fun with exploding capacitors

[Souper man]

if you have a bunch of very low voltage capacitors, say under 10V, you can blow them up easy!

All you do is take a high voltage supply, with a 5+ voltage higher than the capacitor. and put a switch on one side. Use a aligator clip and connect the switch side, and connect it to the reverse polarity of the capacitor (red to -, black wire to +)

Once you have that all set up, turn on your power supply, and flip the switch. wait a few seconds, and BOOM! you exploded a capacitor

it may smoke, melt, or do nothing. Make sure connections are correct and you are a safe distance away.

Large value capacitors in uf may take longer to explode

 

[Souper man]

*also*

Do Not Breathe In Fumes!!!

 

[Gayan Soyza]

It’s not a good idea……Don’t do that.

But it’s cheaper than buying crackers from the market.

 

[Souper man]

lol

I know its not a good idea, but very satisfying after a bad day...

 

[Sceadwian]

I've done this, great fun if done safely (at a decent distance)

 

[Andy1845c]

Don'y kill them! They are our friends!

Seriously, I'd make sure I hade goggles or a face sheild on when trying this.

 

[Zed]

You need small capacitors to explode as the big ones are usually vented to prevent an explosion.
I was repairing a PSU at work years ago that was 415 3 Phase in and 24VDC out at over 100A (if memory serves) and during the fault finding I had been desoldering thyristor wires to test them (there were quite a few).
The final diagnosis was that the output smoothing capacitors were faulty so I replaced them put a few electric fires on the output for a good load and fired up the PSU for a soak test. Measured the DC voltage and current which was fine and left it to soak test while I got on with the next repair.
A couple of hours later there was a hissing sound that got gradually louder and a big plume of smoke came from the PSU which actually turned out to be capacitor electrolyte vapour
It turns out I'd left some of the gate wires off the thyristors and there was a considerable ripple across the smoothing capacitors.
Lucky for me it only destroyed the capacitors....Fhew

 

[HiTech]

Sheesh, the things some people get their jollies from! Tell ya what, try that with a tantalum cap. We'll send you a get well card as you recuperate from the Critical Care Unit.

 

[Zed]

Sheesh, the things some people get their jollies from! Tell ya what, try that with a tantalum cap. We'll send you a get well card as you recuperate from the Critical Care Unit.

Tants should be destroyed. They are evil lol

 

[-=GST=- Nemisis (cs/cz)]

i keep accedentally blowing up LEDs, i just wanna see how bright they can go and then boom sucks with UV or blue ones because they're expensive. when i was at school these guys connected an LED to a 15v supply, that eally did go boom

 

[Souper man]

I heart the big fat low voltage rating and low capacitance capacitors (yes they are out there!)

 

[Ambient]

A buddy of mine reversed a motor cap on his speed control once. What an awful smell. It took all night to get rid of it. Smelled like ass, literally. No blowing caps for me.

HiTech, are tants really that dangerous? Fumes or shards of ceramic?

 

[phalanx]

Just plug your electrolytics into a wall socket and get your hand out of the way fast!

 

[-=GST=- Nemisis (cs/cz)]

Smelled like ass, literally.

LOL hilarious!

 

[HiTech]

Tantalums emit seriously noxious fumes that will send you to the emergency room. Not everything that explodes or goes up in smoke is safe to inhale, nor indicative of a smelly ass... whatever that must be like.... sheesh! I'm very concerned for that poster, Ambient, who seems to know about smelly asses!
Tip: don't go around the 'net advertising the fact that you know what a smelly ass, smells like!

Zed - those tantalums are great for audio sections in many transmitter circuits. They help to clean up the audio response versus their electrolytic counterparts.

 

[Zed]

Zed - those tantalums are great for audio sections in many transmitter circuits. They help to clean up the audio response versus their electrolytic counterparts.

I agree they do shine in some applications but they have caused me no end of trouble when faultfinding. They can test ok out of the circuit with a capacitance meter but don't work in circuit. They are Satan's favorite capacitors lmao.

 

[Ambient]

Well I was comparing it to the worst fart I have ever come across lol. But that time I was trapped in a crew cab heading for New Hampshire for a few hours lol.

I don't know why the capacitor smelled like that, it surprised me. But there was acid all over his speed control so thats probably what smelled. Might have been just a bad cap that couldn't handle the reverse DC. It probably shouldn't have popped if the control was better designed. Unless they chose the lowest voltage cap they could to minimize size. It was almost as big as the speed control, which was pretty small. I believe it was a Novak.

EDIT: it was a Novak GT7

 

[Hero999]

I've played around exploding capacitors before. This best way is to use aa higher voltage as possible and connect them in reverse. I haven't tried the mains yet but I imagine it would probably blow a fuse. Some of the larger capacitors are vented which ruins the fun, it's often best with small electrolytics. I've tried a tantalum too but they tend to go into a molten ball of gue.

 

[hackableFM]

You lot are nuts!!!!

Hold your elecs in a pair of pliers and heat them with a lighter!! If you're realy adventurous then you can start to aim them at the neighbours cat and scare the living daylights out of the cats if you're a good shot!

1-10uf 16v are good

 

[TheVictim]

The best thing to do with large electrolytic caps is to discharge them into something else and make IT explode...