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Welcome to our site! Electro Tech is an online community (with over 170,000 members) who enjoy talking about and building electronic circuits, projects and gadgets. To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.
That's unexpected. I did some Googling beforehand and most people say hot glue (Low Density PolyEthylene) is a good insulator. Maybe the one I have particularly poor.
Are you sure your hot glue is LDPE? There are MANY thermo plastics it could be made from. More than likley the arc formed in the air gap under the hotglue though not through the glue itself, once the arc starts it heats glue melts combustion particles mix with the glue and it quickly becomes conductive.
This is all guessing though as you didn't post a circuit and there are no traces to view from the image you did post as to what might be electrically wrong if not mechanically.
I used this: Jobmate 40W Glue Gun | Canadian Tire
and the glue sticks that came with it. The manual says they are soluble with acetone. They are clear with faint blue hue.
The high-voltage CCFL leads have silicone rubber insulation, so maybe bathtub silicone would make a good insulator. Do you think this inverter will still work?
It arced right at the base of the leads, it's poor lead placement and bad insulation. Why don't you try doing a couple enamel coats before the glue? Nailpolish clearcoat will work well, and for the love of sanity CLEAN THE BOARD WELL. Use solvent, use dry air blowoff in a dust free environment and THEN coat it. It takes a remarkably small amount of impurity to make even the best insulatory conductive when it's in a fluid state.
Only if it makes your project feel 'fabulous' timeless =)
If the glitter dots were close enough together you'd get a decent arc show before it fried =) You'd need an eye loop to see it
Go to any hardware store and look for an aerosol contact cleaner that has a note on the label that says 'evaporates completely' use a small brush to add physical agitation as well and follow up with a good blast of dry compressed air, every basement/garage should have a can of aerosol solvent, it's useful stuff.
Looks like you got some corona discharge through the hot glue, make sure there aren't any sharp edges and insulate with silicone sealant as you suggested.
The inverter input should be between 11-12V. Since I am using it in an automotive application, voltage can vary between 11 and 14V. By my calculations, a 5.6Ω ballast resistor should even it out.
So I removed all the carbon, thoroughly cleaned the board with cleaner, put on several coats of laquer, and surrounded with silicone, plugged it in and ... instant arcing. Bah!
Then I removed ALL the added material down to bare board and leads, plugged it in, and it is completely stable. Nota bene, air is the best dielectric.
Whatever you're using to cover the board with has a very poor dielectric breakdown voltage apparently or is otherwise directly conductive. You have to use a proper sealant, one specifically designed to withstand high voltages and make sure it's cured/set completely before testing.
So I removed all the carbon, thoroughly cleaned the board with cleaner, put on several coats of laquer, and surrounded with silicone, plugged it in and ... instant arcing. Bah!
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