highvoltage RF ,That I did not know that was there caused by the crossover distortion of the amplifier when I was near the resonate frequency of the transformer that I was working with. He,he
Oh yea,I also used to regurlarly blow up my Sunn Concert lead amp because I could just truck on down to radio shack and get five 2N3055 outputs for $10.
jer

 

[DerStrom8]

Hahaha, I actually haven't blown anything up recently, but I remember something I tried to do a long time ago when I was first starting with electronics. For future reference, never try to control the speed of a 12 volt DC motor with a 10K potentiometer

 

[geraldfryjr]

Ahhh,ha,ha,ha,Yep I've done that one a few times. he,he


jer

 

[OlPhart]

In the 40+ years I've been in electronics, I've blown up stuff high, wide & handsome. As example: a 40uF cap rated 700V on a power supply that went Unloaded to 1200+. It went off like an M80, the chassis contained it, but that was 1973.

As age & experience progressed, the severity and consequence have decreased, although not uniformly. This is why I'll die with a whimper, not a bang... <<<)))

 

[Ziddik]

Haha i have fried so many components.. Maybe 7 555 timers,50s of LEDs incl.white leds.), 20s of transistors,a digital multimeter,6 or 9 capacitors and so.. Most of them fried due to short circuit(555 ics n transistors) and more voltages (capacitors,LED) And prob mis-connection..etc)(multimeter) but now i learnt alot and take extra care while doing the experiments.. And components are very inexpensive here.. Also i collect old parts from damaged devices like TV,CD player,radio,amp,(i got 7 tda2030a iCs From an old amp and 7 12v 5amp transformers..which got me for free)..

 

[tvtech]

Although I am a TV Tech....I don't blow up Electronic parts. You kind of get a feeling after the years if the set you just repaired will last or not. When the set is put on test and it blows up...you have to investigate WHY. It does not help to simply replace the same parts over and over again. Something else is obviously causing new parts to blow.....

Pure logic...nah. I have seen "Techs" blow up stuff through stupidity and lazyness. Repeatedly. Not their money so they simply don't care. I don't care for people like that in my Workshop. They are busy blowing my spares budget and my cool at the same time.

On a lighter note, I am having a hard time with Dremel.

I use a Dremel 200i for the purposes of cutting 2mm Polycarbonate on their router table. The 200i came out of repairs today....under warranty. I asked the Tech what happened and he said the Armature "blew up". He fitted a new Armature and brushes.

Great. Got the Dremel back and it is up to it's old tricks. Speeds up and slows down all the time. They have NOT solved the problem. So I will simply keep sending it back until my Warranty is over.

Robert Bosch owns Dremel now. Bosch are cutting corners and destroying a once reliable brand.

Sad but true.

 

[Ziddik]

great "blow up" stories lol

 

[DerStrom8]

Pure logic...nah. I have seen "Techs" blow up stuff through stupidity and lazyness. Repeatedly. Not their money so they simply don't care. I don't care for people like that in my Workshop. They are busy blowing my spares budget and my cool at the same time.

It's one thing for a tech to blow things up. Generally they're supposed to know exactly what they're doing and be able to fix things without blowing components. It's a completely different matter if you're a beginner, and still learning. Either that, or you're like Photonicinduction

 

[tvtech]

It's one thing for a tech to blow things up. Generally they're supposed to know exactly what they're doing and be able to fix things without blowing components. It's a completely different matter if you're a beginner, and still learning. Either that, or you're like Photonicinduction

I must remember the Amateurs here...kicks himself/myself. Sorry for the rant.

Have driven myself to drink

Cheers,
TV Tech

 

[BrownOut]

My Bosch tools rock. Don't know why Bosch "owned" wouldn't.

 

[DerStrom8]

I must remember the Amateurs here...kicks himself/myself. Sorry for the rant.

Have driven myself to drink

Cheers,
TV Tech

Hahaha, I was actually agreeing with you there no need to kick yourself You only mentioned that it was the techs who blew stuff up through laziness and stupidity

 

[cr0sh]

I once burned up a homemade motor; I constructed the "paperclip motor" found in one of the old Time-Life series books from the 1960s-70s (I think it was the one on "Electricity"). Anyhow, I had constructed it fairly poorly, and it wasn't turning easily on a couple of D batteries, so I decided to hook it up to a 12V 7Ah gel cell I had. It was turning fine and furious until the "brushes" (copper wire) locked with the "commutator" (more copper wire) - setting up a dead short across the battery, which had no problem with supplying the current needed. However much it was, I don't know - all I saw was a bright flash, the smell of burnt plastic insulation, and most of the wires on my motor burned...

 

[Sceadwian]

Several hundred amps easy, ahh the flash of vaporized copper is pretty isn't it? Well so long as it doesn't blind you =)